PCI-e vs Mini-SASPost Date: 2015-07-16 |
Post Reply
|
Author | |
Smarmy
Newbie Joined: 29 Sep 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 69 |
Quote Reply
Topic: PCI-e vs Mini-SAS Posted: 16 Jul 2015 at 3:58am |
So I see we have new Intel SSDs like "1x SSD mini-SAS (400GB Intel 750 Series) (2.5 inch - NVM Express) (Extreme Performance)" in two flavors. One uses the mini-SAS interface and the other uses the PCI-e interface. I'm aware that the PCI-e interface would share lanes with the video card(s). So how do these two interfaces compare? Is one vastly faster than the other? If I had SLIx3 would I gimp myself if I had 2 mini-SAS SSDs?
- Smarmy |
|
FrankW
DS Veteran Joined: 22 Feb 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2254 |
Quote Reply Posted: 16 Jul 2015 at 7:42am |
Hi Smarmy,
I know little about Mini-SAS and there will be other members who know more about your question than I do. What is your computer setup. What mother board and CPU do you have. Mini-SAS is usually used in a RAID setup for a server or maybe a workstation. The drives are external and requires a SAS RAID card with Mini-SAS ports. One card I looked at had dual Mini-SAS ports and required a PCIe X8 slot. So you would have to have a spare PCIe X8 slot. If you have three GPUs I doubt you have a spare X8 slot. There may be SAS RAID cards that use a X4 slot but I don't know. If you have a gaming computer I think what you need is an PCIe NVMe drive to plug into your computer. That requires a X4 slot. We need to know what motherboard and CPU you have. Frank Edited by FrankW - 16 Jul 2015 at 7:43am |
|
DS Veteran Joined: 28 Oct 2014 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1674 |
Quote Reply Posted: 16 Jul 2015 at 10:22am |
The Intel drives Mini-SAS (SFF-8643) port uses PCI-e, electrically...you may notice on Intel's specs that the Mini-SAS port must support PCI-e. There is essentially no difference in the interface, other than the physical form, between the PCI-e cards and SFF-8639 (U.2) units.
|
|
Alex
Admin Group Digital Storm Supervisor Joined: 04 Jun 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 16314 |
Quote Reply Posted: 16 Jul 2015 at 10:37am |
The two drives will deliver the same performance, it depends on your configuration as some customers will order a system that does not have enough PCI-E slots, or some customers prefer to have the SSD drive remain in the normal hard drive trays.
If you do go with a mini-SAS version, make sure your motherboard has a m.2 connector as we will have to use an m.2 to mini-SAS adapter. |
|
Smarmy
Newbie Joined: 29 Sep 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 69 |
Quote Reply Posted: 17 Jul 2015 at 4:13pm |
Thanks for the info. One other question. Will the m.2 to mini-SAS adapter support 2 mini-SAS drives?
Thank You, Smarmy |
|
DS Veteran Joined: 28 Oct 2014 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1674 |
Quote Reply Posted: 24 Jul 2015 at 10:08pm |
The new Asus ROG boards pics are out
Interesting thing to note is the SFF-8643 connector on the Extreme board just beneath the SATA Express (I really don't know why any MB manufacturer bothers with SATA Express still...that connector is essentially still-born). The Intel SSD 750 with SFF-8639 (U.2) will now be able to plug directly into it without needing the Hyper Card adapter in an M.2 slot. |
|
Alex
Admin Group Digital Storm Supervisor Joined: 04 Jun 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 16314 |
Quote Reply Posted: 25 Jul 2015 at 12:58pm |
From what I know, you can only connect one mini-SAS drive to the motherboard.
|
|
DS Veteran Joined: 28 Oct 2014 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1674 |
Quote Reply Posted: 25 Jul 2015 at 3:26pm |
If the M.2 slot and the mini-SAS port are connected to different PCI-e lanes from the chipset and they both support Intel RST, you could theoretically connect two drives up with a Hyper Card with a mini-SAS port on it. The Z170 chipset will support up to 3, if properly configured to do so. I talked about it somewhat in depth in this thread.
|
|
Post Reply |
Forum Jump | Forum Permissions You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum |