Looking for PCIe to SATA 3 Add-in-card

I'm looking for a PCIe to SATA 3 add in card that actually works at X4 rates, that is, it must use all four lanes on the PCIe bus. The card can either provide sata connectors or permit insertion of a 2.5" SATA 3 SSD onto the card. Examples of the types of cards that would work IF they were X4 cards are seen here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...4RCW5MS9&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...G9WPPLAW&psc=1


Most of these cards have X4 connectors but only work at X2 (two PCIe lanes are connected). Why is it important to me that the card work at X4? ANS: My Mobo only has PCIe slots that support PCIe Revision 1 rates. All my SATA connectors are SATA 2 connectors that don't take full advantage of my existing SATA 3 SSD boot drive so I want to add at least one SATA 3 port to the computer to speed things up. An add-in-card (or adapter card) that works at X2 would not support SATA 3 speeds on a Revision 1 PCIe bus. This is why I need a card that has a PCIe connector working at X4.

For now, I've only seen cards that work at X1 or X2 but nothing higher. My hope is someone will know where to look to find one of these cards that works at X4. Thanks for reading.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07S8...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

NavyLCDR said:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07S8...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This isn't intended as criticism, but: the card is intended for a PCI-E X4 slot. How do you know that it actually uses 4 PCI-E lanes? "Tweakit" seems to think that most X4 cards only use 2 lanes.

Thank you NavyLCDR for taking an interest in this question. The link you included describes a card that has an X4 connector but like all of these cards I've seen with X4 connectors only 2-Lanes are used. Put differently they work at X2 rates. This will only provide sata 3 rates when plugged into a PCIe Revision 2 (sometimes called Gen 2) slot. Two Revision 1 lanes simply do not have the bandwidth for sata 3. The description on the card you pointed out seems to leave opened the possibility that the card works at X4 rates but I think that is just because it is poorly worded. The card uses the ASM1062 chipset which clearly states that it uses only two PCIe lanes. Here is a link to the chipset used by the card you linked to: ASMedia Technology Inc. 祥碩科技
Poorly worded descriptions are not uncommon with these cards as I've found, so one must be careful about this. I would love it if someone would uncover a card that uses 4-lanes but with all the cards I've looked at, I now think they just don't exist. Most likely what is going on here (OK, I'm speculating) is that no chip-sets are configured to use all four lanes because the overwhelming amount of the users have systems with Revision 2 or 3 PCIe slots so the chipset manufactures don't want to add more complexity than the required by the market. Unfortunately that doesn't help my mission any.
Thanks again for taking an interest in this. It was a good shot based on the product description!

- - - Updated - - -

bobkn, your post 4 and my post 5 got crossed in time. As I pointed out in post #5 above you are correct in this case that once again, having an X4 connector doesn't mean it works at X4.

Maybe better to just replace the motherboard?

I'd love to do that but there's two things keeping my back. First it means paying for Windows 10 as my license wont transfer to a new mobo (as far as I understand these license matters). Second, it means a clean install and reinstall all my programs. Uugghhh on that!! I may just have to live with Sata 2. The computer is rock solid so no other incentives to build anew. I got interested in migrating to Sata 3 since i used a newer laptop that has a sata 3 SSD. I really liked the extra speed when pulling up apps, booting and web surfing. I'll stick with my rig for a while longer and when i'm ready to start over, I'll chose a mobo and SSD that use the NVMe interface which is faster still than Sata 3!

tweakit said:

I'd love to do that but there's two things keeping my back. First it means paying for Windows 10 as my license wont transfer to a new mobo (as far as I understand these license matters). Second, it means a clean install and reinstall all my programs. Uugghhh on that!!

Actually, you would be mistaken on both of those.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/20530

Microsoft has provided a method of transferring the license for Windows 10 to a new motherboard. Also, Windows 10 is very forgiving when moving it to new hardware. Case in point, my daughter's laptop had a screen problem and we were going to send it in for warranty repairs. I moved the SSD from her laptop to a spare laptop, completely different make and model. Windows 10 booted up and adapted to the different hardware just fine. Then when her laptop came back from the manufacturer, I transferred the SSD back, and Windows 10 again adjusted to the "new" hardware just fine. Windows 10 will even move between AMD and Intel platforms with no issues. With a little bit of knowledge and/or help, you can even move it from legacy BIOS to UEFI or vice versa.

Finally, have you looked at PCIe SAS controllers? A SAS controller in IT mode and a breakout cable might be what you are looking for.

tweakit said:

I'd love to do that but there's two things keeping my back. First it means paying for Windows 10 as my license wont transfer to a new mobo (as far as I understand these license matters). Second, it means a clean install and reinstall all my programs. Uugghhh on that!! I may just have to live with Sata 2. The computer is rock solid so no other incentives to build anew. I got interested in migrating to Sata 3 since i used a newer laptop that has a sata 3 SSD. I really liked the extra speed when pulling up apps, booting and web surfing. I'll stick with my rig for a while longer and when i'm ready to start over, I'll chose a mobo and SSD that use the NVMe interface which is faster still than Sata 3!

This may be redundant with post 8, but:

If your Win10 license isn't of OEM origin, it can be transferred to a new system.

I recently replaced a motherboard with an Intel X99 chipset for an AMD 470X one. The transfer went without any issues. There was a small delay as Windows switched drivers to match the new hardware. Win10 remained activated on the system.

I strongly recommend imaging the WIndows drive before doing anything that drastic, of course.

I'm not optimistic that you'll find the PCI-E to SATA3 card of your dreams. I also doubt that you'd see a vast real-world performance boost if you found such a card. (Benchmarks, maybe.)