[Konrad]

There are inexpensive ($5-10/port) PCI boards with 2 and 4 SATA ports.
There are inexpensive PCIe boards with 2 SATA ports.
Where are the inexpensive PCIe boards with 4 (or more) SATA ports?

[imsabbel]

Konrad, on Mar 24 2008, 12:44 PM, said:

There are inexpensive ($5-10/port) PCI boards with 2 and 4 SATA ports.
There are inexpensive PCIe boards with 2 SATA ports.
Where are the inexpensive PCIe boards with 4 (or more) SATA ports?

Nowhere.
Buy two 4 Port cards, or live with the fact that you feel the need to buy a product thats about 0.5% as common as 2 and 4 port cards, and thus carries a higher price (economy of scale, ect.)

[imsabbel]

Arg. I hate this edit timeout. Absolutely retarted to set it that shot on a very-low-volume board like this. Who will reply to a post being edited if there are only 20 posts a day....

Ok: i should have read your message a little better.
The problem is: All PCI-e boards feature SATA, so manufacturers dont see the need to release boards that just offer 4 sata boards...
No, they spend a buck or two more and give it some raid bios, ect.

This you have to look under "sata raid controllers", and not "sata controllers".

An example here:
http://geizhals.eu/a101004.html
about 43€ for 4 ports + hostbased raid5.

or here
http://geizhals.eu/a254413.html
Adaptec 1430SA bulk, PCIe x4 (2241000-R), about 70€

Still more expensive than what you are looking for, but you have to consider the different economies: I dont know a single modern board that hasnt at least 4 sata boards on it, so the demand for PCI-E sata boards isnt that big to begin with, and outside of RAID (virtually) nonexistant. (geeks habe boards that have stuff like "deluxe" in their name and 6-10 SATA parts, and who uses 10-14HDs without raid?)

[Konrad]

No available PCI slots. An x4 board will not go into an x1 slot.
So I'm stuck needing a PCIe x1 card.

A PCIe x1 board for 2 SATA drives + 2 PATA drives costs $11-13.
A PCIe x1 board for 4 SATA drives costs $125.
Does this seem insane to anyone?

> who uses 10-14HDs without raid?

Applications where you have multiple files being accessed at
once and you want the drives seeking independently.

[Konrad]

Found a PCIe x1 board with 4 SATA ports, Syba SY-PEX40013
2 SATA-300 + 2 SATA-150 Does anyone know exactly what chip(s) it uses?

[HachavBanav]

Konrad, on Nov 25 2009, 12:25 AM, said:

Found a PCIe x1 board with 4 SATA ports, Syba SY-PEX40013
2 SATA-300 + 2 SATA-150 Does anyone know exactly what chip(s) it uses?

Syba SY-PEX40008 PCIe x1 hba has a Sil3124 SATA chip and handles 4 SATA II ports for $60
Syba SD-SA2PEX-2IR (For their 4U 67TB $7867 storage server, BackBlaze uses 3x of those 2 SATA ports hba + 1x 4 ports Addonics) has a Sil3132 SATA chip and handles 2 SATA II ports for $27

You should have a very close look at available user reviews before buying any of those Syba hba ...

[Konrad]

> Syba SY-PEX40008 PCIe x1 hba has a Sil3124

> You should have a very close look at available user reviews
> before buying any of those Syba hba ...

So does anyone else make a PCIe x1 card with Sil3124 ?

[mockingbird]

4 x SATA for less than $10 shipped.

You're going to have to be creative with this one and route the 2x eSata ports back into the case. You're also going to have to buy 2 eSata female to Sata female cables. Only $1.62 each. Route them through an empty slot back in the case.

But for this price yuo can't go wrong.

Alternatively, here is a 4 port Sil3124 PCIEx1 card for $45 shipped.

You can look for more options yourself on egay.

This post has been edited by mockingbird: 02 December 2009 - 03:45 PM

[Konrad]

> 4 x SATA for less than $10 shipped.

Which appears to be this board:

http://www.masscool....WT-PCIE10_L.jpg

which is a Sil3132. 2 SATA ports with 4 connectors.
You set jumpers to select internal or external. A nice
feature, unfortunately sellers like to claim that it
is a 4 port board. It has 4 connectors but you can only
connect 2 drives. That *is* the best price I've seen on
those.

> You're going to have to be creative with this one and
> route the 2x eSata ports back into the case.

Nah, just set the jumpers to use the internal connectors.

> Route them through an empty slot back in the case.

Empty slot? What's that? If I had empty slots I'd just buy
some of those Sil3132 boards.

If you *do* have these mythical empty slots, they make brackets
with panel mount SATA connectors and internal cables.

> Alternatively, here is a 4 port Sil3124 PCIEx1 card for $45 shipped.

The URL for the photo is
http://www.novadoom....SY-PEX40008.jpg

which shows that this is a Syba SY-PEX40008. Problem is that Syba's
quality may not be as high as one might like? (Jury is till out on
that one.) Question is does someone other than Syba make a Sil3124 PCIEx1
card?

[mockingbird]

Quote

Empty slot? What's that? If I had empty slots I'd just buy
some of those Sil3132 boards.

You're right, these cards are either/or. You can't use both at the same time.

Here's another one, but the price is steep:
http://www.i-tech.co...40_x1_4_ch.aspx

And the manual.

Marvel makes SATA chipsets *scratches head*.

Here's a cheaper version:

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16816115053

Here's another higpoint product, but with this one you could route the eSata ports into the case:
http://www.i-tech.co...302LF_Host.aspx