# Will a PCI-e x4 or x8 SAS RAID controller card work in x16 slot?



## KBD (Sep 24, 2008)

Basically, i need to know if it will work. Someone i know wants to get a SAS RAID Controller card and some drives for a workstation or server, his board only has a spare PCI-e x16 slot and some PCI. He prefers a PCI-e card, but he'll take a PCI-X as well, i heard those work in a conventional PCI slot, correct?


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## newtekie1 (Sep 24, 2008)

Yes, PCI-E slots will accept lower cards.  A PCI-E x16 slot will accept pretty much any PCI-E.


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## twicksisted (Sep 24, 2008)

yep... i run my PCI-E X1 asus Xonar D2X soundcard in a pci-e X16 slot perfectly


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## niko084 (Sep 24, 2008)

Pci-X wont work in a pci slot though.


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## KBD (Sep 24, 2008)

thnx guys.






niko084 said:


> Pci-X wont work in a pci slot though.




I don't know, niko, you sure? I heard otherwise. Take a look at this Adaptec card at egg, it says it supports both PCI-X and PCI 33/66:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816103038

I assume it depends on the card, is that right?


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## Fastmix (Sep 24, 2008)

Offcourse, it's backwards compatible.


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## newtekie1 (Sep 24, 2008)

It depends on the card, some PCI-X cards work in PCI slots, some don't.


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## KBD (Sep 24, 2008)

newtekie1 said:


> It depends on the card, some PCI-X cards work in PCI slots, some don't.



Thats what i thought, thnx!


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## niko084 (Sep 24, 2008)

Your large full 64bit slot cards will not work for obvious reasons--
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Intelpromtserverpcixadapter1000mta342.jpg

Take a look.
But standard PCI will work in a PCI-X slot I think is the way that works.

Never mind, I guess most cards will work backwards, just slow down or something I would guess...
But that means watch what you buy.


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## Deleted member 3 (Sep 24, 2008)

KBD said:


> but he'll take a PCI-X as well, i heard those work in a conventional PCI slot, correct?



SAS for performance and then bottlenecking it with a PCI slot. That's brilliant.

Anyway, PCI-e cards go in PCI-e slots, that's all there is to it. You can also put a x16 card in a x1 slot and vice versa. Just have to cut away the back plastic of the slot or cut in the card.


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## Deleted member 3 (Sep 24, 2008)

niko084 said:


> Your large full 64bit slot cards will not work for obvious reasons--
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Intelpromtserverpcixadapter1000mta342.jpg
> 
> Take a look.
> ...


It works just fine. At 133MB/s.


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## niko084 (Sep 24, 2008)

DanTheBanjoman said:


> It works just fine. At 133MB/s.



Aw, well that's not too bad, is that combined total then?


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## Deleted member 3 (Sep 24, 2008)

niko084 said:


> Aw, well that's not too bad, is that combined total then?



Combined?

PCI = 133MB/s for the whole bus. ie a set of two SAS disks will be severely bottlenecked already. A single disk could even be bottlenecked if there are more PCI devices on the bus. Only a *insert mean word* would buy an expensive controller, expensive disks and then put it in a PCI slot.
For instance, in ATTO I can reach 277MB/s read, if I put my controller in a PCI slot that's gonna be ~120MB/s. Quite a difference I'd say.


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## niko084 (Sep 24, 2008)

DanTheBanjoman said:


> Combined?
> 
> PCI = 133MB/s for the whole bus. ie a set of two SAS disks will be severely bottlenecked already. A single disk could even be bottlenecked if there are more PCI devices on the bus. Only a *insert mean word* would buy an expensive controller, expensive disks and then put it in a PCI slot.
> For instance, in ATTO I can reach 277MB/s read, if I put my controller in a PCI slot that's gonna be ~120MB/s. Quite a difference I'd say.



Ya sorry that's what I meant, a total of 133MB/s.

And ya, you would have to be pretty "something" to buy SAS drives and a hot controller and then cut it short.....

