Singapore Hardware Zone

Abit Hot Rod 66
Reviewed by CPU-zilla  (23 Oct 99)

Hot Rod 66 Specifications

Chipset

HighPoint HPT366 Ultra DMA/66 IDE Controller

Bus

PCI

Drive Modes
  • Ultra ATA 4/3/2/1/0
  • PIO 4/3/2/1/0
  • DMA 2/1/0
BIOS support
  • Auto identifies and configures drive type
  • Auto detect and supports Ultra Mode (ATA/EIDE) transfers
  • Recognizes drives up to 128GB
Features
  • Ultra DMA 66MB/sec burst data transfer rate
  • Two independent ATA channels
  • 256 byte FIFO per ATA channel
  • Concurrent PIO and bus master access
  • Plug & Play compliant
  • Supports up to 4 IDE devices
  • Supports new CRC enhanced data protection for Ultra ATA drives
  • Supports dual data channels which allow separate device timings for Ultra ATA and EIDE devices
  • Supports ACPI functions
Operating Systems
  • Microsoft DOS 5.x and above
  • Microsoft Windows 95/98
  • Microsoft Windows NT 4.0

<Introduction><The Good><The Test><The Bad><Conclusion><Rating>

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Introduction

When I first got the product, I carried it with me to a Cineplex to catch a movie with a friend. He was curious about what I was carrying as the card was contained inside a large black box. So, I willingly opened the bag and gave him a peep. At once, he started laughing at the name of the product. I was puzzled so I asked him why. He looked at me in a very dirty-minded sort of way and at once I knew that his filthy thoughts was in control. He continued to ask what it was for, and I told him that it was used with hard drives. Again, he laughed and at that moment, I knew he was thinking dirty again. Don't ask me what's in his mind. :)

Well, the name Hot Rod does sound a little funny, especially for those who don't know what an actual Hot Rod is. If you've been watching Home Improvement, you would notice that Tim Allen is always talking about getting his Hot Rod fixed, and in this case, I'm referring to a self-built race car. I guess that's how ABIT got the name, as it is meant to describe a powerful and speedy peripheral for your IDE hard drives.

After testing out the Promise Technology's Ultra 66 card, it is time to check out the Hot Rod 66 offered by ABIT. The chipset is also used in some of the more recent ABIT motherboards, such as the BP6, BE6 and the upcoming BE6-2. The Hot Rod 66 has generated quite a lot of discussion since its release due to its incompatibility with other devices such as CD-ROMs.

The product comes in a very large black box, and in it, you will find the card itself, plus a manual, an installation diskette and two pieces of Ultra DMA/66 80-conductor cable. I was surprised to find two sets of cable as the Promise Ultra66 only came with one. Another surprise is the cable's flexibility, as it is much softer than any other 80-conductor cable I have ever handled.

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The Good

I guess one of the main attraction of the card is in its price. The price is very good especially if you compare it with the other only competitor. After all, a small investment of about S$65 would give you an extra expansion of another 4 IDE devices. In addition, you get 2 80-conductor cables which is all that you need to get started. At least, you don't have to spend another 10-20 bucks on an 80-conductor cable.

Installation of the card was simple. Upon re-booting your system after a minor card insertion surgery, you are at once greeted with the familiar "New Hardware Detected" dialog. Just install the driver and you should be on your way to getting faster disk performance. However, if you don't download the latest drivers and BIOS for the card, you'd be in for a big headache. Read the next section.


The drivers are installed as SCSI controllers.
Each IDE channel is considered as one controller.

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The Test

In the tests, I compared the Hot Rod 66 with the Promise Ultra66 card on a Pentium II 350MHz system running on the MS-6163Pro motherboard. The IBM Deskstar 22GXP 9.1GB hard drive was used in all the test, using both UDMA/33 and UDMA/66 transfer modes.

Test Configuration

Motherboard: MS-6163Pro
Processor: Pentium II 350
RAM: 128MB Mitsubishi PC100 SDRAM
HD: IBM Deskstar 22GXP 9.1GB
Operating System: Windows 98 SE
Drivers versions:

v.1.42 (Promise Ultra66)
v.1.11 (Hot Rod 66)

Two sets of benchmarks were performed on each setting. I used the Adaptec Threadmark 2.0, as well as the Disk Winmark suite in ZDNet's Winbench 99. The Adaptec Threadmark tests take about one hour for each run, and due to time constraints, it was performed only once. The Winbench 99 tests were ran three times and the highest score in each test was taken.

