AMD's SB800 to have SATA 3 support

Windows Middle East has learnt from industry insiders that AMD’s forthcoming SB800 Southbridge chip will likely feature built-in Serial ATA 3 support. The Southbridge is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2010.

The Serial ATA 3 standard was officially released on 27th May 2009 and increases channel bandwidth from 3Gbits/sec to 6Gbits/sec. The new standard also includes updated Native Command Queuing (NCQ) technology and allows for smaller interface connectors. The latter is useful when designing 1.8-inch storage devices.

Industry insiders reckon Intel Southbridges featuring a built-in SATA3 controller will become available several months after AMD unleashes its SB800. Because of this, Windows expects motherboard vendors interested in featuring SATA 3 support on their Intel motherboards will turn to third party vendors such as Marvell.

SATA 3 drives are expected to hit the market in September of this year and Seagate is expected to be the first storage manufacturer out the door with compatible drives.

Print | Email | Discuss this article

| Share |

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM