How-To Geek

Methinks you mentioned you have the ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe MOBO. If so, mayhap you can help me make a decision (no rush because I doubt I'll start this build until after the first of the year). I would like to use this board but it has only 8 SATA ports; only 4 are SATA III. My case is an Antec Two Hundred that will hold an SSD and up to 6 internal 3.5" drives. The case also has a built in 2.5" hot swap bay and I have a 3.5" hot swap bay that goes into one of the 5.25" bays that also has an e-SATA port in it (the case doesn't have one). To get enough SATA Ports, I would have to add this card which would give me four more SATAII ports.

My concern is where to put the contoller card. Ideally, I would put it in the bottom PCI-E slot on the Deluxe board but I'm concerned it would run into interference with the Front Panel Audio header (which I need). I would need the USB header closest to the front panel but it shouldn't be a problem (the card is about the length of the slot in the PCI-E slot). It would be nice if I could use the other USB header but I don't really need it.

Because of potential for interference with the Audio header, Plan A would have me plugging the card in the PCI-E 3.0/2.0 x16_2 slot. However, I'm concerned it would affect the operation of the video card (will need the card since I want to run three monitors with two TVs cloned to the third monitor). If that turns out to be the case, then I would need Plan B which is to plug the controller into the bottom slot but there is still concern for clearing that Audio header. It would also mean giving up adding Thunderbolt in the future.

Plan C is get the Premium board which is way overkill. I could put the controller in the second slot up from the bottom and the vid card in the top slot and there would be no way they would interfere with each other. I would also pick up a couple more SATA III ports. But I would lose 4 USB ports (which would leave me with only one spare) and two PCI-E 2.0 x1 slots (I may need them for TV tuners and a sound card). The board is also expensive. The mSATA board would be slower than a SATA III SSD so it wouldn't be of any use for me. There is also some controversy over whether the board has been discontinued or not. It would be a problem if the board failed under warranty and there were no more replacements.

If it would work for me, I would prefer the Deluxe MOBO. Since you have the board (I think), do you think the controller card would work in the second PCI-E x16 slot without affecting the vid card? If forced to Plan B, do you think the controller card would clear the Audio header?

Ok, now I'm really confused.

LOL! I wasn't even going to use it for gaming. It's going to do double duty as a desktop PC and HTPC (hence all the HDDs). I will probably be doing some video editing but it's mostly multitasking that would give it a bit of a workout.

I already have the manual. Going by the manual (and the chart you posted), if I put a second vid card in, the lanes in the first slot drop to 8. How would that affect the vid cards? Would a SATA contoller have the same effect as the second vid card (the controller only needs 4 lanes)?

There is still the question of whether the controller card would get in the way of the front panel audio header if it went into the bottom slot.

@LadyFitzgerald, Just a thought, have you made a stop at FRY Electronics to see if they have the mobo you are thinking about. Not the best place but might prevent an RMA if things don't work out.
Have a look at this for your monitors
http://www.amazon.com/StarTech.....B002FJQXXC

Understand and agree with the stores in the Phoenix area, but I always stop just to look at their mobo display rack. Gives me a better idea of what exactly the thing looks like in real size. I then go to good old Amazon for better pricing and warranty. Fry's return dept is a real trip to hell.

The only board I saw at the Tempe store on display was a Pro. I've had to return something twice and didn't have a problem.

Rick, where did you find that info in the manual, especially about the PCIe x1_2 sharing bandwidth with SATA6G_E12

Thanks, Rick. I probably wouldn't be able to use the PCIe 1_2 port anyway because of the vid card. Most occupy the space taken up by two slots. If I'm reading things right (so far, I've mostly been confused), PCIe ports 1,3, and 4 should still be available. Something I'm still trying to grasp is how is the MOBO is able to run two PCIe x16 vid cards if only 8 lanes will be available to each of them. And would that also apply to a vid card requiring 16 lanes and a SATA controller card that requires only 4 lanes? Would also having one or two PCIe x1 TV tuner cards and a PCIe x1 sound card upset the apple cart (I won't know if I will need a sound card until I see how the onboard sound performs).

http://www.techpowerup.com/rev.....7-V/1.html (Similar)

The ASUS P8Z77-V offers three PCIe slots, but the lower black slot is switch connected to the Intel Z77 Express PCH.
Notice the Switch Chip. PLX PEX8608
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com.....ard/1528/1

Therefore you can use the upper slots as (x8 x8) for video cards and the black slot (x4) for another sata controller.

The on-board sound is Fine. NO need for sound Card.

Hold up on the Deluxe as the auxiliary USB 3.0 software shows a problem with Win8.