It is plug and play, no BIOS config needed (at least not with the 3 different servers I've used this card in).

My case has 'only' room for 12 HDDs, but i have 14 SATA connections (6+, so i was wondering how to connect all the drives.

 

Since i already have 8 SATA cables from the AOC-SASLP-MV8 in the case i was thinking of using all of them, but iirc the SATA connections on the motherboard (asus m4a785t-m) are faster, so it would be wiser to use those.

 

So does it make any difference which connections i'm gonna use?

Theoretically the motherboard ports should be the fastest, but in practice I haven't noticed any difference between the motherboard ports and the SuperMicro card.  So I would just hook it up however it is convenient.

My case has 'only' room for 12 HDDs, but i have 14 SATA connections (6+, so i was wondering how to connect all the drives.

 

Since i already have 8 SATA cables from the AOC-SASLP-MV8 in the case i was thinking of using all of them, but iirc the SATA connections on the motherboard (asus m4a785t-m) are faster, so it would be wiser to use those.

 

So does it make any difference which connections i'm gonna use?

 

convert 2 ports on MB to esata and use a 2nd case to host other disks.

convert 2 ports on MB to esata and use a 2nd case to host other disks.

 

Thanks, but maybe my question was a little vague. I was wondering which of the following would be better:

 

- 4 HDDs on the motherboard + 8 on the AOC-SASLP-MV8 card

or

- 6 HDDs on the motherboard + 6 on the AOC-SASLP-MV8 card

 

I think i read somewhere it would be better to have more drives on the motherboard, but im not really sure.

 

 

EDIT: it seems i missed this reply, thanks Rajahal  

 

Theoretically the motherboard ports should be the fastest, but in practice I haven't noticed any difference between the motherboard ports and the SuperMicro card.  So I would just hook it up however it is convenient.

 

- 4 HDDs on the motherboard + 8 on the AOC-SASLP-MV8 card

or

- 6 HDDs on the motherboard + 6 on the AOC-SASLP-MV8 card

 

I think i read somewhere it would be better to have more drives on the motherboard, but im not really sure.

 

 

From architecture perspective, in theory, PCI Express 4X can have same throughput as on-board SATA if it is using PCI-Express 16x slot. Refer to enclosed figure for information (this architecture is for Intel core-2 generation). According to PCI Express spec, the max bandwidth for 4X is 2GB/sec bi-direction.

 

PCI-Express 4x/16x is directly connected to CPU/memory through North Bridge (G35). on board SATA ports however is connected to South bridge (ICHxxx) then through a DMI link(max bandwidth 2GB/sec) to North Bridge then CPU/Memory. This DMI will be the bottleneck when transfer large amount of data to CPU for computing like parity calculation.

 

Any components connected to south bridge when need to talk to CPU will go through DMI link, this also imply on board SATA have to share this DMI with others such as Ethernet from time to time.

 

Meanwhile, if vendor like Asus, Gigabyte, when implementing PCI-Express 4X is positioning this slot in south bridge by bundling 4 PCI-1x lanes together then as you can see, it is just same as on board SATA, they all connected to same south bridge and limited by DMI link.

 

 

The link between north/south bridge might be faster in latest design.

 

...

This DMI will be the bottleneck when transfer large amount of data to CPU for computing like parity calculation.

...

 

That sound pretty simple and i almost feel like i should have figured that out by myself. Thanks again

 

_{Rastaman quickly hides his degree in Electrical engineering}