Paul wrote:
Yes wrote:
graphic card/SATA III questions
1. Have graphics cards improved so that they don't block adjacent
mobo slots?
2. Are there expansion cards for PCI slots that provide internal
SATA III connectors?
3. What's the correct search term to use?
4. Will such a SATA III expansion card transfer data at or near
the same speed as
the SATA III connectors on the mobo itself?
I currently have a PowerColor Radeon HD 6750 graphics card
installed in the PCIe 2.0 x 16_1 slot of the Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB
3 motherboard. The card works well for my needs. The problem is
that the graphics card blocks access to the PCIe 2.0 x 1_1 slot and
the PCIe x 4_1 slot. When I look at the graphics card, it looks
like its cooling fan extends over the adjoining PCIe slots.
When I originally built the pc several years ago, I wasn't concerned
about it. I now want to add an internal SATA III connector port.
The remaining open slots on the mobo are described by the manual as
follows, but I'm not sure that I can trust the description of the
PCIe 2.0 slot in the manual. The pictures I see of PCIe 2.0 cards
look like the pins have a different shape that what it looks like
on my mobo, but then I haven't really dealt with them before.
PCIe 2.0 x 16_2 slot (blue single at x 18 or dual at x8 link)
PCI slot 1
PCI slot 2
Thanks,
John
https://www.ixbt.com/mainboard/asus/...usb3/board.jpg
https://www.ixbt.com/mainboard/asus/.../rear-view.jpg
[ All PCIe slots are Revision 2 running at 500MB/sec per lane. ]
PCIE x16 runs x8 --- put SATAIII card here
PCIE x1 or here
PCIE x4 or here
PCIE x16 runs x8 --- put video card here, covers PCI slots
PCI
PCI --- remove sound card, use ALC892 onboard
sound
That's simpler than writing a book on I/O rates and the
current poor availability of "interesting" addin cards.
If you really like the separate sound card idea, get
a PCIe x1 sound card and locate it in the upper section.
The trend right now is to thicker video cards, cards
which are missing VGA connectors. Look at the Nvidia 1030
for an example, of a more expensive, thicker card. Should be $40
but costs a lot more.
HTH,
Paul
Thanks. The info helps considerably.
If you don't mind, do you perhaps know what the deal is with the mobo's
SATA III connectors labeled SATA5 and SATA6? The labels are in the
lower left hand corner of
https://www.ixbt.com/mainboard/asus/...usb3/board.jpg, but I
don't see any pins to which to connect a SATA device. There is a
white/biege plastic cover (terminology?) just below those labels, but
short of rebuilding my pc to get to that cover, I don't have the
leverage to forcibly remove that plastic cover and I'm not even sure
that that spot has anything to do with SATA5 and SATA6.
Are the SATA connectors actually underneath that cover? If that's
where the SATA connectors 5 and 6 are really located, any idea why Asus
would have hidden them? SATA connectors 1 thru 4 are visible and easy
to use, but when I went looking for 5 and 6, I just didn't see them on
the mobo and thought perhaps I had a mobo that had been revised but
with no warning provided by Asus. I still don't understand why they're
"missing" unless they're hidden underneath that cover, but then, why
cover them up to begin with? One of the reasons I bought the mobo
originally was because it had so many SATA III connectors. However, I
only just now reached the point (several years later) where I can use a
5th SATA connector.
Regardless, thanks. I'll reseat the graphics card I have. IIRC, I
think I used the slot I did because at the time that was recommended as
least problematic. Times change :-)
John