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BuildOrBuy Group Network
www.buildorbuy.org | www.buildorbuy.net ]

BuildOrBuy News - 
  1. images/bullet2.gif32 bit & 64 bit PCI Slots:
  2. images/bullet2.gifBandwidth Calculations:
  3. images/bullet2.gifHard Drive Limitations:
  4. images/bullet2.gifIO Bus - Peripheral Bus:
  5. images/bullet2.gifRAM Chart:
  6. images/bullet2.gifNetwork Protocols:
  7. images/bullet2.gifWireless Topologies:
Transfer Rate Specs: 

There has been a lot of discussion about which transfer technology is faster between devices. Technology is constantly changing, but as of Super Bowl Sunday, 2001, here are the current Transfer Rates. 

[We have not used the term Bandwidth since that would imply actual Throughput. Bandwidth is often times misconstrued as Actual Sustained Throughput. NOT! Bandwidth expressed usually means Burst Mode Throughput implied. We're only identifying the Specification and not actual sustained Throughput. GB - Enjoy!]

By Joe Whinery

Maximum transfer rates of various technologies...
  1. ATAPI - ATA Specs
  2. SCSI Products
  • Kbps = (KiloBits Per Second) - Kbps is used as a rating of slow transmission speed.
  • Mbps = (MegaBits Per Second) - Mbps is commonly used as a rating of [higher capacity] transmission speed.
  • Gbps = (GigaBits Per Second)
  • GBps = (gigaBYTES per second)

 

Technology

MBytes/sec

Kbytes/sec

Serial Port   

14.75

Std Parallel Port 

0

.144

 = 500

USB ver. 1.1

1

.5
ECP/EPP (IEEE 1284)

3

 

IDE (min) Parallel ATA

3

.3

IDE (max) Parallel ATA

16

.7
ISA Bus

16

.7

SCSI 1

5

 
SCSI 2

10

 
SCSI 3

20

 
IDE Ultra DMA 3 (ATA/33)

33

 
Wide SCSI @ Ultra 2

40

 
1394 FireWire (backplane)

50

 
USB ver. 2.0

60

 
IDE Ultra DMA 66 (ATA/66)

66

 
Ultra 3 SCSI 

80

 
IDE Ultra DMA 100 (ATA/100)

100

 
IDE ULTRA ATA/133

133

 
SATA 1.5Gbps - Generation 1 Serial ATA

150

(= 1.5Gbps)
SATA 3Gbps

300

(= 3Gbps)
USB 3.0   (5Gbps)
SATA 6Gb/s (6Gb/s)
FC-AL Fiber Channel (Arbitrated Loop)

100

 
Wide Ultra 3 SCSI (Ultra 160)

160

 
Ultra 4 (Ultra 320)

320

 
Fiber Channel (quad speed) (*)

400

 
Ultra 640 SCSI

640

 
 

Mbits/sec

 
10BaseT EtherNet (CAT5 RJ-45) Twisted Pair

10

 (= 1.25 MB/sec)
100BaseT Fast Ethernet

100

 (= 12.5 MB/sec)
1000BaseT Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) [Intel CSA]

(1 Gbps) = 1,000

 (= 125 MB/sec)

IEEE 1394 FireWire (cable)

400

 (= 50 MB/sec)

USB 2.0

480

 (= 60 MB/sec)
IEEE 1394b FireWire a.k.a. FireWire 800

800

 (= 100 MB/sec)
 

1600

 (= 200 MB/sec)

 

3200

 (= 400 MB/sec)

10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE)

(10 Gbps) = 10,000

 (= 1,250 MB/sec)
PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) Bus (Parrallel)

133 MB/s

 - 33-MHz PCI

AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port - 8x)

2,133 MB/s

(= 2.1 GB/sec)
PCI Express - PCIe (Serial)    
PCI Express 1x

250 [500]* MB/s

 
PCI Express 2x 500 [1000]* MB/s (= 1 GB/sec)
PCI Express 4x 1000 [2000]* MB/s (= 2 GB/sec)
PCI Express 8x 2000 [4000]* MB/s (= 4 GB/sec)
PCI Express 16x 4000 [8000]* MB/s (= 8 GB/sec)
PCI Express 32x 8000 [16000]* MB/s (= 16 GB/s)
     
  1. PCI Express added when PCIe 2.0 became a shipping product on affordable MotherBoards (January 2008).
  2. USB 2.0 and Windows: WinXP HE / Pro & Win2000, NO Win9x support from Microsoft (6/17/2002).
  3. End of Line for Parallel ATA: ATA/133 was introduced in September of 2001 according to Maxtor. ATA Specs highlight Burst Mode Transfer Rates and not actual Sustained Throughput!
  4. Editorial Note: We added Serial ATA when relevance became reality.
  5. Editorial Note: Added USB since USB 1.1 vs. 2.0 is becoming a reality and so too the added confusion (12/7/2002).
  6. Editorial Note: Added AGP & PCI Express for relative technology speed comparisons (5/2/2003).
  7. From www.ExtremeTech.com Forum Discussions: Speed Chart for Data Systems (7/14/2004)  Note: This is one of the best, most complete Charts available! (3/23/2008)

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Web Development, Gill Boyd & Team - Updated 08-28-2001; Revised 01/13/2009