PCI to SATA Hosts/Adapters

[WackoTacko]

hello everybody. i recently recieved as a present a 160 gig seagate hdd, however it is a SATA hdd and my mobo only supports Ultra ATA. i have googled around for some PCI to SATA hosts/adapters and have come across a few results, however i dont understand much of what is said under tech specs and i thought i would head over here to get some advice from the wise guys

so, just some feedback on the subject would be appreciated

Wacko

EDIT: and sorry if i misplaced the thread, i just didnt know under which category this would fall

[lordfoul]

I would look for NCQ support myself as this is becoming available now. Ensure it will allow the Raid setup you are looking to use and/or the number of ports you need. The Promise SATAII150 is a good card.

[nukehella]

It's pretty straight forward.You spend about $40-50 for the card,pop it in one of your open PCI slots and plug your 2 SATA connectors into the connectors on the card.
You're making to much out of it and whatever the previous poster said is more complications for a simple thing.You don't give much info.You might have to install a SATA driver.If a disk came with the drive it will probaly be on there(if needed) and it is always a good idea to check the manufacturers website for the most current drivers(if needed).
The only complication I seewould be if you had to flash the BIOS,which I won't go into.
Since you didn't say what country you are in I'm not sure what the best deal available to you is but keep in mind for the same $40 you spend on a card you can get a new motherboard that handles SATA out of the box.

edit-You might want to post your systems specs to get a more detailed answer.
Personally I'd get a new MB,but not knowing your system that might void your warranty plus it has been known to make people a little nuts if it doesn't go well.

[WackoTacko]

ok well my system specs are as follow:

EDIT: i found the chip util i was looking for so, the motherboard model is:
Intel(R) 845E Chipset

ive got an intel pentium 4 2.0 ghz procsessor
512 mb of RAM

i dont know if this stuff is relevant but all the other system specs seemed far off to me

thx for the replies

[WackoTacko]

also, a new motherboard seems interesting. however i really dont know anything about motherboards can someone just point me in the direction of good manufacturers and maybe even some interesting models?

[infringer]

Slap the card in hook up the drives enjoy your external storage...

-infringer-

[WackoTacko]

yes thats what i thought, but i see a lot of stuff on the net about RAID stuff and BIOS and all i want to know is what is good for me, what gives me the speed and what requires few (or zero) configuration

thx for the replies

[WackoTacko]

well guys just one last question, this is what i am planning to buy during the next month and i was just hoping to get some feedback from u guys since half of what it says there i dont understand
http://www.siig.com/product.asp?pid=598

and, this is the SATA drive waiting for action:
http://www.seagate.com/cda/products/discsales/marketing/detail/0,1081,585,00.html

thanks a lot

Wacko

[maynoth]

http://www.pcimicro.com/.sc/ms/dd/1101348996228650/9/nc/Controller%2520Cards--Serial-ATA%2520Port%2520%5E2FAdapter/3550/Buslink%25202-Port%2520Serial%2520ATA%2520RAID%2520PCI%2520Card

$15 for a decent SATA card.... I installed this exact card in my sis's comp works great... Also ordered from this company no probs... hope that helps BTW this card has the same Silicon Image Chip My Asus A7N8X Deluxe V2.0 uses.... pretty decent for the price

[infringer]

I wish the dang PCI Bus was a wider bandwidth.

-infringer-

[maynoth]

yeah me 2

I am glad we are finally switching over to PCI express

I am not buying a new PC until there are Dual core CPUs made with on a .45 micron process, Motherboards without legacy PATA IDE, PCI, AGP etc devices... I want to see that new UV DVD tech from pioneer that lets you record 500GB on a DVD.... TB Hard drives... DDR3... Videocrads with actually dedicated physics engines... there is so much cool new tech coming...

[infringer]

No doubt PCI EXPRESS is much needed it should have been introduced long ago there are so many dam bottlenecks in a PC that should have been overcome by now.


-infringer-

[WackoTacko]

so after a bit more reading i think i will go with maynoth's suggestion

thx!

Wacko

[J.R. Ewing]

interesting to note - you can install, partition, format, and load windows onto the sata (through the pci card) just like any other ata drive. you don't need to just use it for storage or set it up through an existing windows setup

[infringer]

And data transfer rates will be considerablly faster as well increasing overall system preformance :P

My next PC I believe will have 2 70GB 10K WD's for sure SATA hookups one for winders and one for linux.

Then roughly 750GB's of external storage or so should cut the mustard as it is my total storage space now with the OS disks included and I have about a little less then half of that left so ...


-infringer-