Adding SATA ports to IP35 Pro

[BinnsY]

Hi All,

I have an abit IP35 pro in my somewhat old system that I purchased from here ages ago. I currently have 4 physical hard drives and 2 sata optical drives using the 6 sata ports available on the motherboard.

I have come to the conclusion that I would like to add one of the OCZ Synapse Cache drives as from looking at some of the reviews online they seem to give a massive speed boost without having to re-install my entire OS. Unfortunately I'm all out of SATA ports to do it and I dont really want to loose anything I already have.

I've come to the idea that getting a Sata controller card such as this Satartech 2 port one will do the job. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CC-010-SR I reckon I could move either one or both of my optical drives onto this, and simply keep all the hard drives on the motherboards controller.

However, I have a bit of a problem. The PCI-E*1 slot at the top of my board currently has the speed controller for my Tuniq Tower 120 installed in it, and the cables simply wont let it reach below my graphics card.

I do still have the lower of the two PCI-E*16 slots empty, though I'm aware its actually only a 4* speed slot. I think this would be more than adequate for an optical drive or two. Does anyone have any expereince using this second *16 slot for a SATA controller card on this motherboard? If so any advice would be appreciated

Thanks,

 

[BinnsY]

Well as this thread now seems to appear in some of the google searches I have been doing I thought I would post the answer.

I can confirm that the Startech SATA controller linked above works in this boards 4* slot with no issues. I currently have a blu-ray drive running off it with no issues, freeing up the one slot I need for the Synapse drive.

 

[Tim Kama]

Hello ,
I too have one of these boards and think i have a solution for you ,
The board has 2 esata ports on the back driven by a jmicron JMB36X chip , how about using an esata to sata cable passed back into the case for the optical drives , and that should leave you 2 spare ports from your ICH9R to play with .

Thanks
Tim Kama