ATA controller and HD speed...

[mattbiernat]

I was reading a bit about T23 and I came across this:

Its not a question of money, but rather of already owning the 4200 RPM drive. 5400 RPM is a worthwhile boost (I run 5400s in both my T60 and my external case), but for an older machine with a slow ATA controller, the "modern" 4200 RPM drive is fast enough.

can anyone explain what does ATA controller has to do with HD speed. I might be considering to upgrade T23 with a faster HD but only if its worth it.

[acasto]

Well, I believe the ATA controller would limit the max throughput that could be achieved, thus limiting some big advantages with modern drives. A faster RPM drive would still give you faster seek times though. I had a laptop once in which the chipset severely limited the HD transfers, and as a result didn't see much of a difference between a 5400rpm and a 7200rpm drive. Overall, if I was to go back and do it again I would have just gotten a higher capacity 5400 drive.

[GomJabbar]

Perhaps this article will help.
Everything you Need to Know About ATA-66, ATA-100 and ATA-133 Hard Disks

Architecture
Intel 830MP chipset / 82830MP Graphics Memory Controller Hub (GMCH-M) / 82801CAM ICH3-M I/O Controller Hub (ATA-100/66 EIDE, PCI bus, Low Pin Count (LPC) interface, USB) / E82802AC Firmware Hub / PCI bus 2.2 32-bit, 33MHz (TI® PCI1420 CardBus, Mini PCI, external expansion) / LPC bus 33MHz (PC87392 Super I/O for diskette, serial, parallel, infrared)

The 7,200 rpm Hitachi drive supports the ATA-6 interface, which is rated 100 MB/s Ultra DMA mode-5. This is the same as what the Intel 830MP chipset is rated for. It would seem that theoretically at least, the interface on a T23 is not a detriment to running a 7,200 rpm drive.

Hitachi Travelstar® 7K100 datasheet

The following webpage provides some additional information.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT_Attachment

The above information is regarding PATA drives, not a SATA drives, which the T23 cannot use anyway.