Viable SATA3 add on card?

[Fedaykin311]

Are there any viable add on cards that provide SATA III support. By viable I mean

1.) Provide genuine SATA III performance/reliability
2.) no more than $50

I'm looking to possibly upgrade my SSD to a SF-2xxx or a G3 drive but don't want to replace my motherboard.

 

[perdomot]

Don't get the Asus U3S6 card. The Marvell controller on it has serious issues compared to onboard solutions.

 

[greenhawk]

Does your motherboard have the needed PCI-E slot?

Sata 3 at upto 600MB/s needs PCI-E x4 slot at least (and electrically also at least a PCI-E x4).

if you only have pci-e x1 slots, then you will be bottlenecked at that point and so wasting your time/money looking for a controller card.

 

[Fedaykin311]

Does your motherboard have the needed PCI-E slot?

Sata 3 at upto 600MB/s needs PCI-E x4 slot at least (and electrically also at least a PCI-E x4).

if you only have pci-e x1 slots, then you will be bottlenecked at that point and so wasting your time/money looking for a controller card.

Yeah, an avail x4 and an avail x16@x8

 

[Dark Shroud]

Currently out of stock but this is your best bet atm.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16816115072

 

[LamTek]

I was looking at that card however it it only only a X1 card which means maximum 500 MB/sec theoretical throughput....
I've heard rumors that the Marvell controllers aren't properly passing TRIM commands? Is that true?

*Edit*
Reading the Newegg reviews, one of the users reports its also far slower than the Asus card....

Cons: Slow; required download of Marvell 91xx driver from web.
CrystalDiskMark performance of Rocket 620A compared with Asus U3S6 SATA 6Gb/s adapter in same DX58SmackOver board with same C300 64GB SSD:

Sequential 100 MB file Read: Rocket: 203 MB/sec; Asus: 357 MB/sec.
512K file Read: Rocket: 195 MB/sec; Asus: 324 MB/sec.
4K file Write: Rocket: 37 MB/sec; Asus: 57 MB/sec.
Other Thoughts: HD Tune (64KB) showed similar results: Asus: 308 MB/sec sustained; Rocket 162 MB/sec sustained.

Doesn't sound too promising IMO.

 

[Spinifex]

I was looking at that card however it it only only a X1 card which means maximum 500 MB/sec theoretical throughput....
I've heard rumors that the Marvell controllers aren't properly passing TRIM commands? Is that true?

I am also looking at getting a SATA 3 card but am concerned about TRIM support.

Anyone know of an ad on SATA 3 card (cheap) that does actually pass TRIM commands onto the SSD?

I am running an old DFI-NF4-SLI. They are listed as 'sata 2' but, back when the DFI-NF4 was released there were no HDD devices that could saturate a SATA 2 interface, so I think that most of the old SATA 2 specified boards are dodgy because no manufacturer would have actually had to have there SATA 2 spec tested.

 

[docp]

Its back in stock at newegg

sent from motorola atrix

 

[Old Hippie]

I am running an old DFI-NF4-SLI. They are listed as 'sata 2' but, back when the DFI-NF4 was released there were no HDD devices that could saturate a SATA 2 interface, so I think that most of the old SATA 2 specified boards are dodgy because no manufacturer would have actually had to have there SATA 2 spec tested.

So put your SSD on there and see if it can hit the SATA2 limit?

If you have no drives that can hit the limit, SATA6GB/s isn't going to help ya any.

Seems every cheap SATA6GB/s add-on board has problems.

 

[Spinifex]

So put your SSD on there and see if it can hit the SATA2 limit?

If you have no drives that can hit the limit, SATA6GB/s isn't going to help ya any.

Seems every cheap SATA6GB/s add-on board has problems.

I'm only getting 140MB reads from my Crucial M4. So I think its the dodgy old sata ports. The M4 should do 400MB READS.

Even then the DFI-NFI is only a pci-x 1.0 specification, but, theoretically with an ad on board I should still see close to the max bandwidth the pci-x bus can do which should be around 250MB p/c. So that should be almost a doubling in throughput over what I am getting on the dodgy old sata ports.

 

[Old Hippie]

I'm only getting 140MB reads from my Crucial M4. So I think its the dodgy old sata ports. The M4 should do 400MB READS.

Yikes...pretty shitty.

I had an Asus 939 NVIDIA nForce4 board and the chipset was pretty bad.

IIRC, I used hacked drivers to enable AHCI.

AAR you'd be much better-off with a new MB that includes an Intel chipset.

I just got done with a "quest" to make my RAID0 Crucial C300 256GB faster than my Intel ICH10 chipset and it's in the $500.00 USD range.

Go big or go home.

 

[Spinifex]

Yikes...pretty shitty.

I had an Asus 939 NVIDIA nForce4 board and the chipset was pretty bad.

Yep, it hurts. The M4 is my first SSD and so I'm AM pissed over the 140MB reads... The latency is nice though, makes things nice and snappy.

I just got done with a "quest" to make my RAID0 Crucial C300 256GB faster than my Intel ICH10 chipset and it's in the $500.00 USD range.

Go big or go home.

Yeah I know. New mobo is in the pipeline but I was actually holding out for an AMD chipset. Think its the 890? chipset. Anand got a review on it. Will upgrade with Bulldozer.

But I just shelled out for a U2711 and looking for new 6000 series card to run it so my budget is tight.

I thought I Highpoint 620 would tie me over with improved read speeds for 3 or 4 months - got a bee in my bonnet re my M4 but I just don't have 'big cash' left for new mobo, cpu and ram....

