Serial ATA
 

What is the advantage? Is it worth it???

Smaller cables, less power usage, and runs at ATA-150, as opposed to ATA-133 or ATA-100. But only the on-board controllers will run the drives at this actual speed.

can anyone find some numbers, because I read somewhere that serial ATA's performance is hardly noticable over regular ata

[quote="Old Reliable":6b2fb]can anyone find some numbers, because I read somewhere that serial ATA's performance is hardly noticable over regular ata[/quote:6b2fb]

That's with the PCI add-on card. The add-on is about 0.01 miliseconds slower than the regular ATA, you need a motherboard with on-board controllers.

With the latest and greatest ASUS mobo, can I expect a noticable difference? Does it require specific hdds?

Sorry, I know absolutely nothing on this subject and am trying to help a friend. Thanks for the help.

Yep. The one I have, the Asus P4G8X Deluxe has them. Instead of the casual ATA-100, I got ATA-150. The hard drive is a SATA Hard Drive. Seagate makes em, check out http://www.pricewatch.com for good prices. Keep in mind you need a 12V to SATA power adapter, too.

http://xoxide.com/seatapoad.html

yeah, I would stick with Seagate for harddrives of all kinds, they are excellent.