Upgrading to a SSD and using PCI x1

[philflo]

I have a Dell Vostro 410 Desktop with a Quad {6600} proc and 8 GB of Ram.

I have 6 SATA connectors on the M'board. I have 3 HDD, 2 optical and one external eSata.

So to make room for the SSD I have a PCI x1 slot to use. If I buy a card to use with the PCI x1 slot, will one of the HDD drives have enough bandwidth to use the PCI x1? This way I can connect the SSD directly to the m'board.

Another question, since I have two PCI x1 slots will it make sense to add Firewire 400 from a PCI lost to a PCI x slot?

 

[LordConrad]

A SSD will work fine on a PCIe x1 controller card, so whether you connect to the motherboard or controller card is up to you. If the controller card supports different SATA speeds than your motherboard, I would connect the SSD to whichever is faster.

 

[philflo]

So the PCIe x1 would be just as fast as the m'boards Sata connector?

 

[LordConrad]

So the PCIe x1 would be just as fast as the m'boards Sata connector?

It depends on whether your PCIe slots are version 1 or 2. If I remember these figures correctly:

PCIe 1.0 = 2.5Gb per lane
SATA II = 3Gb per port
PCIe 2.0 = 5Gb per lane

Assuming I remembered that correctly, a PCIe 1.0 x1 slot will be slightly slower than SATA II whereas a PCIe 2.0 x1 slot will be much faster than SATA II.

 

[philflo]

Best answer selected by Philflo.