Hi, i bought this card:

 

It supposedly is adverstised as a "PCIe SATA 4x 10 ports", with an ASM1166 + JMB5xx chipset.

(i already checked the firmware, it's one of the latest).

by the system it's seen as:
06:00.0 SATA controller: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1166 Serial ATA Controller (rev 02)

Booting up the server, 1st surprise: after being initialized the board lists the drives connected to it and shows:

"PCIe Gen2 x2".

So, instead of being x4, it's x2.
Ok, well, should be enough for 8/10 mechanical drives: 1x = 500Mb/s, x2 should be 1000Mb/s.

Unraid starts, all drives listed.
With DiskSpeed, checking speed for every drive connected shows good results.

Problem arise when i try a cache move to array (with Turbo Write enabled) or a parity check:

With 5 drives connected to the card (all array mechanical drives) i get a max speed of 54Mb/s per drive, for a grand total of 270Mb/s bandwidth.
Wich is terrible (with the 2 PCIe 4 ports Marvell controllers i used before i was well over 120Mb/s per drive).

So, any hint, secret driver, parameter i can play with or the controller is just a piece of junk?

Thanks.


 

Edited February 3, 20251 yr by dhstsw

That uses a SATA port multiplier, not recommended, see here:

 

35 minutes ago, JorgeB said:

That uses a SATA port multiplier, not recommended, see here:

 

Yup, i undestand that.
What i don't undestand is why if i connect only, let's say, 4 drives, the speeds are terrible anyway.
Also, the post mentions speeds over 500Mb/s for the ASM1166, speeds i really don't see (also, states it's Gen3 while it reads as Gen2 everywhere i plug it).

Thanks.

Mistery solved.
Only about 9 of the pins of the "pci 4x" (as advertised) lead somewhere.
Basically, it's a scammy piece of junk.

ASM1166 can be PCIe x1 or x2, not x4.

3 hours ago, JorgeB said:

ASM1166 can be PCIe x1 or x2, not x4.

As i said, a scam :-(

Note that x2 controllers will gave a x4 physical connection, but they are still x2 max, but no reason for a x1 controller to have a x4 physical connection. 

5 hours ago, JorgeB said:

but no reason for a x1 controller to have a x4 physical connection. 

 

Probably was the cheapest PCB blank available at the board house of that physical size.  Allowed space for the 4 less expensive SATA connectors across the top and freeware PCB layout software to do the design.  All about making it as cheap as possible.

21 hours ago, ConnerVT said:

 

Probably was the cheapest PCB blank available at the board house of that physical size.  Allowed space for the 4 less expensive SATA connectors across the top and freeware PCB layout software to do the design.  All about making it as cheap as possible.

 

Yes, and as i said, nearly 20/25% of the x4 are connected to something. :-/

Can anyone advise on a x4 (or even x8) sata3 Gen3 controller board wich works and is fast (8/12 sata ports)?
TY.

Edited February 5, 20251 yr by dhstsw

What did you finally choose to replace this controller?