Supporting more than 4 ide devices?

[jspeicher]

possible? (newbie question) - Are there boards that have more than two ide controllers (supporting 2 devices each)?

How do support more?

Thanks,

 

[grifterspawn]

Not usually unless they have raid controllers, your best bet is just to invest in a controller card from promise or something. Probably set you back like $25 or so and give you an additional 4 ide spots.

 

[Adul]

many mb that have onboard raid will support ide devices. Many will at least support 8 with a few support more then that. The only thing is IDE raid controllers will often not support ATAPI devices. CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD-R, etc.

 

[jspeicher]

So you can get addition cards to support more IDE devices? Thanks for the info guys. Appreciate it.

 

[RobCur]

Not good unless its integrated into your mobo, seriously problem with performance and device conflict as well. Avoid controller card as its costly and would be more economical to upgrade motherboard with latest onboard IDE. Much faster and convenient too, so why bother with a card that is so far away from the harddrive which reside on your PCI port? bad design, and that too is a thumbs down.

 

[Gatsby]

My old motherboard Abit BP6 (I loved it) had support for 8 IDE devices. 2 Raid controllers and 2 standard IDE controllers. I decided to slap in a raid card into it and it worked nicely. Had support for 12 IDE devices.. I never went that high though.

If you want to get more devices, just get an IDE PCI card.

 

[zzzz]

You want some thing like this.
Check the FS/FT forum . Often you can find it below $20.

 

[gooseman]

If I recall correctly, my old Soyo 6BA+IV had 4 ide channels on it. Not sure though, it's been a long time since I've see that board but it was, in my opinion, the best damn 440BX motherboard made.

 

[mjolnir2k]

the ePoX 8k5a3+ will support 12 IDE devices natively with no add on card.

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: RobCur
Not good unless its integrated into your mobo, seriously problem with performance and device conflict as well. Avoid controller card as its costly and would be more economical to upgrade motherboard with latest onboard IDE. Much faster and convenient too, so why bother with a card that is so far away from the harddrive which reside on your PCI port? bad design, and that too is a thumbs down.

The onboard IDE controller is on the PCI bus as well. There is nothing wrong with add-on cards.

You will also need a controller card for certain types of RAID that are not supported by the onboard controllers.

amish

 

[rbV5]

Not good unless its integrated into your mobo, seriously problem with performance and device conflict as well. Avoid controller card as its costly and would be more economical to upgrade motherboard with latest onboard IDE. Much faster and convenient too, so why bother with a card that is so far away from the harddrive which reside on your PCI port? bad design, and that too is a thumbs down.

I disagree completely. I've used controller cards for RAID and currently to add a couple IDE channels to my primary rig. Cards are every bit as fast and compatable as onboard in my experience..no reason to upgrade a MB to simply add IDE devices IMHO.