Conclusive Thoughts

• In conclusion we can say for this Barracuda XT there is not really a necessity to include a third generation SAT controller, since there is hardly any difference noticeable.
  SATA 6Gbps however shall become more interesting in the future. With solid state drives that can reach far higher transfer rates it is likely they’ll surpass 300MB/s, the maximum of the current second generation SATA interface.
  
  So for people looking for a future proof system based on new SSDs SATA 6Gbps might become very interesting. But for those who want to stay with mechanical hard drives there is not really a reason to get a SATA 6Gbps controller for now, since the speeds of the current hard drives are by far not close to the maximum of the SATA 3Gbps controllers on current systems.
  
  
  
  
• In conclusion for the USB 3.0 tests, we can say USB 3.0 is a great improvement compared to USB 2.0 when high transfer speeds are necessary. For using other USB devices like mice, keyboards, printers and other devices that don't rely on fast transfer of data, USB 2.0 will still be more than sufficient.

Editor’s Note: It will be interesting to see what will become of the eSATA standard. Will it also get an upgrade? Currently eSATA is pretty much on par with the original SATA interface regarding speed and latency. It pushed Firewire to the brink of extinction on modern day motherboards and prebuild systems. Will USB 3.0 do the same for eSATA?

With both AMD and Intel not yet getting onboard the USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps bandwagon, it can be a while before these new standards become mainstream. This will translate in higher prices for us enthusiasts who like to have the latest gear, today.