Question 1

I am running in AMD quad core computer with a 3.0 MHz CPU. The motherboard is a BioStar TA790GX 128M on the motherboard I have SATA 2 connections. I also have 2 x PCI-E x16 2.0 Slots (CFX x8). 2 x PCI-E x1 2.0 Slots and 2 x PCI Slots. I am running Windows 64-bit home premium.

My question is this, if I were to add this card to my system would it truly achieve SATA 3 speeds or would it dummy down to SATA 2 speeds ? I want to add a Crucial MX200 250GB SATA 6Gbps SSD drive.

Accepted Answer

Found this on Tom's Hardware Forum: "SATA 6Gb/s has a maximum speed of 6 gigabits per second which is about 750 megabytes per second. PCIe 2.0 specifies 500 megabytes per second on each lane. Hence a PCIe 2.0 x1 slot has a maximum speed of 500 megabytes per second (an x8 slot would have a speed of 500*8 = 4000 megabytes per second). Thus an x1 slot will inhibit the speed of a SATA 6Gb/s port. That being said, your average SATA 6Gb/s SSD maxes out at about 500 megabytes per second, so if you have one SATA 6Gb/s drive on a PCIe x1 controller then your speed won't be inhibited too much (and it will be faster than a motherboard's SATA 3Gb/s port). However if you put two SSD's on a single PCIe x1 controller then the transfer speeds will likely be inhibited."  You should also read the Wikipedia entry for PCI Express.

Question 2

I have an older computer, but i have a SATA 1 T Byte HD  will this adapter allow me to see the drive in the BIOS and allow me to format and make it usable in the computer ? The computer has a 64bit AMD motherboard

Accepted Answer

SATA III is backward compatible with I and II.  Assuming you have a PCI-Express 2.0 slot on your motherboard, it should work fine hardware-wise. If you are using at least Windows XP, then you should be able to get a driver for the OS. Not sure about Linux but probably is compatible.

Note that this will not appear on your MB BIOS per se. As you boot up, you should see a new splash screen just for this interface. It will tell you to press a certain key to access the BIOS. But, chances are you don't need to bother. Your OS should recognize the interface and drive. If the drive is not formatted, then you will have to run an OS utility to format it for your OS.  In Windows, this is the Computer>Manage>Disk Manager. You can google info about how to format and create a volume. It is pretty easy. Just be sure you are dealing with the right disk.

If you have no existing disk with an OS, then the OS installation utility will offer you the capability. You may need to install 3rd-party drivers as you work through the OS installation. It is a trial-and-error process!

Question 3

I have a Dell desktop running Win 8.1 Pro with a motherboard that has an Intel H61 chipset, (a) which I understand does not support AHCI, and (b) is only SATA II compatible. I have recently purchased a 2.5” SSD and would like to make that SATA III compatible (and, if possible AHCI compatible as well). How may I achieve that? If I install this  PCI-Express 2.0 Controller Card (available on Newegg), into a PCI slot on my computer and then connect the SSD to this controller card (or to the motherboard, not sure what would plug into what), would it make my SSD, SATA III compatible? Also, would I need to upgrade the cable that connects the SSD to the motherboard/PCI controller card? Thanks.

Accepted Answer

I have an ASUS MB so can't answer about Dell.  However, the card plugged into a PCIE slot without problem.  Windows7 had no problem with supplied driver although as I recall it updated it.  The card comes with one SATA cable.  The computer recognizes the card as IDE in BIOS listing of drives but recognizes it as SATA 3 toward the end of BIOS loading.  Performance on Samsung SSD is excellent.  Also installed a SATA 6 hard drive which also works fine--furnished my own standard SATA cable.  Performance of SSD and SATA 6 drives are about the same as my 8.1 Gigabyte system which has native 3 and 6 capability.  It has been years since I used a SIIG product but it appears their quality remains excellent.

Question 4

I have a 5tb sata WD50EZRX hard drive, my computer motherboard only supports 2tb but was told if I buy a new controller card, I can use my hard drive, is this true. Will buying this card allow me to install and use my hard drive as a secondary backup device?

Accepted Answer

Hi John. The circuit card in question is normally used for Solid State (SSD) drives trying to achieve 6Gb/s transfer speeds. Older motherboards only support 3Gb/s transfer. If you are talking about data capacity, 1tb vs 5tb, that is a whole different issue. Those issues are usually addressed by your MOBO bios and/or operating system. You can put 2 or more partitions on your 5tb hard drive which will give you 2 or more hard drives with about the same data capacity of the 5tb drive. I hope I understand your problem and/or question. This expansion card is for speeding up hard drive data transfer, not your system data capacity. If this does not answer your question, please try again with a little more clarity.

Good luck...!

Question 5

Did you connect a Samsung 840 Pro SSD to this card? If so, what were the Benchmark Results for read/write MB/s and IOPS?

Thank you.

Accepted Answer

At this time I do not recollect for I have moved on to the X79 series. I do not utilize any addin cards on the X79 series because it supports true SATA6G in abundance.

Question 6

My motherboard has an Intel h61 chipset that only supports SATA III. Will this controller card over-ride the chipset restriction/limitation so it supports SATA III speeds for use with an SSD? Also is the controller connection to the motherboard via a PCI Express x1 socket?

Accepted Answer

You should not have any issues, it will run on a Different IRQ/Address than the Intel. Newer hardware is able to address these issues.

Question 7

I'm attempting to convert a '99 desktop into a server media station and i have a few questions on whether this will work fine with it, i also will most likely use Linux. I've got some 80GB+ Sata drives that could be used.

Also, i am wondering if there is one with more SATA ports and whether or not BIOS will detect these hard drives/enabling me to use SpinRite if needed?

Accepted Answer

If by '99 you are referring to a desktop built in 1999, then that card won't install into that mainboard. It's a PCIe x4 card, and needs a modern PCIe x4, x8 or x16 slot to work, and those didn't come out until mid 2000's and later.  Before you worry about getting more than 4 ports, you'll want to address being able to use any modern PCIe card.

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