On Sat, Dec 27, 2008 at 9:47 PM, Robert Paulsen
MY QUESTION:
The card is a 32-bit/33mhz PCI card (not PCI express) and claims to support 3.0Gbps. I thought that the PCI bus was not fast enough for 3.0Gbps and PCI express was required. Am I missing something? Am I simply wrong about the PCI bus' capabilities?
Bob
In reality there are 2 basic modes: Sata-1 and Sata-2. The most obvious difference is speed, but sata-2 offers some other features you might want to use. For some reason, controller / disk manufacturers like to claim 3Gbs capability, when they really mean Sata-2 compatibility. ie. Not only "faster" but also other enhanced features. As to speed on PCI, I think you are right. The only thing you really get is access to the other enhanced features. (ie. NCQ for one is only supported on SATA-2 drives.) Also, a single sata drive can NOT saturate a 1.5Gbs connection, so more speed is not needed for point to point connections. Sata has something called PMP. aiui, it is like a sata-hub. You connect one side to your controller and the other side to a number of different sata-drives. With PMPs in use the controller / hub connection can saturate a 1.5Gbs link, so you would want to use 3.0Gbs for that config. Greg -- Greg Freemyer Litigation Triage Solutions Specialist http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregfreemyer First 99 Days Litigation White Paper - http://www.norcrossgroup.com/forms/whitepapers/99%20Days%20whitepaper.pdf The Norcross Group The Intersection of Evidence & Technology http://www.norcrossgroup.com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org