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I have an Alienware Aurora that i purchased on 1/6/2012. After recently purchasing an SSD that uses Sata 3 I discovered my motherboard only supports Sata 2. I have decided i am going to upgrade my motherboard to sata 3 and i was wondering if the cables in my Alienware were Sata 3 or Sata 2 cables? The reason i ask is because if they are Sata 3 cables it would be much more convenient when upgrading. I know its a very odd question, but i cant find an answer. The cables themselves just say "HDD Sata#" on them. Anyone have any idea what type of cables these are?
My point is with a Sata 2 cable i am not going to get the same performance as a Sata 3 cable, if i have Sata 3. My current setup has Sata 2, but i dont know what kind i cables they are since Sata 3 cables are backwards compatible. I am upgrading my motherboard to get Sata 3 (and more upgrades that arent relevant to my question) and im wondering if the cables i have are sata 3. I guess a better question would be, in early 2012 was it standard to use Sata 3 cables even if a person had sata 2?
Thanks for the help
Well, I already answered your question.
But go ahead and do it this way if it will make you feel better: Install new Sata-3 certified cables when you install your new motherboard. They only cost a few dollars.
Dell Rockstar
Microsoft Windows and Apple iOS Developer (Retired)
- Like many of you, I can appreciate a good game-engine.
- I answer questions here, but I'm not a Dell employee.
- Consider giving posts you like a "thumbs-up"
- Posting models-numbers and software versions speeds trouble-shooting.
- Click "Mark as Accepted Answer" on any post that answers your question best.I understand completely ... these same questions came up when we went from SATA-1 to SATA-2.
In a pinch, I have used nice, short, thick (heavy gauge) SATA-2 cables on SATA-3 drives/controllers and they worked fine. That is my experience.
That being said, if I was building a new machine, I would probably end-up using SATA-3 cables anyway. So, go ahead and replace them ... they usually come with the new motherboard anyway.
Dell Rockstar
Microsoft Windows and Apple iOS Developer (Retired)
- Like many of you, I can appreciate a good game-engine.
- I answer questions here, but I'm not a Dell employee.
- Consider giving posts you like a "thumbs-up"
- Posting models-numbers and software versions speeds trouble-shooting.
- Click "Mark as Accepted Answer" on any post that answers your question best.You said that a Sata 2 cable will preform the same as a Sata 3 cable which is not true. I searched exactly what you told you me to search before you sent that link. It brings you here: www.tomshardware.com/.../300583-31-sata-sata-cable and you get this answer " Device and mobo support SATA 3 - use of SATA 2 cable will result in 3GB/s." I know what a Sata 2 cable will give me if i use it with Sata 3, i am wondering if sata 2 cables are what i have in alienware. You either dont understand my question, or you think you are right about what i just stated. Anyways i dont care, ill wait until i do the upgrade to find out.
Thank you for your help anyway.
Tesla1856
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Posted May 6th, 2013 14:00
If you purchased an Aurora R3 or R4, it already has some SATA3/600 ports.
If you have an Aurora R1 or R2, it would be easier and cheaper to install a PCIe SATA-3 controller or just use the SATA-2 with SSD (will still be really fast). The cables supplied with the Auroras are certified to handle the bandwidth of the supplied controller ... or to match.
There is no electrical difference between Sata-2 and Sata-3, so as long as the construction and gauge is good ... there is no reason why they wouldn't work (remember, this is digital bitstream). Old Sata-2 cables couldn't be verified for Sata-3 because the protocol wasn't ratified back then.
Click here:
www.google.com/search
Worst case, replace them (but they would have to be pretty lame not to work).
Dell Rockstar
Microsoft Windows and Apple iOS Developer (Retired)
- Like many of you, I can appreciate a good game-engine.
- I answer questions here, but I'm not a Dell employee.
- Consider giving posts you like a "thumbs-up"
- Posting models-numbers and software versions speeds trouble-shooting.
- Click "Mark as Accepted Answer" on any post that answers your question best.