Hope I'm in the best place to ask this - if not, I'd appreciate
someone pointing me there
I'm finding it hard to find a motherboard that fits my requirements. I
needs to be able to use and Intel Core 2 Duo and have one (or more)
x16 PCI-E slots. Other than that, my real requirement is that it has
as many onboard SATA connectors as possible. 8 would be a minimum and
more is better (I'm try to avoid buying an expensive add-in raid
controller). I would want to use the disks in JBOD mode, so raid
functionality is not an issue.
Can anyone recommend the best board to suit these purposes or point in
a direction that I may be able to find out?
Neil__C wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Hope I'm in the best place to ask this - if not, I'd appreciate
> someone pointing me there
>
> I'm finding it hard to find a motherboard that fits my requirements. I
> needs to be able to use and Intel Core 2 Duo and have one (or more)
> x16 PCI-E slots. Other than that, my real requirement is that it has
> as many onboard SATA connectors as possible. 8 would be a minimum and
> more is better (I'm try to avoid buying an expensive add-in raid
> controller). I would want to use the disks in JBOD mode, so raid
> functionality is not an issue.
>
> Can anyone recommend the best board to suit these purposes or point in
> a direction that I may be able to find out?
>
> Thanks in anticipation.
First, find a motherboard with 6 SATA on it. It should not be difficult
to find a board like that.
Second requirement, is to find a motherboard with several PCI Express x1
sockets.
Then, purchase SIL3132 cards, which have the hardware to control two
SATA ports. (The card you purchase should have two physical ports,
and you don't want a card which offers two external and two internal,
as with the SIL3132, they cannot all be used at the same time.)
This one is $37 and offers two internal ports.
An alternative expansion scheme, is to use a single SIL3132
card, and use two of these port expansion boxes. These cost $100
each, and turn one port into five. By using a $37 SIL3132 card,
and two $100 expansion boxes, you can run 10 disks. Plus the 6 on
the motherboard itself.
Actually, I do see a board that has 8 SATA ports and three
PCI Express x1 slots. 6 SATA are on the Southbridge (ICH9R).
2 SATA are connected to what looks like a JMB363 or equivalent
(Gigabyte likes to hide the identity of the chip, for no good
reason). You can slap in at least one more SIL3132 card
if you want.
I don't know if multiple SIL3132 cards "play nice" in the
same computer, so you have a bit more research to do.
In terms of volume size, there is also a limit at around
2.2TB on some versions of Windows. That is another thing
to take into account, when setting up the box. If all the
disks are independent of one another (each with own drive
letter), then that shouldn't be a problem.
On 26 May, 18:29, Paul <nos...@needed.com> wrote:
> Neil__C wrote:
> > Hi all,
>
> > Hope I'm in the best place to ask this - if not, I'd appreciate
> > someone pointing me there
>
> > I'm finding it hard to find a motherboard that fits my requirements. I
> > needs to be able to use and Intel Core 2 Duo and have one (or more)
> > x16 PCI-E slots. Other than that, my real requirement is that it has
> > as many onboard SATA connectors as possible. 8 would be a minimum and
> > more is better (I'm try to avoid buying an expensive add-in raid
> > controller). I would want to use the disks in JBOD mode, so raid
> > functionality is not an issue.
>
> > Can anyone recommend the best board to suit these purposes or point in
> > a direction that I may be able to find out?
>
> > Thanks in anticipation.
>
> First, find a motherboard with 6 SATA on it. It should not be difficult
> to find a board like that.
>
> Second requirement, is to find a motherboard with several PCI Express x1
> sockets.
>
> Then, purchase SIL3132 cards, which have the hardware to control two
> SATA ports. (The card you purchase should have two physical ports,
> and you don't want a card which offers two external and two internal,
> as with the SIL3132, they cannot all be used at the same time.)
> This one is $37 and offers two internal ports.
>
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815290003
>
> An alternative expansion scheme, is to use a single SIL3132
> card, and use two of these port expansion boxes. These cost $100
> each, and turn one port into five. By using a $37 SIL3132 card,
> and two $100 expansion boxes, you can run 10 disks. Plus the 6 on
> the motherboard itself.