I was personally thinking about buying a pci-e x1 controller for a 2x drive stripe and changed my mind real fast.


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## KBD (Sep 24, 2008)

DanTheBanjoman said:


> SAS for performance and then bottlenecking it with a PCI slot. That's brilliant.
> 
> Anyway, PCI-e cards go in PCI-e slots, that's all there is to it. You can also put a x16 card in a x1 slot and vice versa. Just have to cut away the back plastic of the slot or cut in the card.





DanTheBanjoman said:


> Combined?
> 
> PCI = 133MB/s for the whole bus. ie a set of two SAS disks will be severely bottlenecked already. A single disk could even be bottlenecked if there are more PCI devices on the bus. Only a *insert mean word* would buy an expensive controller, expensive disks and then put it in a PCI slot.
> For instance, in ATTO I can reach 277MB/s read, if I put my controller in a PCI slot that's gonna be ~120MB/s. Quite a difference I'd say.





Thank you for your explanation. Like i said he prefers PCI-e not PCI-X, i'll have to explain to him that he shouldnt save money and buy a PCI-X one but go straight for PCI-e. He already has the drives but his budget is not huge thats why he looking to get a used card on ebay. Anyway, you guys were very helpful as usual. 


Anyway, can someone recomend a good SAS controller card from experience? Not many reviews out there.


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## niko084 (Sep 24, 2008)

I have always had great luck with Adaptec controllers, but you kinda pay for them too..

I have heard good things about highpoint and 3com.


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## lemonadesoda (Sep 24, 2008)

His options are PCI-X or PCI-e.  He should not go PCI. That is what people are saying. PCI-X is OK in theory, since PCI-X (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI-X) has plenty of bandwidth for a dual SAS setup.  But a PCI-X card in a PCI slot is as bad as just a simple PCI card. So NO unless you have a genuine PCI-X slot.


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## KBD (Sep 25, 2008)

niko084 said:


> I have always had great luck with Adaptec controllers, but you kinda pay for them too..
> 
> I have heard good things about highpoint and 3com.




Thats what i told him, Adaptec and Areca (its way too expensive). He is also looking at LSI. Any specific model numbers someone can offer? I told him it will cost him to get a good one, he looked at online stores but right now looking on ebay there are some relatively inexpensive ones there.


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## niko084 (Sep 25, 2008)

Does he want full hardware with a processor and ram on the card, is he going to run raid, if so what setup?


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## KBD (Sep 25, 2008)

he already has all the hardware, from what i understand he's using his own desktop PC and tranforming it, i dont even know what hardware he has. I know he got no PCI-X so i assume just a plain desktop board most likely SLI or Crossfire with dual x16 slots.


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## niko084 (Sep 25, 2008)

Hold on, this guy wants SAS drives for his Desktop????

*sounds like more money than brains*


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## KBD (Sep 25, 2008)

lol, actually hes not rich, i beleive he is tranforming it into a server or a workstation.

Besides, having SAS drives on a desktop would rock! Unfortunately no desktop board suppports em. Im actually getting 2 74Gb Veloci for RAID 0 soon, if i could plug those new 15.6K Cheetahs in my mobo i'll def get them instead.


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## niko084 (Sep 25, 2008)

KBD said:


> lol, actually hes not rich, i beleive he is tranforming it into a server or a workstation.
> 
> Besides, having SAS drives on a desktop would rock! Unfortunately no desktop board suppports em. Im actually getting 2 74Gb Veloci for RAID 0 soon, if i could plug those new 15.6K Cheetahs in my mobo i'll def get them instead.



Although I can understand the massive speed, its just such a waste...
Go skulltrail while your at it I mean..


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## KBD (Sep 25, 2008)

niko084 said:


> Although I can understand the massive speed, its just such a waste...
> Go skulltrail while your at it I mean..



well, it depends what you are using the system for i guess. i certainly wouldn't find lightning speeds, to each is own i suppose.


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