What SATA Host Card fits my computer?

    Today's computer users have several choices in SATA Host Card manufacturers and more importantly expansion card bus types. Some bus configurations are interchangeable and some are not compatible with another type. In this guide we will identify what bus your computer has and explore some different Host Cards and Controllers that will work with your bus type and computer platform.

    There are currently three Bus Slot types, PCI, PCI-X (PCI-Extended) and PCIe sometimes called PCI Express. You MUST select the card type that fits your computer. Most PCs these days come with a couple of different slots types available.

    PCI is a 33 Mhz Bus often found in older computers and some early Mac G5's. PCI was replaced with PCI-X which provides much improved performance. Most PCI-X host cards made today are backward compatible and will work in a PCI slot at the buses slower speed providing there is physically room for the longer PCI-X card. PCI-X is a longer interface slot and runs at a faster clock speed of 66, 100 or 133 Mhz. Using a PCI card in a PCI-X bus is not advisable in most cases.

    PCIe is a little different. It comes in different lane counts, 1 lane, 4 lane, 8 lane and 16 lane. Each lane is capable of 250 Mb/s, so a 4 lane Bus should provide nearly 1Gb/s. 16 lane slots are generally only used for graphics cards. PCIe slots are sometimes physically longer than they are electrically, your available PCIe slot may be physically 8 lanes long but only electrically active with 4 lanes. Most cards will work in a shorter lane count electrically as long as the slot is physically long enough to accept the card interface. For example, the Lycom LYCeSATA-4e card is an 8 lane card physically and must have an 8 lane slot to fit, but can operate in a slot that is only 4 lanes electrically.

    The photo is an HP XW-8200 motherboard. Shown from the top down, PCIe 16 lane (graphics only), PCI, PCIe 8 lane and PCI-X. It's almost impossible to determine what slots you have by looking at them since some computers use long sockets physically but they may only be wired part way. Example: A PCIe 8 lane slot may be electrically only a 4 lane. Refer to your computers spec sheet to make sure before ordering.

PC's

    PC's are so varied that you usually have to check the spec sheet on the computer or mother board manufacturer's web site. The computer specifications will usually tell you what your available expansion slots are, how many of each type and their speed in Mhz. Most PC's have more than one type of slot on board and may be confusing particularly since the PCIe slots can be of different lengths, some of which are visually similar to other slot types. Bus slot color is irrelevant.

   Common cards available for PCI and PCI-X equipped PC's include the Sonnet and Lycom brand cards which are both Port Multiplier capable and the 3ware and Areca brand cards which are Hardware RAID Controllers. The Port Multiplier capable cards will support up to 20 drives when attached to our Burly Port Multiplier Enclosure or four drives direct connected with a Burly Hot Swap SATA Kit or Burly SATA Kit (Fixed Drive). The RAID Controllers use dedicated channels for each drive attached and are available in sizes allowing up to 24 drives per card. The Lycom cards using the Silicon Image Chipset provide the best performance of the non-hardware based cards and is quite stable in PC's as well as Macs. For a high performance RAID 5 or RAID 6 array look into the 3ware or Areca line of Hardware Controllers that have their own dedicated CPU and RAM to manage the RAID overhead. You'll be glad you did. Please visit our "Simply Storage (What are my storage needs?)" page and our "Port Multiplication Guide" for more help in deciding on a host card to suit your needs. Or simply contact us for personalized help.

    PCIe equipped PC's can use The Lycom or Sonnet four port host cards capable of mounting up to 20 drives or the two port Lycom PCI Express, CARDBUS or Express34 card that will mount up to 10 drives when using the Burly Port Multiplier Enclosure. The 2 port cards use a chipset that is only capable of 150 MB/s and is usually only used for backup purposes. If you're using the card for video storage go with the four port cards with the greater speed capabilities. These are all compatible with our Burly Port Multiplier Enclosures or may be direct connected using our Burly Hot Swap SATA Kits or the Burly SATA Kit (Fixed Drive). For a high performance RAID 5 or RAID 6 array look into the 3ware or Areca line of Hardware Controllers that have their own dedicated CPU and RAM to manage the RAID overhead. You'll be glad you did. Please visit our "Simply Storage (What are my storage needs?)" page and our "Port Multiplication Guide" for more help in deciding on a host card to suit your needs. Or simply contact us for personalized help.

