Thread 106287463

PCIe 3.0 x2 to SATA adapter.
Is it worth it /g/uys? I'm trying to Max out my Crosshsair VIII Dark Hero mobo. Currently all 8 onboard SATA ports are being used and both m.2 slots. I have a 6900xt GPU. Would adding this cause lane blockage and drop off?

Look at your motherboard block diagram?

>>106287463 (OP)
I got one of these but my BIOS didn't like it, caused the bootup process to hang for about minute or three, ended up getting a SATA m.2 adapter instead.

I have the same motherboard and setup as you OP (but only one M.2 slot being used), you can use GPU-Z and the built-in render test to check if it drops from 16x to 8x while under load
Also, in the future you can ask these type of questions in >>>/sqt/ instead of making a dedicated thread

>>106287482
Both my m.2 slots have operating systems on them. Is the PCIe better than the m.2 to SATA?

>>106287507
My apologies and thanks for engaging nonetheless. Have you noticed any drops in your build?

>>106287478
Couldn't find it for the Dark Hero, but, what an I looking at here?

>>106287559
No worries
I have a 5800x3D so games feel pretty much perfect. Just finished a conquest match in Battlefield 6 and I averaged 150FPS. As mentioned before, GPU-Z has a stress test built in so you can install the adapter, run the test and check if there's any drops on your end.

>Would adding this cause lane blockage and drop off?
Why would that happen? Are we assuming the chipset is designed in such a way that the lanes can't reach their full bandwidth, or is this a known thing?

In any case, I've heard too many horror stories with SATA adapters and don't see the point in bothering with them (wasting a full size slot on 4 ports seems retarded), because you can get a SAS HBA instead - fully compatible with SATA drives, 8 or 16 drives per card, very reliable and can be found fairly cheap on ebay/aliexpress.

PCIe to M.2 is another option, but probably not ideal for someone who already has their storage maxxed out.

>>106287463 (OP)
the manual will list which slots/m.2 connectors are shared. if you're full up on m.2's then it will probably compete with one of them. an m.2 and some sata ports may also be competing.

>>106287463 (OP)
Just get a SAS HBA that has PCIe 3.0

>>106288881
>cheap on ebay/aliexpress.
The """new""" ones are fakes with recycled chips

>>106288881
>because you can get a SAS HBA instead
These seem to have skyrocketed in price over the last few years.
Shame.

Boring. Call me when they make an adapter that lets you plug in a PCI-E board and connect it to a SATA port on your motherboard.

>>106288881
I'll look into this then and probable start hoarding SAS HDDs

>>106289732
https://www.truenas.com/community/resources/whats-all-the-noise-about-hbas-and-why-cant-i-use-a-raid-controller.139/

>>106289732
They work with sata HDDs. No need for SAS drives specifically

>>106289752
Oh wow so I have to worry about "muh lanes" because it does the processing on its own. Can you recommend one from Amazon?

>>106289752
Why do they still talk about crossflashing as if the majority of ebay listings aren't for IT mode?

>>106289773
The cheap but genuine OEM ones need crossflashing. The "new old stock original" ones are chinese fakes or expensive
>>106289770
Amazon is trash, prepare to get scammed

>>106289634
Yes. Same with old Mellanox 10/25 GbE cards.
And... so what? They work the same, perform the same, and use the same drivers. Just don't be stupid enough to pay "new" tax.

>>106289796
Damn where do you recommend I grab one from?

>>106289827
From some local ebay seller that sells used server parts

>>106289634
>>106289801
Got a chink LSI 9300-8i for 40€ with cables a couple months ago and it just werks. I am coming from pic related after having stability issues and so far I've had zero issues, whereas pic related was throwing read errors every couple days.

>>106289859
damn anon what file systems can it handle? I just want to plug and play.

>>106289859
I have a 16i version (but used picrel to convert it to 8i8e). It's clearly Chineseum, but at AU$90 (including shipping), DILLIGAF?

>>106288881
anons I have 12TB x5 HDDs on my PC and they are in no kind of raid setup is this a bad thing? I use them for Jellyfin sever. Do I need to format my drives foot SAS HBA to be functional?

