UDMA/66

[Siglr]

Hi

Currently, I have one UDMA/66 HD (master) linked to one CD-ROM (slave) on the primary port and another UDMA/66 HD (master) linked to a CD-RW (slave) on the secondary port.

My current motherboard only supports UDMA/33, but if I do the same with a board supporting UDMA/66, will I be fully using the UDMA/66 capabilities or slowing it down because of the CD-ROMs?

Should I look for a separate IDE controller for my CD-ROMs? Or a board which offers 2 UDMA/66 and 2 UDMA/33 ports?

Thank you!
Guy

[JimG]

To the best of my knowledge, your CD-RW and CD-ROM will not support UDMA/66, and therefore, will operate at the slower transfer speed. So technically, you won't be seeing much of an improvement when transfering data between your CD-ROM and HD. I think you're much better off putting the CD-ROM and CD-RW drive on normal IDE channels. Abit's BE6 motherboard offers two normal IDE channels and two UDMA/66 channels. However, this board can be a real pain to configure, so it might take you a while to get it all up and running.

[Siglr]

Yes,

I agree I won't see improvement between my CDs and HDs, but will my HDs work in UDMA/66 when accessing or writing data from memory or to/from the other HD?

Thanks
Guy

[Ygor]

They should if you have them on the same ata 66 ide using the 66 cable.
Another option (if you have a pci slot available) is a pci slot ata-66 controller card.
I've used the promise ata 66 card on my system but the speed increase was not really noticeable. It does give the option of 4 ide channels which means up to 8 ide devices.

[Siglr]

I've heard about this Promise card.

I've also heard about Abit Hot Rod 66 card which basically does the same thing, but offers two ports (4 devices).

But these cards beeing PCI, how do they react to aggressive overclocking that would also result in overclocking the PCI BUS?

Thank you!
Guy

[Nixona]

You didnt say WHAT you were overclocking, but you may just be better off buying the BE6, or BE6-II. They have the '66 controller integrated on the board, not as much worrying about pci dividers and such. Can't help with the cards though. Consider shelling out $30-$40 for that card, or about $130 for a brand new top of the line motherboard....
My 2 cents http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[Siglr]

The problem I have with the BE6 or BE6-II is that it doesn't support AGP 4x. Since I'll be upgrading my video card to a GeForce DDR soon (when they arrive), I'd like my board to support AGP 4x.

Thanks
Guy