ATX MB with Raid and lots of Sata

webb · 11 Feb 2011 at 19:23

Currently running a Gigabyte GA-G31M ES2L "see signature" but aiming to move from micro ATX to ATX within the Antec 100 main reason need more Sata connectors plus my board doesn't appear to have raid

well doesn't mention it in manual, soon i will have two 1 TB drives wanted to raid them plus have a few 250 GB drives as storage for doc files is that possible or something like that ?

PS currently on DDR2 pc2-8500 and Pentium D 930 LGA 775 dual core ...... but would think about changing that too

as always any help advise welcome Webb

nshire · 11 Feb 2011 at 20:22

there are a few 8 Port SATA boards.

P5Q Pro + (P45 with decent performing Raid 0) be warned that long dual slot cooler on 2nd PCI-Express will cover 2-4 ports only worry if you crossfire.
GA-P35-DS3R (older P35 chipset no crossfire

Going older still
Intel D975XBX2 (aka badaxe2) 8 ports and crossfire

6 are normally on the intel chipset 2 are on marvel or Jmicron but best Raid performance is on intel sata ports.

But you are only going to find its top end motherboards that have it and possibly 2nd hand. Also there are others best check manufactors website and check.

10ports P5Q Premium

webb · 12 Feb 2011 at 18:01

thanks for the input Nshire

but finding it hard to source any of the boards u suggested, the P5Q Pro sounds and looks good, and the most available about £80 to £90 quid tho

the GA-P35-DS3R not been able to find in-fact a lot of links google suggest actually go to the board i got already see below

D975XBX2 (aka badaxe2) not found either but my memory pc2-8500 1066MHz sure it would still work but not to full effect??? y/n

anyway Ive looked at so many boards today its untrue :confused:

PS that popular auctioning place didn't have either

so started looking at MB bundles for £100 mark i only found stuff as good as stuff i already got give or take a few nick knacks

also looked at socket LGA 1156 a i3 3.06GHz processor about £70, MB about the same most with six Sata but cant find one that uses DDR2 all DDR3

pingu666 · 12 Feb 2011 at 18:22

ill be selling my p35 mobo soon, msi neo 2

, it has 5 sata on the board, and 2 esata on the backplate, so i use 2 esata to sata cables for my dvd drives

Orcvader · 12 Feb 2011 at 18:28

Another option for more SATA ports is a SATA controller card that has RAID support. Something like this perhaps? : http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CC-000-LL&groupid=701&catid=49&subcat=424

webb · 12 Feb 2011 at 18:37

pingu666 have u got a link to the board u got there are lots of versions and all the ones i seen so far only have 4 Sata???? plus did u mean u run cables from out side the tower bk in tower to run your DVD drives :eek:

..... i have a pci-e x1 card with two Sata connectors on it to run my optical drives so wouldn't have to be so radical ...... but know pci-e x1 on any msi neo 2 board i seen so far

webb · 12 Feb 2011 at 18:50

Orcvader said:
Another option for more SATA ports is a SATA controller card that has RAID support. Something like this perhaps? : http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CC-000-LL&groupid=701&catid=49&subcat=424

Orcvader where were u last week when i bought Startech 2-Port SATA III 6Gbps PCI-Express Controller Card [PEXSAT32]

ho well

webb · 13 Feb 2011 at 19:26

with all my searching torn between buying a lesser MB or going full hog what u think ????

can get a i7 950 3.06GHz (Bloomfield) stk LGA 1366 quad core for under £190 quid if look around

but what MB would be best for it?

looked at Asus X58 Sabertooth TUF Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard [90-MIBDK0-G0EAY00Z]

any horror story's please advise

Webb

PS .... is this skt (LGA 1366) been discontinued this year ? ..... from some post i read? and would that make it cheaper if i wait? to buy

webb · 14 Feb 2011 at 20:50

on further searching now looking at Asus p6x58d-e too many to choose from

Any help advise welcome Webb

nshire · 17 Feb 2011 at 11:25

1366 is being EOL this year there will be 2011 socket which be Q3 2011. And there be the motherboard no doubt with 8 or 10 sata's again

.

Or looking at present sandybridge mobo's
MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge)

8SATA's: 4xSATA 4xSATAIII

or Asrock P67 Extreme 6 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge)

u got 10

webb · 17 Feb 2011 at 19:51

Was advised not to get the sandybridge not from OC i might add maybe its the "Potential Sandybridge issue" at bottom of page ????? i really wouldn't know

still leaning toward the LGA 1366 as i can buy i7 950 3.06GHz (Bloomfield) for £186.00 pound think this must be good ?

that processor should last me four or five years then ill just major upgrade again ..... plus OC doing a sale on "OCZ Special OPS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit" would be looking for two sets at least

so if i went down that road, i would need at least four memory slots six or eight would be better

webb · 22 Feb 2011 at 20:51

nshire said:
there are a few 8 Port SATA boards.

P5Q Pro + (P45 with decent performing Raid 0) be warned that long dual slot cooler on 2nd PCI-Express will cover 2-4 ports only worry if you crossfire.
GA-P35-DS3R (older P35 chipset no crossfire

Going older still
Intel D975XBX2 (aka badaxe2) 8 ports and crossfire

6 are normally on the Intel chipset 2 are on marvel or Jmicron but best Raid performance is on Intel Sata ports.

But you are only going to find its top end motherboards that have it and possibly 2nd hand. Also there are others best check manufactures website and check.

10ports P5Q Premium

managed to track down a "P5Q Deluxe" says it has 6 x Sata plus 2 x drive Xpert Sata connectors? ....... what are Xpert sata's

read its to do with raid but not for system drives ? if so what do u gain? could you use for optical drives?

any help advise welcome Webb

webb · 5 Mar 2011 at 20:31

Webb said:
managed to track down a "P5Q Deluxe" says it has 6 x Sata plus 2 x drive Xpert Sata connectors? ....... what are Xpert sata's

read its to do with raid but not for system drives ? if so what do u gain? could you use for optical drives?

any help advise welcome Webb

Grrrr I'm such a Pratt

at times i should think before i type anyway that said

got a new real problem maybe

ended up getting a Asus P5Q Pro MB but the supplied software is either well out of date or the bios is out off date not sure witch as Asus support site well confusing, have been trying to download a working Bois update manager to know avail ?

with the supplied disk

Asus update V3.28.06E ............. can not detect Asus bios ........... setup program detected no Asus MB, install will be aborted ? ..... its there honest

Asus PC Probe V2.15.00 ............... installing this brings the warning "unknown chipset" ......... then "old bios (02/23/2009) detected must update bios (09/22/97 or later first) ????

found newer Boise's not sure how to install rather the manager did it ...... plus i should say i found sum Boise's :rolleyes:

any help advise will be welcome here on this one lol

Webb

webb · 6 Mar 2011 at 15:14

it would appear the best way to flash the P5Q Pro bios was to use Asus EZ Flash a feature in the bios itself under tools (and not the Asus updater)

but when i downloaded the latest bios update burned it to disk and tried to update it my board already had the version i was trying to install ?

so now back to square one either I'm not loading CD contents correctly or its a duff disk isn't scratched tho also "Everest home edition 2.2" gives me know information about my chipset ?

the CD it self says it's "Via DDR chipset Series" ?

all the above is under win XP pro, currently moving files but hopefully board will work with win 7 64 bit going to try soon as them pesky data files move