RAID Card in 2nd SLI slot?

mikedb

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Apr 20, 2008
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Hi all,

I am planning on making a raid 5 array with an Areca ARC-1210, which uses a PCI-e interface.

I just realized that my current motherboard only has extra PCI slots, therefore it looks like I will need a new motherboard.

One of the few motherboards still available for socket 939 is this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813153069R .

Will I be able to use the second SLI slot on the motherboard to run the RAID controller instead of another graphics card? I have been searching for awhile now, and I cant find any definitive evidence either way.

Thanks!
Mike
 
You can put whatever you want in the PCIe 16x slots. That board has 3 so you should be fine.

Be aware that on some boards the primary slot gets downgraded to 8x when you populate the other PCIe slot(s), as mine did. For most games that will have a minimal (~5%) effect on framerates.
 
You can put whatever you want in the PCIe 16x slots. That board has 3 so you should be fine.

Be aware that on some boards the primary slot gets downgraded to 8x when you populate the other PCIe slot(s), as mine did. For most games that will have a minimal (~5%) effect on framerates.

Thats not always true. With the other pci-e slots it isn't an issue. With the 16x slots on consumer boards it can be. Sometimes the raid cards run in them fine, sometimes they don't.

I can't speak from experience with that setup OP. Everytime I've gone to do that I've gone with a supermicro workstation board. Might want to see if you can find a workstation class board for your setup.
 
well, after leaving the house for a few hours, the motherboard went out of stock. I'm really not too sure what to do now. I don't want to spend lots on money on this old system, I just wanted to add some space, so buying a server class motherboard isn't really a possibility.
 
well, after leaving the house for a few hours, the motherboard went out of stock. I'm really not too sure what to do now. I don't want to spend lots on money on this old system, I just wanted to add some space, so buying a server class motherboard isn't really a possibility.

If the system does not have gaming in its future and your current board has a single PCIe x16 slot, then you are good to go.

Pull the PCIe graphics card and replace it with a $15 ATI RageXL PCI card off of ebay. Stick the Controller in the x16 slot and you are good to go.

This is what I have done with both of my fileservers.
 
My experience with my a8n sli premiums was that non-video adapters in the primary PCI-E slot resulted in a non-posting system. Moving the adapter to the second/third slot resulted in a posting system. I've got the 1220 working beautifully in the second slot of my a8n32, though some days I wish I had bought a bigger card as I'm now capped to 8 disks...
 
I've seen a few boards, especially the first generation type SLI boards, which does not play well with a raid controller in the second slot.
 
Hmm, I did not come across any information on RAID card incompatability before I purchased mine. Fortunately it worked out fine for me.

Btw, it looks like your MB is back in stock an Newegg.
 
I'm running a Highpoint card in the second pci-e 16 slot in my Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe. I never thought of checking for compatibility in that slot, but it's been working fine.
 
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