Powerhousecomputing
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PCI Express Question
part1: I have a motherboard with nforce4 chipset. It has two pci-express slots that are x16 and one x1 and 1 x4. I know that the two x16 can be used for sli graphics but can they be used for anything else? I am using the first x16 for a graphic card at the moment but i would like to use the second x16 for a disk controller. Is that possible?
part2: if the answer to the above is yes, can the controller be an x8 card? i believe that it will physically sit in the slot but i do not know if it will work.
if you need any more specific details please ask. thanks
part2: if the answer to the above is yes, can the controller be an x8 card? i believe that it will physically sit in the slot but i do not know if it will work.
if you need any more specific details please ask. thanks
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I haven't used that specific combination -- but there's no reason it shouldn't work. It's VERY common to use a 2nd PCIe x16 slot for a RAID controller. As long as the PCIe slots on your motherboard comply with the specification, it will work fine. You can use ANY PCIe card in an x16 slot [x1, x4, x8, or x16 cards will all work fine].
ASKER
thanks. i think i am going pull the trigger on the 2405. when it comes to hard drives, i was going to go for some samsung f2's this time, but do you think it is worth going for raid optimized disks like the wd RE3 versus wd Black, or is any disk much the same. This array is for storage and not operating system and is going to have 2 x RAID1s.
The WD Blacks work very well in RAID arrays. The only thing you may need to do is enable TLER (time limited error recovery), which you can do with the Western Digital TLER utility. TLER is enabled by default in the RE series drives; but disabled on the Caviar Blacks -- but a quick run of the TLER utility will enable it on the Blacks. Western Dgiital will send you the utility by request .... or you can "Google" for it and find downloadable copies.
ASKER
very knowledgeable
ASKER