[Pc_Support] [Revisited] PCI-Express SATA RAID cards -- HighPoint RocketRAID 2320

[Bryan J. Smith]

"Bryan J. Smith" <b.j.smith at ieee.org> wrote:
> So, since the 4-channel PCIe x4 card is sub-$200, it might
> not be a bad option to look into.  It claims Linux support,
> but I'm not sure how "open" that support is.  Does it hide
> the SATA channels?  I don't think so, because the
> PCI-X/PCIe arbitrator is on the Marvell chip.  But they
> claim the HPT601 allows hot-swap and off-loading from host
> -- so I don't know.

FYI, I'm not sure a PCIe x4 card will physically fit in a
PCIe x1 slot, even though it would work electrically.  I
think it's one of those things that the slot should be
physically the same as or bigger than the card to fit.

That's why you're seeing a number of PCIe x4 slots on
mainboards that are electrically only PCIe x1 (or x2 in a few
cases).  Electrically, PCIe cards automatically "downgrade"
themselves.  But physically, that damn edge on the slot will
make things difficult (unless you break off the end -- which
I wouldn't do unless you don't care about the warranty.  ;->

BTW, I've also noticed the PCIe x1 is 0.25GBps/direction, not
0.125GBps like I previously stated.  So even x1 would be
better than nothing (or using the PCI channel).


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