Will the XPS m1210 support 3gbps SATA?

My friend suggests that the ICH7-m does not support 3Gbps SATA but I believe otherwise. There's a slab of beer at stake so I need some conclusive proof that it does to make him pay for the beer.

I just want to know if it has 3gbps SATA interface. Wiki says it does but it's not good enough to settle the bet. I couldn't find the info on Intel website or in the ICH7 datasheet. I might be looking in the wrong place, I remember reading that it does.

It's an Dell XPS m1210 and the chipset is

NorthBridge : Intel i945PM
SouthBridge : 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Controller

any help?

 

ICH7M wiki tells us:

The ICH7 started to ship in mid-2005 together with Intel's newest high-end MCH, the i955X. Two additional PCI express x1-Ports, an accelerated SATA Controller for up to 300 MB/s data transmission rate, as well as support for Intel's "Active Management Technology" were added.​

Can confirm if is fully 3Gbps capable by checking value of CAP.ISS. Some systems like Lenovo T61p (ICH8m) are bios capped to 1.5Gbps mode.

 

I have no clue what CAP.ISS is, I found it hard to understand your guide for ICH8M. I am not very computer literate, there's got to be an easy way of getting free beer.

Looks like I lost, I got the following from the ICH7 datasheet:


Speed Allowed (SPD) — R/W. Indicates the highest allowable speed of the interface.
This speed is limited by the CAP.ISS (ABAR+00h:bit 23:20) field.
All other values reserved
ICH7 Supports Generation 1 communication rates (1.5 Gb/sec) and Gen 2 rates (3.0
Gb/s).
ICH7 Mobile SKUs support Generation 1 communication rates (1.5 Gb/sec).




the last bit says that ICH7 Mobile SKUs only support 1.5gbps? correct me if I am wrong.

one more thing, I guess it should not really matter whether its 1.5gbps or 3gbps as long as it's not an SSD. I am planning to get a WD Scorpio black 7000 3gbps disk. I hope there is no performance hit due to this.

Whats your opinion nando?

 

the Scorpio blue will be fine on the 1.5gbps link, you will not saturate it with a single notebook hdd.

 

I already have a scorpio blue 5400 disk, It struggles at times, thats why I am planning to get a scorpio black or a momentus 7200.4 drive. I cant afford a SSD yet.

So 7200 disks would be alright, right?

 

sure, but I wouldn't expect a huge improvement.

 

I know that the 320gb scorpio black will max out at 100mbps. I am guessing the 1.5gb SATA should be able to handle that.

 

My E1505 is from the same era and it supports SATA 300 drives
Yours should have no problem seeing a SATA 300 drive.

Please note, no current notebook drive can max out the SATA 150 interface, so its not like you are going to be limited by the SATA controller

K-TRON

 

Most HDDs cache buffer read/write component can exceed SATA 1.5Gbps speed. I've seen figures of 180-220MB/s on a 3Gbps link, so the slower 1.5Gbps interface will have a slight decrease in performance due to interface capping. I believe Lenovo quote it as less than 5% for their 1.5Gbps capped T61p.

 

I am hoping the performance hit due to the 1.5Gbps link will be more than offset by the gain from a 7200 drive. My 5400 drive really struggles when watching TV.

One more thing, why do they have jumper settings on these 3Gbps drives? I am assuming since mine only supports 1.5Gbps, the drive should be pared down to that level with out any jumper settings. Under what circumstances would someone use the jumper settings? I don't think any one with a 3Gbps link would use a jumper to bring it down to 1.5Gbps.

Hi nando,

I tried CAP.iss to find out if my mother board is limited by the 1.5gbps link. I posted image of Bar edit, this is how far I got, now I am lost. what exactly am I looking for?

 

ICH7-M does not support SATA2. The controller is SATA1/SATA-150 compliant.

Current HDDs will be fine when running in SATA1 mode. There will be no noticeable peformance difference during normal usage, when running a HDD in SATA1 or SATA2 mode, though heavy drive multi-tasking does take advantage of the extras features of SATA2.The WD Scorpio Black tops out at 80MB/s R/W I think, so you're no where near the 150MB/s cap.

WDC HDDs are backward compatible to SATA1 and do not need, or have any jumper pins. Its usually the Hitachi and Seagate Drives that come with a jumper to limit the HDD mode to 1.5Gbps. Most modern HDDs have an advanced controller and are smart enough to fall back to SATA-150 mode automatically, if negotiation with the MB controller fails at 3Gbps.

 

Thanks Andy

I realize that current HDD won't max out the SATA 1.5 link. But I intend to get a SSD soon and was wondering is there any way I can get it to work at 3Gbps. It clearly says in the data-sheet that ICH7 desktop version supports 3Gbps. I still don't understand why they had to limit the mobile one to 1.5 Gbps.

For the time being I will be getting either one of the following:

WD scorpio black 320Gb or
Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500gb

thanks for pointing out that WD drives have no jumper settings. What should I do if I get a Seagate drive, should I use a jumper or will the drive work it out on its own. I still don't get why they have jumper settings?

Is there any software to check HDD stats? like what link is being used and the transfer rates.

 

ICH7 doesn't support SATA2. If you try to directly insert the hard disk in your slot, the laptop won't boot. All you have to do is buy a jumper which is dirt cheap(somebody might even offer you for free) and plug it in 2 holes out of the standard 4. Then your notebook can detect it.

 

Thanks mate,

That's very helpful.