Adding SATA III ports.

[sacrednut]

Have mobo Asus P8H67-M LX. Using the PCI express 2.0 x16 for the video card. All SATA ports on mobo are filled. All other PCI ports are free. Can someone find the best add on controller card to allow for more SATA III ports.

I'd like my ssd and faster hdd drives to be plugged into 6gb/s ports on mobo, and slower drives on 3gb/s on mobo and have more ports on the controller for any faster drive options like 6gb/s.

 

[AdviserKulikov]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100007607%20600362381%20600022631

Use at your own risk, these devices have reported issues with some users.

Do not purchase PCIe 2.0 x1 controllers as they only offer 4Gb/second per lane and cannot provide the full 6Gb/s.

As you want multiple connections I would advise using the PCIe 2.0 x 4 lane slot on your motherboard and an appropriate controller (You can get 2 full SATA 6Gb/s connections out of this).

Alternatively you can use USB3.0 ports, but they are limited to 5/6 the speed of SATA III

 

[sacrednut]

Link to my mobo is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131713

Besides the express 2.0 x16 that is being used my video card, the mobo says I have a 1 x PCI Express x4 and 2 x PCI Slots. Is the x4 a PCI express 2.0? I don't think so because it would say 2.0 right? I want to make sure the controller cards are compatible and are as fast as possible so I can maximize my ssd/hdd speeds.

Can someone link me to controller cards that I could use for these different slots. The x4 as well as the PCI slot. Please look at the mobo link to see what these PCI slot choices are and maybe explain for me what I need to be looking at. I feel like newegg didn't do a good job detailing the PCI slot options and it's making it difficult for me to match the right card.

Thanks for your guys help!
Sacrednut

I assume the best way to achieve more sata ports and to have them be the fastest would be to buy a different motherboard that has more sata ports, but that looks like it would be 125$. I'd rather spend 60 or less and add a controller card so I can plug in a few more ssd/hdds and be done with it and have it all connected.

 

[AdviserKulikov]

Link to my mobo is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131713

Besides the express 2.0 x16 that is being used my video card, the mobo says I have a 1 x PCI Express x4 and 2 x PCI Slots. Is the x4 a PCI express 2.0? I don't think so because it would say 2.0 right? I want to make sure the controller cards are compatible and are as fast as possible so I can maximize my ssd/hdd speeds.

Can someone link me to controller cards that I could use for these different slots. The x4 as well as the PCI slot. Please look at the mobo link to see what these PCI slot choices are and maybe explain for me what I need to be looking at. I feel like newegg didn't do a good job detailing the PCI slot options and it's making it difficult for me to match the right card.

Thanks for your guys help!
Sacrednut

I assume the best way to achieve more sata ports and to have them be the fastest would be to buy a different motherboard that has more sata ports, but that looks like it would be 125$. I'd rather spend 60 or less and add a controller card so I can plug in a few more ssd/hdds and be done with it and have it all connected.

The X4 slot is indeed 2.0. The x1 slots are unlabeled, but I would assume either 1.0 or 2.0. (Leaning towards 2.0 so they didn't have to put another controller on the board)

The link provided only has x4 PCIe 2.0 cards that provide SATA III. These are the only types of cards I would suggest for you to use.

Obviously using a better motherboard would be optimal, but these cards will provide 2 full speed (non native, may not be able to serve as boot drive, may require windows drivers) SATA III ports.

 

[sacrednut]

So if I added SYBA SD-PEX40054 PCI-Express 2.0 x4 SATA III (6.0Gb/s) HyperDuo 4-port RAID Controller Card into the 2.0 x4 slot and let's say plugged in 4-3TB WD Green SATA 6Gb/s hard drives. Or any 4 SATA 6Gb/s hard drives, what speeds what I be getting on the drives if I were using them one a time, or two, or all 4?

How would the drive speeds compare If I was sending data from one drive to another on the same card? How about from a drive connected into mobo port to one of the drives on the card?

 

[AdviserKulikov]

So if I added SYBA SD-PEX40054 PCI-Express 2.0 x4 SATA III (6.0Gb/s) HyperDuo 4-port RAID Controller Card into the 2.0 x4 slot and let's say plugged in 4-3TB WD Green SATA 6Gb/s hard drives. Or any 4 SATA 6Gb/s hard drives, what speeds what I be getting on the drives if I were using them one a time, or two, or all 4?

How would the drive speeds compare If I was sending data from one drive to another on the same card? How about from a drive connected into mobo port to one of the drives on the card?

You would get 6Gb/s for one, or two drives.

For three drives simultaneously you would either get 3 x 5.3Gb/s.

For four drives running at the same time you would get 4x4 Gb/s.


Intra Card speeds may have a higher limit, however... unless you are using SSDs that cost more than your CPU and motherboard you won't hit those limits. The fastest recorded SATA SSD's write speed was pegged at 6GB/s, limited by controller.

 

[FireWire2]

So you do not run out of port 🙂 using this card you can have up to TWENTY SATAIII if you want to. Of course with SATAIII Port Multiplier
http://www.datoptic.com/ec/four-esata-6gb-pci-express-support-mac-windows-and-linux.html

Otherwise get ANY four ports PCIe V2 like this one
http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Express-Controller-HyperDuo-Tiering/dp/B00BUC3N74/