 

[Old Hippie]

I thought I Highpoint 620 would tie me over with improved read speeds for 3 or 4 months

Might as well give it a shot.

I doubt it'll be any worse.

 

[TemjinGold]

Say... if it doesn't need to be cheap (budget can stretch past $1000 if need be) but it shouldn't be overkill wasteful and the user wants to RAID 2-4 SATA3 SSDs together, what would be the best SATA3 card to get?

 

[Old Hippie]

Say... if it doesn't need to be cheap (budget can stretch past $1000 if need be) but it shouldn't be overkill wasteful and the user wants to RAID 2-4 SATA3 SSDs together, what would be the best SATA3 card to get?

Pretty much a toss up between an LSI 9260 or 9265 series card but you also must purchase the optional FastPath software (150.00) for great results.

Cheapest would be the 9260-4i + software for @ 500.00.

Here's a thread that compares these controllers to an ICH10.

 

[Zap]

Are there any viable add on cards that provide SATA III support.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA

Terminology

The name SATA II has become synonymous with the 3 Gbit/s standard. In order to provide the industry with consistent terminology, the SATA-IO has compiled a set of marketing guidelines for the third revision of the specification.

• The SATA 6 Gbit/s specification should be called Serial ATA International Organization: Serial ATA Revision 3.0.
• The technology itself is to be referred to as SATA 6 Gb/s.
• A product using this standard should be called the SATA 6 Gb/s [product name].

Using the terms SATA III or SATA 3.0 to refer to a SATA 6 Gbit/s product is unclear and not preferred. SATA-IO has provided a guideline to foster consistent marketing terminology across the industry.

Thus, the "proper" name to call what you are looking for would be SATA 6 Gb/s and not SATA III.

Personally I like SATA 6G as it is quicker to type.

sent from motorola atrix

Please disable your phone's automatic signatures. Automatic signatures are construed as advertising which violates AnandTech Forum rules.

 

[TemjinGold]

Pretty much a toss up between an LSI 9260 or 9265 series card but you also must purchase the optional FastPath software (150.00) for great results.

Cheapest would be the 9260-4i + software for @ 500.00.

Here's a thread that compares these controllers to an ICH10.

Neat, thanks!

 

[groberts101]

regardless of what SATA3 card you buy in that price range?.. they will all be running Marvell SATA chips with PCI-E x1 internal limitations. Onboard or card.. they all run upto about 400MB/s reads and 250MB/s writes.

The Highpoint 640 is pretty decent bang for the buck for cheap raidcards as it has 2 of the Marvell 9128's for a raid capable 800MB's reads and 500MB/s writes(each chip only runs at half that speed with a single drive though). Can be had for about $99 bucks if you search around enough. From there you jump to the $200 range for anything worth talking about.

 

[Spinifex]

Might as well give it a shot.

I doubt it'll be any worse.

I gave it a shot...

Just got the Rocket 620WDA. Its an improvement but I'm a little underwhelmed by its performance but I am using it on a PCIe ver 1.0 interface so am bottlenecked at theoretical 250MB/sec speed.

M4 64G is getting 210MB/sec Reads; so it is a step up from the SATA 2 interface on my Asus A8N-SLI-Deluxe. I did have the M4 on a DFI-NF4 Expert which is supposed to be SATA 2 as well and speeds topped out at 140MB/sec reads.

So, looks like the Mobo manufacturers pulled a fast on on consumers in relation to their implementation of the SATA 2 spec because, back then, they no one had a single device which was fast enough to saturate the SATA 2 bus. (not sure about Intel)

Anyway, read speeds have improved, and access time actually dropped from 0.2ms to 0.1ms so it is an improvement.

I had an Asus 939 NVIDIA nForce4 board and the chipset was pretty bad.

IIRC, I used hacked drivers to enable AHCI.

AAR you'd be much better-off with a new MB that includes an Intel chipset...

Yep Old Hippie, I would be better off with a new board and chipset. Saw the comparison Anand did on Intel - AMD before and I know I really need to upgrade. I was just scrimping to try and wring a bit more speed out of my dodgy old NF4 chipset.

What hacked drivers did you use to try and enable AHCI on a NF4 did you use? Would they work on Linux / Fedora 15? I can't spend any more money on this project.:\

 

[Old Hippie]

so it is a step up from the SATA 2 interface on my Asus A8N-SLI-Deluxe. I did have the M4 on a DFI-NF4 Expert which is supposed to be SATA 2 as well and speeds topped out at 140MB/sec reads.

Aren't those the same chipset?

I'm not gonna bore you with details but just because your read speed has increased doesn't make your SSD better from a deskpoint experience.

There's a lot more than simple read speed involved that makes an improvement from a mechanical drive but as long as your satisfied, that's all that counts.

AFAIK Intel has always been faster than AMD and NVIDIA wasn't a contender.

I got the drivers from here.

Would they work on Linux / Fedora 15? I can't spend any more money on this project.

I have no idea what will work with those OSs.

 

[Spinifex]

Aren't those the same chipset?

Yes, they are the same but I was under the impression that some manufacturers had dodgied up the chipset implementation in order to save money on licensing.

I'm not gonna bore you with details but just because your read speed has increased doesn't make your SSD better from a deskpoint experience.

There's a lot more than simple read speed involved that makes an improvement from a mechanical drive but as long as your satisfied, that's all that counts.
...

Please BORE me with the details. That is why I am here; looking/wanting to optimise my setup for the best possible user experience within my hardware constraints.

Really, if you have time and can be bothered, I would love to hear your suggestions.