Not sure where to put this, so here goes!

In the process of trying to config (or groping in the dark?!? ) a file / print server I find myself on the short end of SATA ports stick. The Biostar 6100-939 that I want to use (BluHaz reDux sig) only has 2, so would like to “pick up” a few more. While I have a PCI-e connector, it is unusable because of the Swiftech NB cooler so need to go plain PCI. This shows the fit issue I had with the initial DreamCatcher build…..



Now the “apparent” issue, SATA II (300MB/s) seems to only come in the PCI-e format > is this industry standard and/or limited by the PCI buss? Secondly if I am limited to 150MB/s will it really be that “noticeable” for home usage?

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Quote: Originally Posted by jedihobbit Not sure where to put this, so here goes! In the process of trying to config (or groping in the dark?!? ) a file / print server I find myself on the short end of SATA ports stick. The Biostar 6100-939 that I want to use (BluHaz reDux sig) only has 2, so would like to “pick up” a few more. While I have a PCI-e connector, it is unusable because of the Swiftech NB cooler so need to go plain PCI. This shows the fit issue I had with the initial DreamCatcher build….. Now the “apparent” issue, SATA II (300MB/s) seems to only come in the PCI-e format > is this industry standard and/or limited by the PCI buss? Secondly if I am limited to 150MB/s will it really be that “noticeable” for home usage?

PCI bus is 133 Mb/s not 150 Mb/s
Sata 1 is 150 Mb/s
Sata2 is 300 Mb/s

now as far as seeing a "noticeable" difference well it's all depends on what you're gone do with it but i'm pretty sure that you wont see much of a difference except for benchmarks

Just get a smaller NB cooler. Or cut the offending part off. Faster storage is far more important for a server.

First off it seems I managed to confuse some people when I included the “example” picture. I’ve actually built two systems based on the Biostar 6100-939 board. The setup I want to use for the server was built first and used the 159 NB cooler (BluHaz reDux). The second build (DreamCatcher) is where I wanted to use the PCI-e SATA card and had planned to use another 159. The picture showing the interference was just a “test fit” using the BH rDx build. On DC I ended up using a NC-U6 cooler and with “applied physics” made the
mounting pin/bracket fit.



Secondly the more I think about it, I’m not elite enough to be able to tell the difference between 150 (133 pci) and 300 for what I plan which is share music, pictures, some video, and text files between 2 – 3 desktops and one lappy. The other function would be to share my two printers and scanner between them. RAID has crossed my mind for back up but again don’t know if I’ll “see” the difference.

Trying to keep the investment down (and not a big fan of green or red psb! ) I had considered a SATA Adapters - 2 Ports SATA / RAID PCI Controller Card With Cables by LinkDepot but then someone showed me this for SATA II Silicon Image Sil3124-2 PCI-X SATA2 NCQ Controller Card - IDE & SATA Controllers and thought having the two e-SATA ports would be nice.