Can I really get speeds of 64Gb/s (8GB/s) using a PCIe-to-SATA adapter?
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Disclaimer: Yes, I'm aware of how data throughput and bottlenecks work. No, I don't really believe it's yet possible to reach speeds of 8GB/s, but I am very interested in the much more real possibility of breaking the usual SATA bottlenecks (750MB/s for SATA 6.0Gb/s).
I recently ran out of SATA data ports on my motherboard, and because I'm still wanting to add more SATA devices to my ancient system, I started looking into ways of extending it with some more. I then came across this question and much-underrated answer, which outlines all the options available to someone in the position that I'm in. Of these, the most promising is a PCI Express-to-SATA adapter card.
I confirmed with the manual for my motherboard that it does indeed have two PCI Express headers - an x1 (single-lane) and an x16 (16-lane), both versions 2.0. The x1 is currently being used by my wireless network card, but the x16 has, unbeknownst to me, been sitting gathering dust inside my PC for the decade or so I've owned it (not my picture):
Wikipedia says that a version 2.0 x16 PCIe header can give a total speed of 8GB/s (or 64Gb/s) across all 16 lanes. This completely surpasses the bottlenecks of both current SATA interfaces and any HDD or SSD storage device on the market that I'm aware of.
This was a huge shock; both that my ancient desktop was still capable of such massive potential without me ever knowing it, and that it doesn't even need to be limited by its SATA 2.0 ports to do it. Maybe it's my age, but I've always seen PCIe cards as remnants of ancient technology from a bygone era, that only exist on modern hardware for compatibility reasons, like serial ports. I've only ever known PCIe cards to be used for networking functions (I've never owned a dedicated graphics card, so had no idea they made use of PCIe), and it was a pleasant surprise to learn that they're an extensible technology far capable of surpassing SATA speeds.
I then plodded on with my research until I was eventually disappointed to find that the reality again wasn't as it seemed. Although the theory holds true, practically-speaking, it turns out that x16, x8 and x4 PCIe-to-SATA adapters are ridiculously rare, to the point that Amazon doesn't seem to stock a single one of either, and those that do exist out there are prohibitively expensive for the average consumer. In fact, the only types of PCIe-to-SATA cards that commonly exist out there are x1 and x2 (both still reaching impressive 500MB/s and 1GB/s transfer rates at version 2.0).
So, at the end of this fluctuant but enlightening journey, I'm left wondering; is it still at all possible for me to utilise my motherboard's x16 PCIe port to surpass the SATA bottleneck using a PCIe-to-SATA adapter?
Actually, my research eventually brought me to the answer to this question too, but I'm wanting someone with a lot more expertise in and/or experience with the technology to answer it, and in the process also shed some light on why there's such a dearth of high-speed (x16, x8 and x4) PCIe cards on the market when the technology has been around for so long and has such powerful capabilities.
hard-drive motherboard sata pci-express
asked May 2 at 18:29
Hashim
2,96663056
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show 3 more comments
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Disclaimer: Yes, I'm aware of how data throughput and bottlenecks work. No, I don't really believe it's yet possible to reach speeds of 8GB/s, but I am very interested in the much more real possibility of breaking the usual SATA bottlenecks (750MB/s for SATA 6.0Gb/s).
I recently ran out of SATA data ports on my motherboard, and because I'm still wanting to add more SATA devices to my ancient system, I started looking into ways of extending it with some more. I then came across this question and much-underrated answer, which outlines all the options available to someone in the position that I'm in. Of these, the most promising is a PCI Express-to-SATA adapter card.
I confirmed with the manual for my motherboard that it does indeed have two PCI Express headers - an x1 (single-lane) and an x16 (16-lane), both versions 2.0. The x1 is currently being used by my wireless network card, but the x16 has, unbeknownst to me, been sitting gathering dust inside my PC for the decade or so I've owned it (not my picture):
Wikipedia says that a version 2.0 x16 PCIe header can give a total speed of 8GB/s (or 64Gb/s) across all 16 lanes. This completely surpasses the bottlenecks of both current SATA interfaces and any HDD or SSD storage device on the market that I'm aware of.