Windows 98 FAT 32 Benchmarking Results

Adaptec Threadmark 2.0
Data Transfer Rate
Adaptec Threadmark 2.0
Average CPU Utilisation


The Abit Hot Rod 66 seems to be slower in this category. Seems like the on-board UDMA/33 controller was faster. What a shame.


The average CPU utilisation of all the controllers are pretty much the same, with the exception of the on-board controller with DMA turned off. This shows how much more processing is needed if you fail turn on the on-board controller DMA setting.

Winbench 99
Business Disk Winmark
Winbench 99
High-End Disk Winmark 99


In the Business Disk Winmark test, the Promise Ultra66 performed slightly better than the Hot Rod using UDMA/66 setting. However, the Hot Rod was faster with UDMA/33 setting, and the speed was almost the same as using UDMA/66.


In the High-End test, the Hot Rod outperformed the Promise Ultra66 even when using UDMA/33 setting.

The results from the two benchmarks seem to be contradicting each other. With the Adaptec Threadmark 2.0, the Hot Rod seemed slower. However, in the Winbench tests, the Hot Rod seemed faster. I tend to believe the Winbench results more than Threadmark 2.0 since the latter is a very old benchmarking utility which is no longer supported by Adaptec.

Windows NT 4.0 NTFS Benchmarking Results

Adaptec Threadmark 2.0
Data Transfer Rate
Adaptec Threadmark 2.0
Average CPU Utilisation


The performance of every controller are almost the same. The on-board IDE controller performed as well as the Hot Rod and the Promise Ultra 66 controllers.


The average CPU utilisation of both Hot Rod and Promise Ultra66 are almost on par. The on-board controller of the 6163Pro required a little bit more CPU resources, but the 1% difference is not something that you will notice.

Winbench 99
Business Disk Winmark
Winbench 99
High-End Disk Winmark 99


Once again, the Hot Rod triumphed in this category.


In the High-End test, the Hot Rod again outperformed the Promise Ultra66.

The NTFS benchmarks indicate that the Hot Rod is much more superior than the Promise Ultra66 controller. Although it is faster, the difference between the Promise Ultra66 and the Hot Rod is very small, and almost not noticeable. For those of you who are concerned about numbers, I'm sure you already know which card you should purchase. Need I say more?

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The Bad

Although the Hot Rod 66 is a superb performer, it is plagued with numerous problems. I believe there's been enough talk about its incompatibility with other IDE devices such as CD-ROM drives. In fact, I tested the controller with a CD-ROM connected to the secondary channel. Upon booting, my fears were confirmed, the system hanged and refused to budge. This is really a disappointment as you can only attach hard disks to the controller. Anyway, I suppose it shouldn't be much of a problem since you can always use the motherboard IDE controller for your miscellaneous IDE devices such as CD-ROM or ZIP drives.

In addition to the CD-ROM problem, the card also came with an outdated BIOS. Initial tests were ran with the older BIOS, and one of the reviewers noted its poor performance, which is worse than the on-board IDE controller. I later found an updated BIOS from the ABIT web site and immediately flashed the BIOS. Well, it seemed to have solve the problem although I'm not sure if it was meant to do so. Anyway, do make sure you flash the BIOS on the Hot Rod before you start to do anything.

If you notice the screen capture above, you will notice two Highpoint controllers in the Device Manager. It doesn't mean that there are two cards attached to the system. Each IDE channel is assigned a different IRQ, and thus, the driver is installed twice. Users might find it strange and even confusing if they didn't know about this, since they have to install the driver twice. This is unlike the Promise Ultra66 which only requires one IRQ. So, if you are tight on IRQ resources, the Hot Rod 66 may be an unattractive option as you may run into conflicts if you have too many peripherals installed on your system.

Also, if you are planning to use the Hot Rod 66 with your current Promise Ultra66 card, you will be extremely disappointed (again). I tested the system with both cards installed, and after the installation of the drivers, the system froze and refused to boot into Windows. Even after the cards were removed from the system, I still didn't manage to get Windows running again. I have to go into Safe Mode to remove the drivers before I could get my system to boot into Windows once again. Seems like some form of conflict existed between the Promise Ultra66 and HotRod 66 dirvers. Haha, this is what I call, "A conflict of interest".

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Conclusion

The Abit HotRod 66 is truly great in terms of performance and price. If you are searching for a cheap solution to your UDMA/66 needs, the Abit HotRod 66 IDE controller may just be the right toy for you. However, you should be aware of the potential problems you may encounter. Otherwise, this product is worth every penny (almost).

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HOT ROD 66 RATING

Overall Rating
(Out of a maximum of 5 Star)

Installation **
Performance ****
Price ****½
Material Quality **
Stability ***½
Overall Rating ***½

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