PCIe Sata Card

[Laudanum]

Hi all.
Built my first machine with help from this board a few months ago. All is well.

I have a question regarding PCIe SataII adapters/cards but probably need to give some background first ...

My ASUS Mobo has 6 onboard SATA controllers, one of them is esata. I needed to add one more SATA port. A couple of months ago I purchased a Siig PCIe to SataII (x2) card. It provides two additional internal sataII ports. It is a SIL 3132 based controller and comes with the non-raid firmware (flashable to raid). Bought it based on good reviews and it wasnt the cheapest controller available. Anyway, it shows up as a SCSI controller in DM. I originally connected a HDD to it but S.M.A.R.T data wasnt accesible through the card so I went ahead and connected my BD-RW drive to it instead. It all works fine.

The thing is that it is supposed to be a SATAII card however in device manager the controllers host link speed only shows up as SATA generation 1 (1.5 GB/s). The device link speed also shows up as SATA Generation 1 (1.5 GB/s). I have read some things online discussing one lane PCIe Sata controllers not being SATAII capable while other information stated them indeed being SATAII capable but the tech. is beyond my depth.

So ... shouldnt this supposed SATA II PCIe card be capable of Sata II speed and the host link speed show up as SATAII rather than Sata 1?
I have the current driver installed. Is there something else I may have missed?

Any insight would be helpful and appreciated. Thanks.

 

[rockyjohn]

I am not quite sure what you are saying - but maybe this helps. The PCIe 2.0 standard requires that slots provide bandwidth of 500 MB/s. If you are using an x2 slot, with two lanes, that would provide bandwidth - maximum - of 1 GB/s. Perhaps you could install faster cards, but they will get no more bandwidth to communicate with the mobo than the slot provides.

You can find more information about PCIe slots at:

http://www.upgradevideocards.com/pcie.html

 

[Laudanum]

I am not quite sure what you are saying - but maybe this helps. The PCIe 2.0 standard requires that slots provide bandwidth of 500 MB/s. If you are using an x2 slot, with two lanes, that would provide bandwidth - maximum - of 1 GB/s. Perhaps you could install faster cards, but they will get no more bandwidth to communicate with the mobo than the slot provides.

You can find more information about PCIe slots at:

http://www.upgradevideocards.com/pcie.html

Im sorry that I wasnt clear.

It's a PCIe 2.0 1X slot. So according to your explanation, I guess that means that there is no way that there would be enough bandwidth for SATA II speed.

Here is a link to the description of the Silicone Image chip/card:

http://www.siliconimage.com/products/product.aspx?pid=32

It seems to claim Sata II speed in a single lane, PCIe 1X slot ... so I guess I remain confused.

Thanks

 

[Laudanum]

Here is a link to the actual card itself:

http://www.siig.com/it-products/controllers-storage/serialata/pcie/sata-ii-pcie.html

Now this description has some "smooth" wording. It never directly states SATA II speed in a 1X slot that I can see. It states that it can be used in any PCIe slot. So that probably suggests that that it is capable of SATA II speed (maybe in a 4X or higher slot?) but not necessarily in a 1X slot.

Am I on the right track here?

Still doesnt explain why SIL claims Sata II from a single lane in the first link I provided.