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In the Forums... |
Posted: September 8, 2000 Written by: Dan "Tweak Monkey" Kennedy Introduction If you're building a high-end PC that you want to perform at extreme levels in every way possible, SCSI has to be included. IDE is nice for a cheap PC, but if you want that same amazing performance that high-end servers utilize, SCSI is basically the only option. SCSI is expensive. That's a well known fact. But is it worth the money? Hopefully this review will answer that question. As I take a look at Quantum's Atlas 10K II drive, keep in mind that I'm a gamer. I use my PC for just about anything, but the majority of entertainment I get from my PC is from gaming. The Drive, The Card. I am usually an IDE guy. In fact, the first SCSI drive I've ever installed on my own PC was this drive. It wasn't as if I hadn't dealt with SCSI before; it's just that I never thought it was worth the money or that I'd make good use of a SCSI card and drive(s) in my own PC. So what SCSI card was worthy enough to be teamed up with this monster of a hard drive; the Quantum Atlas 10K II 36.7 GB? Well I knew it had to come from Adaptec. And the best option at the time (thanks to Ultra160 SCSI support of the hard drive) was Adaptec's 29160 SCSI card. The Drive The specifications of this hard drive are as follows: Available sizes: 9.2GB, 18.4GB, 36.7GB, 73.4GB Form Factor: 3.5 inch Interface: Ultra 160, Ultra2, UltraSCSI 68-pin Wide Ultra160, Ultra2, Ultra SCSI 80-pin SCA-2 Typical Seek Times: Average (read): 4.7ms (5.2ms with 73.4GB) Track to Track: 0.6ms Full Stroke: 12ms (13ms with 73.4GB) Average Rotational Latency: 3.0ms Rotation Speed (RPM): 10,000 Internal Data Rate: 280 to 478 Mb/sec Sustained Throughput: 24 to 40 MB/sec Data Transfer Rates (Buffer-to-Host) Ultra160 SCSI (MB/sec) 160 Ultra2 SCSI (MB/sec) 80 Ultra SCSI (MB/sec) 40 Buffer Size (MB) 8 For more info on the specifications, visit this page. The Card The specifications of the Adaptec 29160 SCSI card can be found here. |
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