Thanks to companies like Abit and Promise offering inexpensive PCI controller cards that add full support for the new UltraDMA/66 protocol to any current mainboard, it's now time for Sharky Extreme to begin testing this new generation of speedy hard drives.

To kick off the new series we've turned to the a new UDMA/66 hard drive that shares the family name of one of the most successful IDE based product lines in history: The "Fireball" series from hard disk manufacturer Quantum.

Fresh off the assembly line, the new Fireball Plus KA series of hard disks sports impressive features including a 7,200rpm spindle speed, a 512KB buffer, and full UDMA/66 protocol support. Quantum intends the KA version of the Fireball line to carry the desktop performance flag into battle for the company, with performance and price value being equal priorities.

Towards that end the Fireball Plus KA line is offered in four sizes to fit any user's budget and needs: 6.4GB, 9.1GB, 13.6GB, and 18.2GB.

The drive we're reviewing today is the 13.6GB model, and was provided by hardware manufacturer and distributor Wintec.