Well - that's true - and I'd have to go do some legwork to answer your question with any real confidence - but since I have a screaming earache - that will have to wait a little. I do recall looking at some of the newer WD Scorpio drives and thinking they were were approaching the SATA II max bw. I believe they have some SATA III drives out - but whether or not those actually exceed the throughput capability of SATA II, I don't know. If they don't - then you're right - it's immaterial.