This was a huge shock; both that my ancient desktop was still capable of such massive potential without me ever knowing it, and that it doesn't even need to be limited by its SATA 2.0 ports to do it. Maybe it's my age, but I've always seen PCIe cards as remnants of ancient technology from a bygone era, that only exist on modern hardware for compatibility reasons, like serial ports. I've only ever known PCIe cards to be used for networking functions (I've never owned a dedicated graphics card, so had no idea they made use of PCIe), and it was a pleasant surprise to learn that they're an extensible technology far capable of surpassing SATA speeds.
I then plodded on with my research until I was eventually disappointed to find that the reality again wasn't as it seemed. Although the theory holds true, practically-speaking, it turns out that x16, x8 and x4 PCIe-to-SATA adapters are ridiculously rare, to the point that Amazon doesn't seem to stock a single one of either, and those that do exist out there are prohibitively expensive for the average consumer. In fact, the only types of PCIe-to-SATA cards that commonly exist out there are x1 and x2 (both still reaching impressive 500MB/s and 1GB/s transfer rates at version 2.0).
So, at the end of this fluctuant but enlightening journey, I'm left wondering; is it still at all possible for me to utilise my motherboard's x16 PCIe port to surpass the SATA bottleneck using a PCIe-to-SATA adapter?
Actually, my research eventually brought me to the answer to this question too, but I'm wanting someone with a lot more expertise in and/or experience with the technology to answer it, and in the process also shed some light on why there's such a dearth of high-speed (x16, x8 and x4) PCIe cards on the market when the technology has been around for so long and has such powerful capabilities.
hard-drive motherboard sata pci-express
asked May 2 at 18:29
Hashim
2,96663056
1
The SATA speed will be set at both ends, I'm guessing, so a (possibly) faster link will not mean the drives will magically be capable of higher speeds. There are PCIe drives already available, though in my experience they are mostly PCIe 3.0 devices, so putting in a PCIe to SATA adapter is going the wrong direction if you want the higher speeds.
– music2myear
May 2 at 19:08
@music2myear Good point about the speed of the drives being an additional bottleneck, somehow I managed to miss that, but most modern drives are SATA III and above, so 6.0Gb/s. This will mean that I'm able to surpass my motherboard's SATA II speeds of 3.0Gb/s, and because PCIe is so much higher, it should mean that I'll be able to get SATA III's full 6.0Gb/s (750MB/s).
– Hashim
May 2 at 19:18
There are several pcie sata hba cards available on amazon.com.
– Andrew Morton
May 2 at 19:30
1
@Hashim It seems to me that the HighPoint Rocket 750 40-Channel SATA 6Gbps PCI-Express 2.0 x 8 HBA 750 connects to SATA 6Gbps drives through PCIe 8x and is available on Amazon.
– Andrew Morton
May 2 at 19:41
1
@Hashim I suspect that most of them are intended for use as hardware RAID adapters, so they use low production quantity custom ICs, and I suspect that SAS in addition to SATA bumps up the price too. If there was money to be made from the type of card you're really after, they would be in production. I suppose that with all new M/Bs coming with SATA III now, and more recently, NVMe interfaces, that market will never exist. So no affordable bootable SATA III for me with an X58 M/B either.
– Andrew Morton
May 2 at 21:58
|
show 3 more comments
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0
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up vote
0
down vote
favorite
Disclaimer: Yes, I'm aware of how data throughput and bottlenecks work. No, I don't really believe it's yet possible to reach speeds of 8GB/s, but I am very interested in the much more real possibility of breaking the usual SATA bottlenecks (750MB/s for SATA 6.0Gb/s).
I recently ran out of SATA data ports on my motherboard, and because I'm still wanting to add more SATA devices to my ancient system, I started looking into ways of extending it with some more. I then came across this question and much-underrated answer, which outlines all the options available to someone in the position that I'm in. Of these, the most promising is a PCI Express-to-SATA adapter card.
I confirmed with the manual for my motherboard that it does indeed have two PCI Express headers - an x1 (single-lane) and an x16 (16-lane), both versions 2.0. The x1 is currently being used by my wireless network card, but the x16 has, unbeknownst to me, been sitting gathering dust inside my PC for the decade or so I've owned it (not my picture):
Wikipedia says that a version 2.0 x16 PCIe header can give a total speed of 8GB/s (or 64Gb/s) across all 16 lanes. This completely surpasses the bottlenecks of both current SATA interfaces and any HDD or SSD storage device on the market that I'm aware of.
