Trying to install a SATA-3 Controller in Asus P5Q-EM

[Howard_Woodard]

I'd like to be able to add a SATA-3 capability in order to take full advantage of my SSD's speed.

It appears that I need to use the blue PCIE 2.0 x16 slot for SYBAUSA's 2 Port SATA III PCI Express 2.0 x1 Controller Card (SY-PEX40039) but the PC will not boot whenever anything other than a graphics card is plugged into that slot. I changed the BIOS to look only for IGD but that made no difference.

Can anyone tell me how I can do this?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[rocktalkrock]

I don't think you will be able to do this. Booting from an SSD connected through a PCIe slot depends on several different things. Doing this on an older motherboard without an UEFI BIOS is not likely to work. What is the SSD you are using?

 

[Howard_Woodard]

Thanks. According to Asus tech support the x16 slot in the P5Q-EM can only be used for a graphics card because it "is not bifurcated". I looked this up and after reading a few articles on PCI bifurcation decided to just take them at their word.

I have another mobo (P5Q Pro) that this card does work in but in all cases (HDD, SSHD, SSD), while the devices show up as being SATA-3 devices when plugged into the card, they all run slower than the native SATA-2 ports. The HDDs are Western Data and Seagate. The SSHD is a Seagate. I've tried Samsung EVO 850, a SanDisk and a Transcend SSD. The results are consistently predictable (slower that SATA-2) in all cases.

 

[Howard_Woodard]

Ha ha. Just read nearly 300 -- 296 to be exact -- questions and comments from people trying to use this card to do the same thing I am. Fugettaboutit is the consensus. It appears that I'm getting the only results this little card is capable of - at least when used with my motherboards.

I'm still interested in doing this with a different add-on controller so I'm gonna keep looking for someone who has actually gotten the SATA-3 performance results.

 

[rocktalkrock]

Ha ha. Just read nearly 300 -- 296 to be exact -- questions and comments from people trying to use this card to do the same thing I am. Fugettaboutit is the consensus. It appears that I'm getting the only results this little card is capable of - at least when used with my motherboards.

I'm still interested in doing this with a different add-on controller so I'm gonna keep looking for someone who has actually gotten the SATA-3 performance results.

I'm doing what you are trying to do, so i have spent some time checking this out. What speeds are you getting with your SSD? I'm running a 250gb Samsung 850 EVO SSD through a Syba SI-PEX40057 controller card (PCIe 2.0 x2). The best speed i can get is about 400 MB/s read. Your card is only PCIe 2.0 x1, so that may be slowing you down.

 

[Howard_Woodard]

I've already deleted my Crystal results but 196-205 was what I got with the SSDs. More like 127-173 with the hard drives.

You have to wonder why they would claim 6GBs capability on a x1 card if a single lane won't run that fast. Oh well, I think I'll try the 40057.

Thanks for the reference.

Howard

 

[rocktalkrock]

I've already deleted my Crystal results but 196-205 was what I got with the SSDs. More like 127-173 with the hard drives.

You have to wonder why they would claim 6GBs capability on a x1 card if a single lane won't run that fast. Oh well, I think I'll try the 40057.

Thanks for the reference.

Howard

Here is an old post about add-in Sata controllers.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/286329-32-comparing-controllers-sata

 

[Howard_Woodard]

Thanks. I thought I had searched everything but had not run across that. But according to it the controllers built on the ASMedia ASM1061 chipset are the fastest. That's what the SY-PEX40039 that I have uses.

What motherboard are you using and what internal i/o slot are you using?

 

[rocktalkrock]

Thanks. I thought I had searched everything but had not run across that. But according to it the controllers built on the ASMedia ASM1061 chipset are the fastest. That's what the SY-PEX40039 that I have uses.

What motherboard are you using and what internal i/o slot are you using?

My controller card is mounted in the 2nd x16 slot of an Asus P7P55D motherboard. The card uses a "Marvell 88SE9230 RAID Chip". It's a Sata 3.0 controller with a faster 2x lane PCie 2.0 interface. It was released in 2012, after the ASMedia ASM1061 chip which only uses a 1x lane PCIe 2.0 interface. The Marvell 88SE9230 is more modern, and is still used as an add-on chip with some motherboards.

 

[Howard_Woodard]

I just ordered the same thing - Syba SI-PEX40057. I'll let you know how it works out.

Update: Wow, just wow is all I can say. I installed this card in the second PCIE-x16 slot of my Asus P5Q Pro motherboard, installed the Marvell driver that came with it, and it was instantly about twice as fast - 545/213 vs 281/150. What a sweet performance upgrade for the old mobos for just $38.

Assuming no forced obsolescence I'm good.