Question Can I use a PCIe 4X to 8 or 6 SATA Expansion Card on a PCIe 2.0 x4x slot

[agyaani]

As the title mentions I need to add more SATA ports to my Plex machine for extra HDDs (no SSDs). I have a free PCIe 2.0 x4x slot and I was wondering if it is okay if I use a PCIe 4X to 8 or 6 SATA Expansion Card or if it will be too much for the slot to handle. Please advise.

 

[zinkles]

As the title mentions I need to add more SATA ports to my Plex machine for extra HDDs (no SSDs). I have a free PCIe 2.0 x4x slot and I was wondering if it is okay if I use a PCIe 4X to 8 or 6 SATA Expansion Card or if it will be too much for the slot to handle. Please advise.

Are you actually going to use all those SATA ports?
How many more drives do you plan on putting in there?

 

[kanewolf]

As the title mentions I need to add more SATA ports to my Plex machine for extra HDDs (no SSDs). I have a free PCIe 2.0 x4x slot and I was wondering if it is okay if I use a PCIe 4X to 8 or 6 SATA Expansion Card or if it will be too much for the slot to handle. Please advise.

HDDs only use about 1/4th (max) the bandwidth of a SATA port. It should work. A 2.0 x4 slot has 2GB/s bandwidth -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#Comparison_table So you have plenty of bandwidth for 150MB/s HDDs. SDDs could be impacted.

 

[agyaani]

Are you actually going to use all those SATA ports?
How many more drives do you plan on putting in there?

Yes, I will as I have quite a few old drives that are working fine. These are like 2, 3 , 4 or 6 TB drives so nothing massive. Also, I recently got hold of a Fractal Design Define 7XL which will give me space to add these drives.

 

[agyaani]

HDDs only use about 1/4th (max) the bandwidth of a SATA port. It should work. A 2.0 x4 slot has 2GB/s bandwidth -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#Comparison_table So you have plenty of bandwidth for 150MB/s HDDs. SDDs could be impacted.

Thanks! So using multiple ports will still work?

 

[kanewolf]

Thanks! So using multiple ports will still work?

With HDDs you should be OK.