Ok so here is my tiny issue and i hope someone can help me with just a quick understanding on the different before i make a purchase. My MOBO is givin me some issues, 2 out of the 6 SATA connectors are acting up, the HDD will be up and running then like every so often, it can be a week, days or just hours they will just disappear from My Computer, freezin my computer for minutes. Then im forced to restart the computer, at the moment, during the loading time the computer will search for IDE and SATA and when no finding those 2 it will take forever. So i am force to shut down the computer unplug the HDDs and restart the computer witout them. Once that loads, i can re shut down the computer and mess around by unplugging and repluggin until the computer rereads those HDDs, then it will be up and runnin. It takes no more than 10mins at most. So here is my thing, im deciding on buyin a PCI SATA card, i do not use RAID so i dont care about. The thing is at newegg, a SATA II 3.0GBs is like $40 or more for just 2 or for 4 is like $60 and more. Then there is SATA 1.5Gbs which can go for $25 and up. My HDD are WD Caviar 32MB 3.0GBs, will i see a different if i buy the 1.5GBs PCI card, and do realize that this HDD are just extra my main HDD runs fine i have no problem with that SATA connection
You may not have any issues with the controller or ports at all, it may be a configuration issue. Most people don't realise that most computers come in IDE compatibility mode when they get it, you have to select AHCI mode manually. Now, after Windows is installed, it may not be possible to switch between modes as this is done in the bios, and Windows doesn't like the mode change (for the most part). I can't help you exactly where to look in the bios, but either way it should be set to AHCI . At least you can see if it is possible for you to change it! Under windows, then you can install the latest driver for your Nvidia 780. This is what I recommend you try first before spending money on something you may not need to do! I should point out that when set to AHCI in the bios performance should be a little better, especially when you consider the nvidia performance driver also being installed. The issues with the drives disappearing I suspect may be a power management issue, which if you are in IDE mode currently setting to AHCI may resolve that. AHCI is true SATA mode, the reason why they're set to IDE compatibility mode is because older versions of XP (particularly SP1 and before) wouldn't allow installation unless a floppy disk was used to install the specific AHCI drivers. This issue doesn't affect XP SP2 or later (well, definitely not Vista or later)!
Ok so let me understandin this better, it has somethin to do with configurations? the only thing i have is that i have this computer since last year may, when i put it together, it has worked well all the way until about 1 month ago, and then, i was losing 1 HDD, so i use different SATA cables, and it worked, then a week later it happened again, so i switch SATA connectors, it was on 4 so i placed it on 5 and what was on 5 i placed it on 4, so it worked, then what i placed on 4 now is dissappearing, and is the only one, sometimes 5 will too, but is mostly 4. Sorry my SATA have numbers so i usin them to explain myself. But once im home ill check witin BIOS for AHCI if anything i can call EVGA n they might be able to guide me directly to where is at. As u can see im using Vista 64bit
And don't forget the cables. I've been running SATA Raid 0 & 1 for a number of years and had the same issue on one of my four disks. After buying new disks I realised it must be that particular cable. Bought a new set, best quality I could find and never seen the issue since. Re the question of 1.5 vs. 3. You can run SATA 3 disks on a 1.5 port and vice versa. You will of course not get more speed than the lower value. In real life you will not notice any difference. You will se it in benchmarks but not irl.
True, very few hard drives (SSD excluded) can reach Sata 1 (150MB/s) speeds let alone Sata 2 (300MB/s). If you had a brand new Samsung F3 1TB drive (2x500gb platters), which is to be released very shortly, then you will just break in to the Sata 2 territory. Sata also has a design fault, the cables plugs are too thin, can come loose easily, and can actually snap if you're not careful! Make sure the plugs are plugged in properly as they can work loose through the cable tension (yes, can happen), or just by moving the case. I good set of cables (not necessarily the most expensive) can be beneficial as not only is the cable and plug better quality and less prone to having the fine wires inside break, the plugs fit tighter preventing the above issue. Now, you could have an issue with your HDD controller, but its just good to try and rule that out. If you do go an external card, I believe a PCI-Express card would be the better option than a PCI card, due to limited bandwidth on the PCI card.
thank u guys, u all make great points, i will add that i did buy new cables, even though my 780i came with 6 cables and i was using 4 of them, after i i bought 2 more and the problem persists, i do believe is a matter of some damage within the specific SATA connector cuz all other work, and even though i have not tried 0 or 1 cuz those are the RED SATA and as i heard those are only use for RAID and im not using RAID which is why im using the other SATA the black ones. But here is another thing, i can not buy PCI Xpress as much as i want to, my 260GTX covers the PCI Express Slot. so im force to use the last PCI slots, so yea. So as u all said there is really no different between 1.5GB and 3.0GB unless im buy the new HDD which im not right now so ill go with the 1.5GB PCI cards