    PC Laptops have two possible expansion card types. Cardbus (PCMCIA) and Express34. Not all laptop computers have a slot and some have more than one, refer to your computer's specs. The Cardbus card slot is approximately 2.125" wide and the Express34 slot is approximately 1.375" wide. We have these cards in two port versions that are all Port multiplier capable and can mount up to 10 drives when used with our Burly Port Multiplier Enclosures or two drives direct connected with the Burly Hot Swap SATA Kit or Burly SATA Kit (Fixed Drive). These two bay kits are conveniently portable for on location work including video capture with up to 150 Mb/sec on these cards.

Macs

    Macs are pretty easy until you get to the G5. The G5 has shipped with three distinct expansion bus types and several CPU variations. Please verify which model you have using the simple instructions below to avoid all confusion when ordering host cards.

To determine if your computer is a Dual CORE with PCI Express (PCIe) or a Dual PROCESSOR with either PCI or PCI-X bus types you'll have to go to "System Profiler". Open the "Memory" page in the "Hardware" section, at the top under "Speed" you'll see either PC3200, PC 4200, PC5300 or PC6400. If it shows PC3200 RAM you have a Dual PROCESSOR G5 with either PCI or PCI-X expansion slots (see below). If the RAM Speed is PC4200 or faster you have a PCI Express equipped Dual CORE G5 or Intel MacPro. Another way to verify which you have is to count your ethernet ports on the back of your computer. If you have two ethernet ports the computer is PCI Express and if you only have one it's PCI or PCI-X. Make sure you don't count the modem port (if you have one) which looks similar but is slightly narrower.

To determine if your Dual PROCESSOR G5 has PCI or PCI-X expansion bus slots you'll also have to check out the "Memory" section in "System Profiler". This time you'll count the total number of RAM DIMM slots. You'll have either 4 or 8 total. If you have 4 the computer has the slower and less capable PCI bus, if it has 8 RAM slots it's PCI-X.

The PCI equipped Mac computers do not play well with host cards using the Silicon Image Chipset. This includes G3, G4 and G5 models with four RAM slots. These computers can only use the Sonnet X4P Host Card. Do NOT order Lycom or other Silicon Image based cards to use in these computers. If your computer came equipped with a PCI-X expansion bus you may use any PCI-X host card that you like.

    The MacBook Pro uses the Express34 expansion slot and the PowerBook uses the Cardbus (PCMCIA) card type. We offer Sonnet and Lycom Port Multiplier capable cards that will allow you to mount up to 10 drives when attached to our Burly Port multiplier Enclosures or two drives direct connected with the Burly Hot Swap SATA Kit or Burly SATA Kit (Fixed Drive). These two bay kits are conveniently portable for on location work including video capture with up to 150 Mb/sec.

    For PCI and PCI-X Macs we offer many Host Card options including Port Multiplier capable cards that support up to 20 drives. You can find them all on our PCI and PCI-X Host Card page. Please visit our "Simply Storage (What are my storage needs?)" page and our "Port Multiplication Guide" for more help in deciding on a host card to suit your needs.

    PCIe Macs have fewer options since the standard hasn't been around as long in the Macintosh platform. You can fill your needs on our PCI Express Host Card page. Please visit our "Simply Storage (What are my storage needs?)" page and our "Port Multiplication Guide" for more help in deciding on a host card to suit your needs.

Note: The only host cards we currently endorse for MacPro users are the Sonnet Tempo-E4P and the Lycom LYCeSATA-4e cards. Of these two cards the Lycom is currently our favorite due to the lower cost and total absence of problems working with Leopard. The two port PCI Express cards use a chipset that is slower than the one used on the four port cards. If you must have the performance stick with the four port cards even if only attaching a few drives.

MacPro PCIe slots' bandwidth is user adjustable in the Expansion Slot utility (found- HD/System/Library/Core Services/Expansion Slot utility), so make sure that you set the slot with the host card to the same bandwidth as the host card you have installed.