Good PCI Sata Cards

[NodeBytes]

Hello all,

I was wondering what SATA cards you are using.

I am looking for a SATA card, I don't need raid, just a sata controller to add a couple SSDs to a machine.

Any recommendations?

Thanks!

 

[concerto49]

If you're using Windows the Intel on the motherboard is the best. Most SATA cards are rubbish (the non-high end RAID ones) and limited in bandwidth.

To compare you need at least a pci-e x4 card etc and the prices don't look right at all.

Intel has caching and great random performance compared to usually Marvell based cards. It probably works well on Linux too.

 

[Damian]

TBH, I don't think I've ever encountered a situation where I needed a non-RAID SATA card. The motherboard in my desktop PC ( http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4383 ) has 8 SATA ports on it, and it wasn't a special or high-end model. 5 ports are in use. 

When I buy cards, I stick with LSI exclusively. Not sure if they have a non-RAID model or not, though.

 

[concerto49]

TBH, I don't think I've ever encountered a situation where I needed a non-RAID SATA card. The motherboard in my desktop PC ( http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4383 ) has 8 SATA ports on it, and it wasn't a special or high-end model. 5 ports are in use. 

When I buy cards, I stick with LSI exclusively. Not sure if they have a non-RAID model or not, though.

LSI do, or at least RAID0,1,10 models and don't cache.

 

[Kenshin]

PCI or PCI-E? Major difference there.

 

[shovenose]

This article applies:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/storage-controller-performance-ssd,3540.html

 

[Kenshin]

http://www.servethehome.com/ibm-serveraid-m1015-part-4/

Onboard Intel AHCI still the best for SSD, but the above LSI crossflash to HBA (non-raid) is pretty close.

*I'm assuming you need PCI-E and not PCI*