What's the verdict for ASUS A8N-SLI and Maxtor Maxline III HD's?

[Speedo]

I'm also really interested about the progress in this area, since I have the A8N-SLI and are going to pair it with the Maxline-III. I would also be interested in the proper procedures to enable NCQ...

Do I understand it right, if there are even problems detecting the drive on sata port 1, with the latest bios (1003)?

 

[guac]

Well, I have been reading these informative posts for well over 2months, and some of the kudos and complaints given to components were a help when I built my first PC. I just HAD to join, so I could comment on this thread. I ordered a Diamondmax 10 300 Gb from zipzoomfly (boo on their customer service) and received it DOA. Was locked into them due to the 15% restocking fee, and after reordering a replacement drive, it too was defective, as it will not format past 69%. Now, Maxtor is sending out another. SO, I have three drives in limbo on my credit card, and have junk to show for it. Only now am I reading all of the flaming on Maxtor. I also have an Asus A8N-SLI. I think it was this forum where there was a debate whether the Diamondmax 10 were the new Maxline III's. My first dead drive had a Diamondmax sticker dated November 2004 over a sticker that said Maxline III dated September 2004. I just wanted to vent, and to help keep the thread alive to see if anyone ever got anywhere with thier Asus/maxtor como. Anybody have any experince getting out from under a drive? I would love to turn back the clock two weeks and NEVER order a maxtor or from ZZF. Has anybody had luck gettign their MB to run with the maxtor in NCQ?
anyway, sorry to open up my first post with minor rage, but you gotta start somewhere.

mike

 

[Speedo]

guac: I'm sorry to hear about your problems. I have decided not to go with the Maxtor. What I will choose instead is the big question. I guess that if I want NCQ, I'll have to go with the Seagate 7200.8, which unfortunately is a bit slower than the Maxtor, but it would be well worth it if avoiding the kind of trouble you've had.

So, there are only problems with the A8N-SLI and the Maxtors? Does it work perfectly with the Seagate?

 

[guac]

My friend told me that Western Digital is supposed to be releasing a new drive in about a month, similar to the maxtors. I believe this to be: large capacity, NCQ, and the 16 mb buffer, if I'm not mistaken. I haven't done any 'leg' work on the subject. I definately would have bought a WD over this maxtor, had the specs been there. I have a 74 Gb Raptor, and I have no issues...albeit only in use for about 3 weeks...from Newegg I might add...packaged really well. The first maxtor to arrive from zipzoomfly was in a box only half full of packing peanuts...lot of slop...second drive was packaged well. Packaging "could" have played issues with drive status. I started looking into Seagate, as I saw some touted posts about them, but yes, only 8mb buffer. Honestly, I'm not even too sure that at this point (or any) that would even matter...I'm outta space!
mike

 

[Speedo]

Originally posted by: guac
My friend told me that Western Digital is supposed to be releasing a new drive in about a month, similar to the maxtors. I believe this to be: large capacity, NCQ, and the 16 mb buffer, if I'm not mistaken.

Very interesting. It doesn't surprise me though. Maybe they will update the Raptor as well, with more cache and NCQ. Also, I relly think they should be able to use higher platter density for the Raptor.

 

[guac]

If Murphy's Law prevails as usual, then WD will in fact release a kickin' drive, as I waited for months to put together this system, after prices stabilized. hehe
mike

 

[Speedo]

Yea, well you can't wait forever. I've waited long enough to put thogether my system and since I have all the other parts, I'll just have to make a choice from what's available now.

 

[mrscintilla]

Dudes, just buy the maxtor like I have. All you have to do is not enable NCQ. NCQ offers no performance advantage anyway.

 

[Speedo]

After reading this thread, I have decided not to go with Maxtor, no matter what:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=27&threadid=1523468&forumid=1

From GamePC about NCQ:

The Raptor drive can push about 65 MB/s, so it?s still holding a substantial benefit, but I can tell you, as a long-time Raptor owner, there does seem to be something special about NCQ. An inherent smoothness, if you will.