Performance wise, there is a large boost in boot time. HDTach shows that numbers improve across the board. Performance is much higher than drives running straight from the p3v4x, 'bout time asus made this work. No huge hurry though, Im all out of umda66 cables right now : ) Here's the numbers:
First up, the IBM 9.1GB 7200rpm drive connected directly to the motherboard in UDMA/33 mode:
Now, the same IBM drive in UDMA/66 mode (not much difference from UDMA/33):
Now, the RAID set of 2x Quantum Fireball +KA 6.4GB, striped:
OK, guys this hack was a bit dangerous, there's a soldering iron involved.. so dont do it just to keep up with the jones' if you dont think you can pull it off. Nuff said.
The config (I hate these lists personally.. but I guess its gotta go in).
Asus p3v4x 1.02 1003_01 beta bios
4.17 drivers
PIII500E (modified asus133 slocket) FEP32 (also modified)
128mb Cas 3 Kingmax
Generic TNT2 M64 32mb 100/110 (can go 150/150)
Macase Full w/300w ps
2x Quantum Fireball ka plus 7200 6.4gb
1x IBM 7200 2mb cache 9gb
1x Quantum cx 5400 13gb
SBLive Value
Promise Ultra66 (hacked)
Dual Fan 5 1/4in cooler thingy (best $40 I ever spent)
120mm NMB at the front
Did it all at 133fsb, the Promise card fails to boot at 146mhz.. thats ok, so does the board : p
The UDMA cables dont stack well, so a little folding was in order to keep the airflow to the FEP32 clear...
Yeah its a bit fuzzy, but you can see that airflow from the 120mm front fan is still clear to the fep.
Well thats my first attempt at a hack that involved a soldering iron... Ill be practicing a bit more before I try it again... I suck at soldering.
There seems to be a little tweaking in this yet though, the PCI latency suggested by PROMISE is 64, my board is set for 32 and I have no idea what effect this would have on other cards if I changed it.
There is also the possibility of changing the stripe block size from 8 thru 64 (higher too I think).. might improve throughput, might not.
Either way, I rekon that this hack is worth the attempt.
Lucks to ya.
poly.