Windows 7 - Onboard SATA vs. PCI-e SATA?

magnetite · 11-05-2011

What are the advantages and disadvantages in using a PCI-e SATA card versus having it on the motherboard? I don't plan on doing RAID.

Corazon · 11-05-2011

Can't think of any, except that the card will cost you a PCI-E slot, obviously...

badger906 · 11-05-2011

Cards normally have 2 slots.

Also if you have an SSD, your best off using a 6Gbps sata port, and if your mobo only has a 3Gbps slot then a card varient would be more beneficial

Corazon · 11-05-2011

That depends on the particular SSD - unless it's a very high-performance model you probably won't see a practical difference between running the SSD on a SATA2 or SATA3 port.

pparks1 · 11-05-2011

Stand-alone cards are really just used when you run out of resources on your motherboard. I would never add a card unless I had to.

HammerHead · 11-05-2011

You may not be able to boot from a disk on it. Hardware determines that.

pincushion · 11-05-2011

One of the advantages of the older PCI cards was that larger HDDs could often be fitted that weren't catered for in the original system. I am about to test this with my new PCIe card as there appears to be a 1TB limit on mine, when I can afford a new HDD that is - maybe in about a year!

Windows 7 - Onboard SATA vs. PCI-e SATA?

Onboard SATA vs. PCI-e SATA? problems?