Would you care if we lost the IDE port?

I've had motherboard makers asking about next generation motherboards not including the IDE port - how do you, their potential customers, feel about this?

Any other ports you think we could do without/specifically need now?

EDIT: We're talking high-end here, so budget sub-£100 it won't be.

 

I don't think I would miss the IDE port... I mean I've been meaning to switch to a SATA optical drive for ages but haven't cos I'm lazy... The IDE cables take up so much room and are a pain to get out of the way of air flow... Plus most manufacturers give the flat IDE cables with thier products instead of rounded ones which are even mosre of a pain... I assume they would give you a couple of extra SATA cables though?

 

Its better to get rid of it IMO, aswell as the floppy and give use more sata. One thing that could be in the fireing line is ps2, though i find i still need that because my usb keyboard wont work till windows boots up wate 30 seconds to boot or wack the ps2 keyboard in and tell it to get on with booting NOW!!!

 

I would absolutely exact a high end board to come with plenty of SATA.

 

I'm really not sure - I still have loads of IDE Drives - It was a bit hit-and-miss getting my Asus P5K, as it's only got one IDE port.
The thing is, quite a few boards now have one IDE port, so a lot of people have culled their IDE devices, or moved them to their legacy PC's (fileservers etc).
Leftover IDE drives can always be put in external enclosures I suppose.

Lets Do SATA!

Edit - Why are they asking about IDE ports, when they STILL have Floppy ports? I haven't even seen a floppy disk for ~7-8 years, and haven't had a floppy drive for my last 4 motherboards.

 

I wouldn't have a problem with no IDE port on enthusiast boards but would want it on lower end boards, for an HTPC or server for example. This is where I tend to re-use older parts which are often IDE.

 

get rid of those ugly ribbens.

i switched to SATA as soon as possible, and not looked back since.

for floppy, i've not used floppy in ages. but im not sure about motherboard compatibility with USB floppy drives. as soon as they fix that, get rid of floppy.

also, agree on a LED/switch layout with case manufacturers. i've gotten fed up with plugging them in one by one. i've even considered to get Asus just for their EZ header thing.

 

I could do without IDE, floppy and ps2. They can all be replaced. I'm also very surprised at the amount of parallel and serial outs i see on the back I/O panels of a lot of mobos.

7.1 sound is another unneeded feature. In my opinion, everyone that uses the feature will have invested in a dedicated soundcard anyway.

For me personally, all a mobo needs on the back is a lot of USB, eSATA, maybe 2x LAN and simple audio. Maybe add firewire too, though i never used it.
Enthousiasts will enjoy a clr cmos switch too.

The space that's left over can be used to build a good cooling channel for the mosfets. They are hardly ever sufficiently cooled.

 

Haven't used IDE for a while now, don't think I'll ever go back. Same goes for Floppy. Small SATA cables beats those ugly ribbons hands down

 

I'd say cull it if the connector on sata was better, but its just too easy to break or knock loose.

 

Why not get rid of the IDE port, but supply an IDE to S-ATA converter with the board?

They seem to chuck in the kitchen sink with boards today, so why not one of those?

 

The what port?

 

Wouldn't it be nice to have a "backwards compatability card" for the PCI interface? Most PC's in the world have unused PCI slots, and a PCI card that lets you install IDE, Floppy, PS2, etc etc wouldn't be THAT hard to make, will it?

Or is there a technical problem for the BIOS to adress these things though the PCI interface?

 

does such a thing exist?

 

I do still use it myself, but I still would like to get rid of it. Up till recently I had an IDE hard disk but that died, and I still have an IDE DVD drive.
They can be useful for when Uncle Fred's computer breaks and you want to get something off or as others say, re-using perfectly good but slightly older hardware in fileservers so I would not want to ditch them on all motherboards. Still, I would get rid of them on mid-high end motherboards.

I would also get rid of the floppy connector, far faster that then IDE I suppose. There is much less of a use for the floppy connector, and it takes up nearly the same amount of room.

 

ID-what? Kill it, kill it like the redundant connection it is.

 

Yes, they certainly do.

 

Not a bad idea, though I've run in to all sorts of compatability issues with SATA-IDE converters in the past, I doubt its something motherboard manufacturers are going to want to take responsibility for.

 

I certainly wouldn't be bothered- Mankz' solution seems viable for the phase-out period, and there's no real reason to keep them on the board.

 

...and they cost £25 each in Maplin!