>>106289752
>"What's all the noise about HBAs, and why can't I use a RAID controller?"
>doesn't explain what's all the noise about HBAs, and why can't I use a RAID controller
great read

>>106289796
>The cheap but genuine OEM ones need crossflashing
Maybe if you're die hard about using those cards.
LSI has made dedicated HBA cards which never needed flashing, real or fake.

Just seems like a weird obsession. Almost like hazing.
>if you buy an LSI card you MUST flash
Never mind the fact that I had to bust out a pure BIOS machine to do one.

>>106289900
>no kind of raid setup is this a bad thing?
Depends on how much of a bad thing it would be if any of those 5 drives were to fail right now.

>Do I need to format my drives foot SAS HBA to be functional?
No, SAS HBAs are fully compatible with SATA drives. What filesystem you use has nothing to do with it.
The only thing you might need is a driver for the OS (e.g. on RHEL/Rocky you have to install a driver, while on most other distros it Just Werkz).

>>106289859
I also got your pic related a while back, and it did self-destruct in less than a month. Which is a shame, because I need M.2 form factor. You can't reliably boot from those controllers either, apparently, but that wasn't the end of the world for me

>>106289859
holy kek you reminded me
a couple years ago I was running some fucked setup on a cramped mATX board which probably fucked one of my drives (of 8)

>>106289947
I don't know what you want me to say. The cheap and good cards are usually RAID cards pulled from hardware RAID setups. Pre-flashed cards tend to cost more and pure HBAs cost even more. Flashing to IT is a known good practice and isn't particularly difficult. Calling it a "weird obsession" sounds like projection on your part.

>>106290042
kek, I was about to do something silly like that to get 5GbE out of a m.2 slot on my ITX board but I settled on a USB-c adapter instead

>>106289891
what do you mean, the HBA? whatever file system your OS supports, I guess

>>106289891
It doesn't handle any file systems per se. These things are just interfaces - things like file systems are handled at the OS/software level.
On the hardware level, there are really only two commands (this is a lie for children): "read these sectors and put them in memory here", and "write these memory contents starting at this sector".

This is the one I got, in case anyone is interested: https://aliexpress.com/item/1005007038943339.html

Whatever you do, just make sure it mentions being in "IT mode" which just presents the drives to the OS, otherwise you're in for a bad time

PS: holy shit Aliexpress is using AVIF

>>106289978
>SAS HBAs are fully compatible with SATA drives.
They operate at SATA mode though along with limitations (1 device per channel at 300/600MiB transfer rate, 1 meter cable length limit). SAS HBA are really designed with SAS ecoystem in mind.

>>106290896
the limitations are highly unlikely to have any real practical impact on anyone in this thread. speaking of which, count how many people have already complained about their SATA expanders flaking out.

>>106291259
>speaking of which, count how many people have already complained about their SATA expanders flaking out.
Add me to the list that had an Asmedia sata card fail.
I really, REALLY didn't want to believe these things where that bad, they put them on motherboards so they can't be that bad right? It's just QC issues from no name cards right?
The ones directly on boards are just as bad.

>>106287562
Yup that looks like a diagram of blocks.

>>106291259
>>106291304
To be fair, SATA expanders have never been any good. It's an afterthought in the SATA spec, only existing because chinkshit OEMs berated the SATA-IO to specify it, so they could sell their bottom-of-the-barrel budget servers and say "w-we support expanders just like real servers with SAS h-honest guize."

>>106292168
It's not just the expanders, the actual PCIe to SATA chips are just as bad.
Expanders are a problem on top of a problem.
The whole ecosystem of consumer SATA chipsets is oddly fucked up. You can only really rely on SATA from actual Intel or AMD chipsets.

I can only assume that the best case for these chips is they will always have regular transmission problems and the drive is supposed to correct with ECC or have the block retransmitted. Basically they work just enough for Windows and NTFS not to complain and it's how they can sell them at all.

>>106292257
I've never had that problem. Having said that, I rarely deal with SATA cards - but the only ones that I've ever had the slightest problem with are ones with onboard port multipliers.