Does using a SATA II cable on a SATA III Hard drive really matter?

[Pluh]

So i just ordered myself a secondary hard drive for recording and i totally forgot to order myself a SATA 3 cable since i have none.I only have SATA 2 cables so im wondering if it really makes a performance difference using a SATA 2 cable on a SATA 3 Hard drive.

 

[Diablo]

The electrical connections are the same, and I didn't see any difference between the two cables on my Corsair Force GT (one SATA 3, one SATA 2, same mobo etc.) The only difference will be a little bit of certification and maybe some beefier EM insulation, so in real terms, no difference.

 

[Aurus_OC]

I think SATA 2 and SATA 3 cables are physically the same. They use the same connector and the same wiring. So yes you should be able to use the same cable without any difference.

 

[S_I_N]

for the most part its true they are the same but alot of folks have claimed to see a difference in performance. Only way for you to know for sure is to bench it and see what results you get.

 

[sheroo]

I had exactly the same question a couple of weeks ago and did a couple of hours googling. The sata 3 cables are apparently made to a higher certification standard compared to sata 2. However as long as you are using a good quality sata 2 cable then in the real world there is no difference in performance.

 

[Pluh]

I had exactly the same question a couple of weeks ago and did a couple of hours googling. The sata 3 cables are apparently made to a higher certification standard compared to sata 2. However as long as you are using a good quality sata 2 cable then in the real world there is no difference in performance.

Would you consider the SATA 2 cables that came with my Asus P8Z68 VPRO GEN3 motherboard good quality?.They are the only ones i got ATM

 

[Aurus_OC]

Would you consider the SATA 2 cables that came with my Asus P8Z68 VPRO GEN3 motherboard good quality?.They are the only ones i got ATM

I would yes.

 

[sheroo]

Would you consider the SATA 2 cables that came with my Asus P8Z68 VPRO GEN3 motherboard good quality?.They are the only ones i got ATM

They should be absolutely fine. A mechanical hard drive can't saturate a sata 2 connection. sata 2 is 3Gb/s = 375MB/s, a mechanical hard drive will typically run at about 70 - 100MB/s. If you had a sata 3 SSD running at 500MB/s then you would still probably be OK with a sata 2 cable but it would then be best to do some benches with say ATTO, just to make sure.

 

[Pluh]

They should be absolutely fine. A mechanical hard drive can't saturate a sata 2 connection. sata 2 is 3Gb/s = 375MB/s, a mechanical hard drive will typically run at about 70 - 100MB/s. If you had a sata 3 SSD running at 500MB/s then you would still probably be OK with a sata 2 cable but it would then be best to do some benches with say ATTO, just to make sure.

Thanks. Took a load off my mind.Kept thinking i was going to get low performance and it was driving me crazy.Im like that for some reason

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