Any noise difference between PATA and SATA Samsungs?

Mr.Radar · Post by **Mr.Radar** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 7:23 pm

I'm going to be buying a Samsung HDD this weekend (160 gig, 7200 RPM, 8 meg cache) and I'm trying to decide between SATA and PATA. Is there any noise or performance difference between them?

prof99 · Post by **prof99** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 8:06 pm

I think the only difference is in performance, as the motors, internals, etc. of these two types drives are pretty much the same. This review and also this reivew shows the performance gain that you get with the SATA drives (such as a lower seek time). Hope this helps!

Mr.Radar · Post by **Mr.Radar** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 7:28 am

Strange, the PATA version has better performance in both reviews. I guess I'll go with that.

kesv · Post by **kesv** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 12:13 pm

Mr.Radar wrote:Strange, the PATA version has better performance in both reviews. I guess I'll go with that.

I haven't checked this, but the SATA version possibly uses the same electronics as the PATA and just adds a bridge chip. The bridge adds a small bit of latency so it would slightly worsen performance.

tragus · Post by **tragus** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 12:51 pm

Notice, however, that the "fast" PATA in the benchmarks is running at 133. Be sure your motherboard supports this. Otherwise, the SATA (even with the serializing bridge chip) seems a win. OTOH, I'd say the performance differences are quiet slight and possibly within the margin of measurement error.

mystic_fm · Post by **mystic_fm** » Sat Jul 03, 2004 4:02 pm

I just finished building a new machine with a Samsung PATA 160GB 8MB buffer drive (SP1614N) that I bought from Newegg a week ago after far too much hand-wringing. I skipped SATA this time around because I didn't want to be on the "bleeding edge", and it seems to me that SATA still has a few teething problems to get through before it becomes the One True Way. And mine even has the JVC motor that I was so afraid of. The upshot is that I shouldn't have been worried ... it's a great drive, fast and very quiet, with no audible seek noise at all.

(edit) I ran some benches on the drive with Sisoft Sandra this evening, and here are the raw numbers, if you are interested:

Drive Index: 50 MB/s
Buffered Read: 57 MB/s
Sequencial Read: 58 MB/s
Random Read: 38 MB/s
Buffered Write: 90 MB/s
Sequential Write: 57 MB/s
Random Write: 40 MB/s
Average Access Time: 8/9 ms (fluctuated, probably right in between)

These numbers were considerably above the fastest non-RAID PATA (or SATA, for that matter) drives listed in Sandra's comparison list - on the order of 35-40% better. Note that the fastest non-RAID PATA drives listed for comparison were all ATA100, and the SP1614N should be running at ATA133 in my system (current MB + good 80-conductor cable), which could explain a substantial portion of this performance difference.

Anyway, what matters is that the drive is rockin' my system quite nicely ... and I can't hear it doing it. I could not be happier.

Hope this helps.

- David

Mimesis · Post by **Mimesis** » Mon Jul 05, 2004 5:41 pm

Would be nice if anyone had listened to both the sata and the pata version and could report it.

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Mon Jul 05, 2004 7:37 pm

Mimesis wrote:Would be nice if anyone had listened to both the sata and the pata version and could report it.

I have both a Samsung SP0812C (SATA) and SP1614N (PATA) with NIDEC stamped on each and both are extremely quiet. Even though the SP1614N has two platters compared to the SP0812C's single platter, I haven't found any significant difference in noise level.

alleycat · Post by **alleycat** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 3:21 am

While we're on the topic of platters, what's the largest 2-platter Samsung PATA? Is it the 160GB or is there a bigger one? Unfortunately I got a 120G PATA Samsung and it whines like hell (JVC motor). Surprisingly, suspending it has helped quieten the whine as well as the vibes, but it's still annoying.

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 5:21 am

160 GB is the largest according to their website.

alleycat · Post by **alleycat** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 2:04 pm

Thanks! Now I've just got to find somewhere to offload this little beast...