IDE "speed" question

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I know that PCI / AGP / USB interfaces have different speeds or rather data
transfer rates. I'm wondering if anyone could tell me what this rate is for
the IDE interface because I'm considering getting a PCI IDE card (to add
more than 2 HDs) and I'm wondering if the fact that the card is PCI will
slow down access to the PCI card connected HD in relative terms in
comparison to the native motherboard IDE connected HDs?

Thanks.

 

[Mike Walsh]

There will be no difference, the motherboard IDE ports are also connected to the PCI bus. The maximum transfer speed of a standard PCI bus is 133 MB/sec.

 

[kony]

There will be no difference, the motherboard IDE ports are also connected
to the PCI bus. The maximum transfer speed of a standard PCI bus is 133 MB/sec.

The motherboard chipset IDE ports are no longer connected to the PCI
bus on any semi-modern board (2-3 years old or newer). They do still
have same primary bottleneck due to adherence to the ATA spec, but
effective throughput or latency is better not only for the ATA
controller but the remaining PCI devices.

That does make a system faster by using the onboard ports versus a
similar controller as a PCI IDE card or additional chip on the board,
which would be on the PCI bus also. Only the southbridge-integrated
controller is removed from the PCI bus.


Dave