Review - Silicon Image Serial ATA Sil 3112 Controller

Reviewed by Andrew Chalfant

Conclusion

In the end, SATA is, in its current manifestation, not much faster than Parallel ATA. But the qualities that make SATA appealing are still there. The ease of use and the convenient cables mean that installing a hard drive has before now never been easier. Moreover, the general use of SATA did reflect the results of the CPU utilization test. When accessing files, there was less of a momentary slowdown - overall system response time seemed to be improved.

The Sil 3112 controller is a worthwhile card. It's stable, easy to install, and has a good deal of support for both Windows and Linux. If you plan on upgrading anytime soon, you can't really go wrong with this card. If you plan on getting a motherboard with integrated SATA, chances are you will get an Sil 3112 chip onboard - rest assured it's quite adequate. While I'd like to be able to give you a more accurate image of how the Sil 3112 actually performs in comparison to other cards, samples for many cards are only being shipped in small quantities - the hard drives even more so. My advice is to wait a little while to see where the technology goes, and then make a more informed decision.