MSI Adds Power eSATA to Several Products

MSI will provide a number of its products with an integrated Power eSATA connector. This connector eliminates the need for an extra power connector for eSATA-compatible devices. The eSATA interface lets computer users take full advantage of the faster connection speeds of the SATA interface for external devices. In fact, MSI states that Power eSATA is eight times faster in transferring data than normal USB ports.

Before a new standard was announced by the Serial ATA Internal Organization (SATA-IO) in early 2008, eSATA devices required power from either a USB cable or power adapter. With the new Power Over eSATA standard available today, external devices can draw power over the cable that connects to the PC. This gives users an additional free USB port and eliminates extra cables.

With the announcement, MSI introduced the first AM3 motherboard that uses the new Power eSATA connector. The MSI 790FX-GD70 motherboard will feature a Power eSATA port and will allow users to build an AMD-ready PC that can be used with eSATA devices such as OCZ’s Throttle eSATA drive. In addition, MSI offers a handful of notebooks that will feature the new connector. More specifically, the following MSI products now feature a Power eSATA connector: