SATA Drive Questions

[BaltimorePablo]

I currently have a Asus K8N-E Deluxe and I have 1 80 Gig 7200rpm IDE133, 200Gb 7200rpm IDE133, and a 300Gb 7200rpm SATA 150.

My question is this.. There is a Western Digital 500Gb SATA 3.0Gb/s drive that is on sale for $215 and I would like to get it but am not sure if my mobo supports SATA 3.0 gb/s and I can't find anywhere to tell me whether or not it does. Also, does getting a 3.0 when your native is only 150 make a huge difference, even if it's backwards compatible, will I notice some slow speeds because I'm using something different?

This is probably a really n00bish question and in the wrong place so forgive me if it is..

Thanks for the help!

[glc]

If the chipset complains, the drive can be downgraded to SATA I with either a jumper or a software utility. You will never notice the difference in speed.

[BaltimorePablo]

But even though it's a SATA 150 a SATA 3.0 should still work correct? I'm not too sure what you mean by 'if it complains'

[glc]

Some SATA I chipsets do not like SATA II drives. SATA II drives can all be forced to run in SATA I mode with a jumper or software utility if necessary.

[BaltimorePablo]

Ahhh ok well thanks for the heads up. Is there anyone out there that has my chipset and has tried attaching a SATA II drive to it?

[commach]

Nvidia chipset with SATA1 capability shouldn't have any problem with SATA2 drive, in the event that the BIOS couldn't detect the drive (rarely happen), you can set the SATA2 drive to SATA1 via jumper at the back of the drive.
Usually, older chipset from VIA have problem with the auto-negotiating of SATA2 drive with SATA1 chipset, Nvidia chipset is not known to have such problem.