HighPoint to Release PCI-E 2.0 SATA 6Gb RAID

By Marcus Yam
published

Upgrade your rig to SATA 6Gb/s with an add-in card.

Looking to add next-generation SATA to your desktop system with PCI-Express 2.0? HighPoint could have one of the first answers available to computing enthusiasts with its Rocket 600 series.

The Rocket 620 and 622 features a second-generation Marvell SATA 6Gb/s controller and is compatible with PCI-Express 2.0 technology, which offers 500MB/s of throughput. The Rocket 600 series are backward compatible to PCI-Express 1.0 technology and SATA 3Gb/s and 1.5Gb/s devices.

The Rocket 620, which will retail for $69.99, has two internal SATA connectors, while the $79.99 Rocket 622 has two external eSATA connectors. Sadly, you can't get both on one single card yet.

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Those looking to squeeze more performance or reliability out of his or her systems can wait for the RAID version, which will be appropriately called the RocketRAID 600 series, in early December.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
20 Comments Comment from the forums
  • deadlockedworld
    Damn. Another reason I should have bought a better motherboard...
    Reply
  • agentjon
    $70 for RAID-0 or 1?
    No thank you.
    Reply
  • kyeana
    Would you be able to boot from these?
    Reply
  • papasmurf
    I'll wait for the raid version, integrated intel raid controllers are slow a good rocket raid card with memory is the way to go for larger arrays
    Reply
  • dhowie
    69.99 for 2 internal SATA ports, ASUS is charging a measly 30.00 for their U3S6 card which features 2 USB 3.0 ports and 2 internal SATA 6GBS ports. For that 69.99 you could buy the ASUS card have 4 internal SATA, and have 4 USB 3.0 ports. The ASUS seems like such a better buy.
    Reply
  • apache_lives
    papasmurfI'll wait for the raid version, integrated intel raid controllers are slow a good rocket raid card with memory is the way to go for larger arrays
    RAID0/1/10 is fine with Intel RAID, RAID5 with any software based controller or just pure software is the slow one, but even then i got a few RocketRaid 2300 cards in service and for a software raid card there quite impressive.
    Reply
  • apache_lives
    agentjon$70 for RAID-0 or 1?No thank you.
    For PCIe? and SATA3? - its a start etc intros are always pricey
    Reply
  • apache_lives
    kyeanaWould you be able to boot from these?
    Most others, yes
    Reply
  • wildwell
    Why not put internal and external connections on one card?
    Reply
  • Shadow703793
    agentjon$70 for RAID-0 or 1?No thank you.Agreed. If it had RAID 5 and a few more ports I may be interested.
    Reply