SATA vs. PATA

Hi folks,

I'm thinking of purchasing a SATA HDD but before I do, I need some input from the pros.

Does it make a difference in the computer's speed and performance? If it does, is it a BIG difference or a negligable one? If I sound clueless and a bit behind the times it's because I am!

I read that the transfer speed is higher but is it worth switching?

Thanks in advance to all replies,
aKa

 

IMO .. I'd only upgrade if you're upgrading your motherboard and HDD anyway

there is a performance boost but you would only notice if you have two SATA drives and you were transfering large files between them on a day to day basis,as in a server setting .. but for regular surfin the net, word processing .. and even gaming you won't notice much of a difference

 

My motherboard does support SATA but you answered my question, thanks.

CHEERS,
aKa

 

You do if you use 10,000rpm SATA drives http://forums.majorgeeks.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

 

Would you please expand?!

 

Performance of a drive is deteremined also by its speed, a 5400RPM drive is twice as slow as a 10,000RPM drive. This all comes down to how you use your PC, gaming wise alot of new games and MMORPGs access the hdd alot for information. Using the pc to compile video or use it for alot of hi-fi sound needs also requires fast drives.

 

other than loading time I don't see how it would make a difference ,, surely wouldn't affect framerate or any of the graphics in any way .. nor would it effect calculations because that's done by the CPU ... so I don't get what a HDD would do to improve gaming performance other than speed up load time .. and converting video takes the CPU hours so a few milli-seconds quicker isn't going to be noticable