Difference between SATA ports?

[redness]

I have a Gigabyte z68ap-d3. It has 6 SATA ports. One port is on top of one another so SATA 1 is on top of SATA 0 and SATA 3 is on top of SATA 4 and so on.

Does it matter where I plug in my boot drive and my HDD that is mainly used for storage?

Here is the site for my mobo:
http://www.gigabyte.ph/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3897#ov

It has a section about the SATA ports saying how fast SATA 3.0 is but I don't know which ports are SATA 3.0 and SATA 2.0.

 

[Ironsounds]

Hello... SATA0... is the first place the MB Bio's will look for a HD/SSD.

 

[redness]

Hello... SATA0... is the first place the MB Bio's will look for a HD/SSD.

So besides that, it doesn't matter? I'll just put my boot drive on SATA0 and whatever else on the other SATA's?

 

[Ironsounds]

Hello... Yes... in the order of importance to your system... you'll be fine.

 

[techgeek]

One thing to note about SATA ports and USB ports for that matter, the native chipsets ports will always perform better than third party controllers. So if your motherboard has third party controllers, only use these if you absolutely need to. Stick to the Intel SATA ports on your motherboard.

The difference between SATA 2 and 3 when it comes to hard drives doesn't make a difference the drive will be the bottleneck either way. SATA 3 becomes important only when you connect a SSD to it.

 

[redness]

Hello... Yes... in the order of importance to your system... you'll be fine.

What if I put my boot drive in SATA0 and my HDD for storage in SATA5. Will I still be fine?

 

[redness]

One thing to note about SATA ports and USB ports for that matter, the native chipsets ports will always perform better than third party controllers. So if your motherboard has third party controllers, only use these if you absolutely need to. Stick to the Intel SATA ports on your motherboard.

The difference between SATA 2 and 3 when it comes to hard drives doesn't make a difference the drive will be the bottleneck either way. SATA 3 becomes important only when you connect a SSD to it.

My boot drive is an SSD. Should I put it in the SATA3 slot?

Why didn't GIGABYTE just make all the slots of this mobo SATA3 instead of separating them all to different SATA versions?

 

[Ironsounds]

Hello... Do you have a obstruction with some of the ports from the Video card? or a cable length problem?

OK... I see you have the side mount ones 's and can't get your fingers or connecter in there?

How many SATA connections do you need and types of devices?

 

[redness]

Hello... Do you have a obstruction with some of the ports from the Video card? or a cable length problem?

Yes. My video card is a bit in the way of my SATA1 slot. Is that an issue?

 

[techgeek]

One thing to note about SATA ports and USB ports for that matter, the native chipsets ports will always perform better than third party controllers. So if your motherboard has third party controllers, only use these if you absolutely need to. Stick to the Intel SATA ports on your motherboard.

The difference between SATA 2 and 3 when it comes to hard drives doesn't make a difference the drive will be the bottleneck either way. SATA 3 becomes important only when you connect a SSD to it.

My boot drive is an SSD. Should I put it in the SATA3 slot?

Why didn't GIGABYTE just make all the slots of this mobo SATA3 instead of separating them all to different SATA versions?

You most definitely want your SSD to be on a SATA 3 controller. Otherwise your SSD will top out at ~280MBs instead of north of 500MBs (drive dependent of course).

As for anything else, you can put them where you want. Just the caveat I mentioned, try to keep them on Intel SATA controllers.

As for why Intel didn't just go completely SATA 3.0 for all their SATA ports on the chipset. Little to no need at the time your chipset was developed. SSD weren't as common then, and for those who had them, most didn't have more than one drive. SATA 3.0 was first introduced on an Intel chipset with the 60 series. Therefore your motherboard was the first Z chipset to have them.

 

[Ironsounds]

Hello... NO... you can skip that one with No problem... They do make left and right angle SATA connectors that I find helpful in a Tight build... Don't try to force or Angle a Fit with any of those connectors... they make a connector type and size for about any tight build.