[lunadesign]

I've got a Vista64 system with a Gigabyte X48 mobo and 8GB RAM where I usually connect all of the SATA drives to the onboard connectors. I've recently moved my one external SATA drive so it connects to a SIIG PCI Express x1 add-in card (this particular one is good for hot swapping drives). Performance seems just as good as before but every once in a while, I see a series of 1-2 second freezes in Vista if I'm trying to use the system at the same time I'm doing a large copy or compare operation between an internal disk and the external disk. (Note: I'm not doing any hot swapping currently, so that's not a factor).

Is there an inherent downside of connecting a drive to an add-in card (versus onboard) or is it more likely that I've got a driver or firmware problem with the add-in card?

Thanks!

[HachavBanav]

lunadesign, on Nov 15 2009, 08:16 PM, said:

Is there an inherent downside of connecting a drive to an add-in card (versus onboard) or is it more likely that I've got a driver or firmware problem with the add-in card?

I would say driver/firware problem...but that may although be related to OTHER devices sharing the PCIe subcomponents.

[qasdfdsaq]

I wouldn't say it's a PCIe sharing thing, as PCIe is a point-to-point dedicated bus, there is no sharing. The non-16x slots are connected through the same path as the onboard ports too, so it's more likely an IRQ or DMA issue, if not a driver or firmware fault.

There is no inherent downside of connecting a drive to an add-in card, except if you have bad add-in cards. There's a reason most enterprise machines and servers all use add-in cards.