This was a huge shock; both that my ancient desktop was still capable of such massive potential without me ever knowing it, and that it doesn't even need to be limited by its SATA 2.0 ports to do it. Maybe it's my age, but I've always seen PCIe cards as remnants of ancient technology from a bygone era, that only exist on modern hardware for compatibility reasons, like serial ports. I've only ever known PCIe cards to be used for networking functions (I've never owned a dedicated graphics card, so had no idea they made use of PCIe), and it was a pleasant surprise to learn that they're an extensible technology far capable of surpassing SATA speeds.
I then plodded on with my research until I was eventually disappointed to find that the reality again wasn't as it seemed. Although the theory holds true, practically-speaking, it turns out that x16, x8 and x4 PCIe-to-SATA adapters are ridiculously rare, to the point that Amazon doesn't seem to stock a single one of either, and those that do exist out there are prohibitively expensive for the average consumer. In fact, the only types of PCIe-to-SATA cards that commonly exist out there are x1 and x2 (both still reaching impressive 500MB/s and 1GB/s transfer rates at version 2.0).
So, at the end of this fluctuant but enlightening journey, I'm left wondering; is it still at all possible for me to utilise my motherboard's x16 PCIe port to surpass the SATA bottleneck using a PCIe-to-SATA adapter?
Actually, my research eventually brought me to the answer to this question too, but I'm wanting someone with a lot more expertise in and/or experience with the technology to answer it, and in the process also shed some light on why there's such a dearth of high-speed (x16, x8 and x4) PCIe cards on the market when the technology has been around for so long and has such powerful capabilities.
hard-drive motherboard sata pci-express
asked May 2 at 18:29
Hashim
2,96663056
Disclaimer: Yes, I'm aware of how data throughput and bottlenecks work. No, I don't really believe it's yet possible to reach speeds of 8GB/s, but I am very interested in the much more real possibility of breaking the usual SATA bottlenecks (750MB/s for SATA 6.0Gb/s).
I recently ran out of SATA data ports on my motherboard, and because I'm still wanting to add more SATA devices to my ancient system, I started looking into ways of extending it with some more. I then came across this question and much-underrated answer, which outlines all the options available to someone in the position that I'm in. Of these, the most promising is a PCI Express-to-SATA adapter card.
I confirmed with the manual for my motherboard that it does indeed have two PCI Express headers - an x1 (single-lane) and an x16 (16-lane), both versions 2.0. The x1 is currently being used by my wireless network card, but the x16 has, unbeknownst to me, been sitting gathering dust inside my PC for the decade or so I've owned it (not my picture):
Wikipedia says that a version 2.0 x16 PCIe header can give a total speed of 8GB/s (or 64Gb/s) across all 16 lanes. This completely surpasses the bottlenecks of both current SATA interfaces and any HDD or SSD storage device on the market that I'm aware of.
This was a huge shock; both that my ancient desktop was still capable of such massive potential without me ever knowing it, and that it doesn't even need to be limited by its SATA 2.0 ports to do it. Maybe it's my age, but I've always seen PCIe cards as remnants of ancient technology from a bygone era, that only exist on modern hardware for compatibility reasons, like serial ports. I've only ever known PCIe cards to be used for networking functions (I've never owned a dedicated graphics card, so had no idea they made use of PCIe), and it was a pleasant surprise to learn that they're an extensible technology far capable of surpassing SATA speeds.
I then plodded on with my research until I was eventually disappointed to find that the reality again wasn't as it seemed. Although the theory holds true, practically-speaking, it turns out that x16, x8 and x4 PCIe-to-SATA adapters are ridiculously rare, to the point that Amazon doesn't seem to stock a single one of either, and those that do exist out there are prohibitively expensive for the average consumer. In fact, the only types of PCIe-to-SATA cards that commonly exist out there are x1 and x2 (both still reaching impressive 500MB/s and 1GB/s transfer rates at version 2.0).
So, at the end of this fluctuant but enlightening journey, I'm left wondering; is it still at all possible for me to utilise my motherboard's x16 PCIe port to surpass the SATA bottleneck using a PCIe-to-SATA adapter?
Actually, my research eventually brought me to the answer to this question too, but I'm wanting someone with a lot more expertise in and/or experience with the technology to answer it, and in the process also shed some light on why there's such a dearth of high-speed (x16, x8 and x4) PCIe cards on the market when the technology has been around for so long and has such powerful capabilities.
hard-drive motherboard sata pci-express
hard-drive motherboard sata pci-express
asked May 2 at 18:29
Hashim
2,96663056
asked May 2 at 18:29
Hashim
2,96663056
asked May 2 at 18:29
Hashim
2,96663056
asked May 2 at 18:29
Hashim
2,96663056
asked May 2 at 18:29
Hashim
2,96663056
2,96663056
1
The SATA speed will be set at both ends, I'm guessing, so a (possibly) faster link will not mean the drives will magically be capable of higher speeds. There are PCIe drives already available, though in my experience they are mostly PCIe 3.0 devices, so putting in a PCIe to SATA adapter is going the wrong direction if you want the higher speeds.
– music2myear
May 2 at 19:08
@music2myear Good point about the speed of the drives being an additional bottleneck, somehow I managed to miss that, but most modern drives are SATA III and above, so 6.0Gb/s. This will mean that I'm able to surpass my motherboard's SATA II speeds of 3.0Gb/s, and because PCIe is so much higher, it should mean that I'll be able to get SATA III's full 6.0Gb/s (750MB/s).
– Hashim
May 2 at 19:18
There are several pcie sata hba cards available on amazon.com.
– Andrew Morton
May 2 at 19:30
1
@Hashim It seems to me that the HighPoint Rocket 750 40-Channel SATA 6Gbps PCI-Express 2.0 x 8 HBA 750 connects to SATA 6Gbps drives through PCIe 8x and is available on Amazon.
– Andrew Morton
May 2 at 19:41
1
@Hashim I suspect that most of them are intended for use as hardware RAID adapters, so they use low production quantity custom ICs, and I suspect that SAS in addition to SATA bumps up the price too. If there was money to be made from the type of card you're really after, they would be in production. I suppose that with all new M/Bs coming with SATA III now, and more recently, NVMe interfaces, that market will never exist. So no affordable bootable SATA III for me with an X58 M/B either.
– Andrew Morton
May 2 at 21:58
|
show 3 more comments
1
The SATA speed will be set at both ends, I'm guessing, so a (possibly) faster link will not mean the drives will magically be capable of higher speeds. There are PCIe drives already available, though in my experience they are mostly PCIe 3.0 devices, so putting in a PCIe to SATA adapter is going the wrong direction if you want the higher speeds.
– music2myear
May 2 at 19:08
@music2myear Good point about the speed of the drives being an additional bottleneck, somehow I managed to miss that, but most modern drives are SATA III and above, so 6.0Gb/s. This will mean that I'm able to surpass my motherboard's SATA II speeds of 3.0Gb/s, and because PCIe is so much higher, it should mean that I'll be able to get SATA III's full 6.0Gb/s (750MB/s).
– Hashim
May 2 at 19:18
There are several pcie sata hba cards available on amazon.com.
– Andrew Morton
May 2 at 19:30
1
@Hashim It seems to me that the HighPoint Rocket 750 40-Channel SATA 6Gbps PCI-Express 2.0 x 8 HBA 750 connects to SATA 6Gbps drives through PCIe 8x and is available on Amazon.
– Andrew Morton
May 2 at 19:41
1
@Hashim I suspect that most of them are intended for use as hardware RAID adapters, so they use low production quantity custom ICs, and I suspect that SAS in addition to SATA bumps up the price too. If there was money to be made from the type of card you're really after, they would be in production. I suppose that with all new M/Bs coming with SATA III now, and more recently, NVMe interfaces, that market will never exist. So no affordable bootable SATA III for me with an X58 M/B either.
– Andrew Morton
May 2 at 21:58
1
1
The SATA speed will be set at both ends, I'm guessing, so a (possibly) faster link will not mean the drives will magically be capable of higher speeds. There are PCIe drives already available, though in my experience they are mostly PCIe 3.0 devices, so putting in a PCIe to SATA adapter is going the wrong direction if you want the higher speeds.
– music2myear
May 2 at 19:08
The SATA speed will be set at both ends, I'm guessing, so a (possibly) faster link will not mean the drives will magically be capable of higher speeds. There are PCIe drives already available, though in my experience they are mostly PCIe 3.0 devices, so putting in a PCIe to SATA adapter is going the wrong direction if you want the higher speeds.
– music2myear
May 2 at 19:08
@music2myear Good point about the speed of the drives being an additional bottleneck, somehow I managed to miss that, but most modern drives are SATA III and above, so 6.0Gb/s. This will mean that I'm able to surpass my motherboard's SATA II speeds of 3.0Gb/s, and because PCIe is so much higher, it should mean that I'll be able to get SATA III's full 6.0Gb/s (750MB/s).
– Hashim
May 2 at 19:18
@music2myear Good point about the speed of the drives being an additional bottleneck, somehow I managed to miss that, but most modern drives are SATA III and above, so 6.0Gb/s. This will mean that I'm able to surpass my motherboard's SATA II speeds of 3.0Gb/s, and because PCIe is so much higher, it should mean that I'll be able to get SATA III's full 6.0Gb/s (750MB/s).
– Hashim
May 2 at 19:18
There are several pcie sata hba cards available on amazon.com.
– Andrew Morton
May 2 at 19:30
There are several pcie sata hba cards available on amazon.com.
– Andrew Morton
May 2 at 19:30
1
1
@Hashim It seems to me that the HighPoint Rocket 750 40-Channel SATA 6Gbps PCI-Express 2.0 x 8 HBA 750 connects to SATA 6Gbps drives through PCIe 8x and is available on Amazon.
– Andrew Morton
May 2 at 19:41
@Hashim It seems to me that the HighPoint Rocket 750 40-Channel SATA 6Gbps PCI-Express 2.0 x 8 HBA 750 connects to SATA 6Gbps drives through PCIe 8x and is available on Amazon.
– Andrew Morton
May 2 at 19:41
1
1
@Hashim I suspect that most of them are intended for use as hardware RAID adapters, so they use low production quantity custom ICs, and I suspect that SAS in addition to SATA bumps up the price too. If there was money to be made from the type of card you're really after, they would be in production. I suppose that with all new M/Bs coming with SATA III now, and more recently, NVMe interfaces, that market will never exist. So no affordable bootable SATA III for me with an X58 M/B either.
– Andrew Morton
May 2 at 21:58
@Hashim I suspect that most of them are intended for use as hardware RAID adapters, so they use low production quantity custom ICs, and I suspect that SAS in addition to SATA bumps up the price too. If there was money to be made from the type of card you're really after, they would be in production. I suppose that with all new M/Bs coming with SATA III now, and more recently, NVMe interfaces, that market will never exist. So no affordable bootable SATA III for me with an X58 M/B either.
– Andrew Morton
May 2 at 21:58
|
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Thank you for your interest in this question.
Because it has attracted low-quality or spam answers that had to be removed, posting an answer now requires 10 reputation on this site (the association bonus does not count).
Would you like to answer one of these unanswered questions instead?
1
The SATA speed will be set at both ends, I'm guessing, so a (possibly) faster link will not mean the drives will magically be capable of higher speeds. There are PCIe drives already available, though in my experience they are mostly PCIe 3.0 devices, so putting in a PCIe to SATA adapter is going the wrong direction if you want the higher speeds.
– music2myear
May 2 at 19:08
@music2myear Good point about the speed of the drives being an additional bottleneck, somehow I managed to miss that, but most modern drives are SATA III and above, so 6.0Gb/s. This will mean that I'm able to surpass my motherboard's SATA II speeds of 3.0Gb/s, and because PCIe is so much higher, it should mean that I'll be able to get SATA III's full 6.0Gb/s (750MB/s).
– Hashim
May 2 at 19:18
There are several pcie sata hba cards available on amazon.com.
– Andrew Morton
May 2 at 19:30
1
@Hashim It seems to me that the HighPoint Rocket 750 40-Channel SATA 6Gbps PCI-Express 2.0 x 8 HBA 750 connects to SATA 6Gbps drives through PCIe 8x and is available on Amazon.
– Andrew Morton
May 2 at 19:41
1
@Hashim I suspect that most of them are intended for use as hardware RAID adapters, so they use low production quantity custom ICs, and I suspect that SAS in addition to SATA bumps up the price too. If there was money to be made from the type of card you're really after, they would be in production. I suppose that with all new M/Bs coming with SATA III now, and more recently, NVMe interfaces, that market will never exist. So no affordable bootable SATA III for me with an X58 M/B either.
– Andrew Morton
May 2 at 21:58