SATA III Internal Interface Card for PCI
A SATA III internal interface card for PCI slots, such as those made by Marvell, is essential whether you are looking to update an older system or planning to add another hard drive to your computer. It is a great way to increase your read and transfer rate speeds if you are adding a new SSD to your drive or if you have been using an older interface card.
What are the differences between the three versions of SATA?SATA is an interface that connects to storage or optical devices. SATA I has transfer rate speeds up to 1.5GB per second, SATA II has transfer rate speeds up to 3GB per second, and SATA III has transfer rate speeds up to 6GB per second. By purchasing a SATA III card, you are getting a controller card that allows you to get the highest transfer speeds.
What's the difference between PCI and PCI Express?You may have noticed that controller cards will mention that the model uses PCI Express. PCI is the connector that is on your motherboard. PCI-e has higher transfer rate speeds than standard PCI.
How do you install an interface card?Simply fit the card into the PCI express slot. Fitting the card may require you to unscrew the back panel of your tower. Once you do so, you will need to take your hard drive adapter cable out. Then place the adapter cable into the slot of the new card that you have just have installed.
Where is the PCI Express slot located?The location of the PCI Express slot depends on the motherboard. The best way to find out where it is located is to find a diagram of your model. It will list all the slots and what they are so that you can install your SATA III internal interface card. If you have some familiarity with motherboards, you can look at the individual slots, and you will find that they are labeled as PCI Express.
What should you look for in SATA III interface cards?First, check to see that the card comes with the manual and installation CD that contains the drivers. Then, think about how many ports you are going to need. If you are looking to add extra backup drives and want to do a RAID setup, you will want more than the standard two slots. Next, look for the design of the card. You may want to go with a low profile bracket depending on how crowded your internal setup is. Finally, look at what kind of hard disk drives it is compatible with if you want to connect and use older hard disk drives.