Re: IDE controller cards better than onboard?

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Vic wrote:
I saw a thread in another NG where people were writing about IDE
controller cards. They said a good addon card improves system
performance when disk access is required. One commenter said the
difference was 'remarkable' compared to using the standard MOBO
controller. Wow!

I'd like to hear from others, does a separate controller card for IDE
hard drives improve performance (access times, program startup times,
lessen demand on CPU, etc)?

Nobody has shown with timing tests there is a difference so I wonder,
are these people who think performance is better suffering from
placebo effect? I've seen myself after spending money (or time) on
the computer, wanting to make it better, THINK I did, but in fact was
only thinking my desires!

Also read a bunch of reviews on the Promise Ultra133 TX2 card
(Newegg) and one reviewer said they did tests and there was *NO*
difference in CPU usage OR start times! Hmmm, who's right? Is adding
a controller going to improve performance, or just waste time? (I
have no need for a controller due to insufficient ports)

Vic

If you spend the money you will get faster performance from an addon card.
The cheap ones like the Promise you mention won't be any faster than an
onboard controller. The more expensive ones have their own CPU and act like
a SCSI card. Your motherboard will need a PCI-X slot and you will need to
use SATA-II drives to take full advantage. In other words, unless you have a
very high end system you probably wouldn't notice much difference over an
onboard controller. A faster CPU or more RAM or even a faster drive with
your onboard controller would probably make more of a difference. Witout
knowing more about your system it's all a guess.

--
Kerry


.

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