>
> http://www.sataport.com/
>
> Actually, I do see a board that has 8 SATA ports and three
> PCI Express x1 slots. 6 SATA are on the Southbridge (ICH9R).
> 2 SATA are connected to what looks like a JMB363 or equivalent
> (Gigabyte likes to hide the identity of the chip, for no good
> reason). You can slap in at least one more SIL3132 card
> if you want.
>
> http://www.gigabyte.us/Products/Moth...ec.aspx?ClassV...
>
> I don't know if multiple SIL3132 cards "play nice" in the
> same computer, so you have a bit more research to do.
>
> In terms of volume size, there is also a limit at around
> 2.2TB on some versions of Windows. That is another thing
> to take into account, when setting up the box. If all the
> disks are independent of one another (each with own drive
> letter), then that shouldn't be a problem.
>
> * * Paul- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Thanks Paul - a very helpful response. I also found an abit board with
9 SATA connections so it looks like I can start.
On 28 May, 13:03, Neil__C <ncha...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> On 26 May, 18:29, Paul <nos...@needed.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > Neil__C wrote:
> > > Hi all,
>
> > > Hope I'm in the best place to ask this - if not, I'd appreciate
> > > someone pointing me there
>
> > > I'm finding it hard to find a motherboard that fits my requirements. I
> > > needs to be able to use and Intel Core 2 Duo and have one (or more)
> > > x16 PCI-E slots. Other than that, my real requirement is that it has
> > > as many onboard SATA connectors as possible. 8 would be a minimum and
> > > more is better (I'm try to avoid buying an expensive add-in raid
> > > controller). I would want to use the disks in JBOD mode, so raid
> > > functionality is not an issue.
>
> > > Can anyone recommend the best board to suit these purposes or point in
> > > a direction that I may be able to find out?
>
> > > Thanks in anticipation.
>
> > First, find a motherboard with 6 SATA on it. It should not be difficult
> > to find a board like that.
>
> > Second requirement, is to find a motherboard with several PCI Express x1
> > sockets.
>
> > Then, purchase SIL3132 cards, which have the hardware to control two
> > SATA ports. (The card you purchase should have two physical ports,
> > and you don't want a card which offers two external and two internal,
> > as with the SIL3132, they cannot all be used at the same time.)
> > This one is $37 and offers two internal ports.
>
> >http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815290003
>
> > An alternative expansion scheme, is to use a single SIL3132
> > card, and use two of these port expansion boxes. These cost $100
> > each, and turn one port into five. By using a $37 SIL3132 card,
> > and two $100 expansion boxes, you can run 10 disks. Plus the 6 on
> > the motherboard itself.
>
> >http://www.sataport.com/
>
> > Actually, I do see a board that has 8 SATA ports and three
> > PCI Express x1 slots. 6 SATA are on the Southbridge (ICH9R).
> > 2 SATA are connected to what looks like a JMB363 or equivalent
> > (Gigabyte likes to hide the identity of the chip, for no good
> > reason). You can slap in at least one more SIL3132 card
> > if you want.
>
> >http://www.gigabyte.us/Products/Moth...ec.aspx?ClassV...
>
> > I don't know if multiple SIL3132 cards "play nice" in the
> > same computer, so you have a bit more research to do.
>
> > In terms of volume size, there is also a limit at around
> > 2.2TB on some versions of Windows. That is another thing
> > to take into account, when setting up the box. If all the
> > disks are independent of one another (each with own drive
> > letter), then that shouldn't be a problem.
>
> > * * Paul- Hide quoted text -
>
> > - Show quoted text -
>
> Thanks Paul - a very helpful response. I also found an abit board with
> 9 SATA connections so it looks like I can start.
>
> Regards- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
For anyone else interested, I've found that the Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-
DQ6 supports 10 independent SATA drives on-board. This sounds ideal.
If anyone has nay advance on 10, please let me know
Number of SATA connectors 
Linear Mode
