Motherboard IDE performance

DOOM

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I need to build a P4 533FSB machine with DDR333 memory, but I want to find the motherboard that will give me the fastest IDE disk performance (for compiling software under Windows XP). I'm talking natural disk performance, no RAID-0. Cost is also a factor, so I'm not going SCSI or SATA or RAID0+1 or nuclear-fission-hyper-rambo drive, etc. Simple WD400BB.

Which of these chipsets has better drive performance?

- Intel i845G
- SiS 648
- Others? (no VIA!!!)

Do you know of a specific motherboard that maximizes the disk performance of that chipset? I've seen a benchmark putting the ASUS P4S8X above the Gigabyte 8SG667 for disk performance (both SiS 648's).


Thanks...

btw,
I've looked everywhere for IDE bus benchmarks, to no avail. Does anybody know of a site that has tests of mobo disk performance?

-DOOM<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by doom on 01/08/03 01:48 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 

phr0ze

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I've never seen such a test. Most sites that do drive benchmarks test drive speed and not motherboard ide controller speed. In fact I'm willing to bet that more drive performance is gained by looking for the fastest IDE drive as opposed to the fastest motherboard controller. Maybe one of maxtors 133's or WD special 8MB cache drives.

What I'm saying is by finding the fastest motherboard controller you may get 2% boost over the norm, but by looking for the fastest drive instead, you could yield a 5% boost. Hypothetically.

To be honest, Raid 0 is your best option although you said no. It'll provide roughly double the speed for the cost of one extra HD. (Motherboard costs for onboard raid typically don't change by much)

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phr0Ze

It may say I'm a NOOB but I've been hiding in the shadows @ THG since 97.
 

DOOM

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Case in point:

I currently have a WD 20G 7200 ATA133 running on a Dell, and it runs like SH*T. I could put this same hard drive on an Intel/ASUS/Abit system and it would run fast and smooth. I understand that the actual controller on the chipset is probably not the problem. But the Dell motherboard as a whole performs poorly in every possible way, including effective disk throughput.

The reason I can't do RAID0 is because I can't afford the increased risk of data loss. If a single drive goes down, I have a chance at recovering my data. Or at least, returning to an operable state will take less man-hours. If half of a RAID0 stripe goes down, I am screwed. The only way I could do a stripe set is by also having redundancy (RAID0+1 at a minimum), requiring four drives...

I would like to play with RAID some day, but this is for a work machine, and I don't want to experiment too much on my boss's dime.

Thanks for your input...

-DOOM
 

Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
The P4S8X has shown itself to be a problematic board, which is why I recommend the 8SG667 over it.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>
 

Owl

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Just My 3 cents
P4 2.8mhz
ASUS P4PE
Promise Ultra ATA 133 TX2 Controller
Maxtor 160GB 8MB Cache Ultra Series 7200 RPM ATA/133 Hard Drive.

I love it... worth every penny


<font color=blue>HOSED = Horrific operating system error detected</font color=blue>