SATA III (6gb) drive is officially supported on Z400 Workstations ?

[audi92]

Hello everyone,

i just wana make sure if my HP Z400 support this drive below :

https://www.amazon.com/Crest-Drive-Controller-Marvell-Chipset/dp/B00AZ9T41M 

i have Samsung SSD sata 3 860 EVO 500GB and it's s speed 550 Mbps 

if i installed sata 3 drive on the above link my hp z400  does it give the maximum speed (550 Mbps) of the ssd or less ?

*NOTE : my hp z400 has the latest bios update*

[audi92]

kindly i need any help ,, thanks

[DGroves]

you ask about a hard drive, but the link is for a controller card

if your question is about the card,  no it's not a officially approved HP card however that simply means hp has not tested it

in this case i have personally used this card in a z800 which is the big brother to the z400/600 systems and it works fine as a boot controller or for data drives

just keep in mind that all sata ports on the card share the cards bandwidth, as such it's recommended to only have one SSD connected to the card to maintain the fastest data speeds.

the card has native drivers for win 8 and up win 7 i don't know....................

[audi92]

First, I would like to thank you for your help

Secondly, my question regarding the controller card,

What I understood from you is that controller card is not a officially tested by HP on  z800 or z600 or z400,

and that if i install this controller card on my HP z400  is on my responsibility as you did on your z800.

Am I right ???

[DGroves]

you got it, and BTW this card being a pci-e x2 is almost able to match a current motherboard with native sata II 6GBps ports in speed with a SSD as long as you only attach one ssd (for mech drives you can run 4 6GBps drives at the same time)

[audi92]

Did you mean that even after installing this controller card I wouldn't be able to get the full speed of my SSD , I will only get the same speed of sata || on motherboard ???

[SDH · Accepted solution]

Download the Z400 technical manual for your workstation and keep a copy.  It has great information within.  No, he did not say or mean that your SSD would run slower than a SATA III SSD unless you attached more than one of those SATA III SSDs to this card.  A PCIe slot higher than PCIe generation I will provide more than enough bandwidth for one SATA III SSD to run at full speed via the interface card you show.  HERE  is the version 5 of that manual:

https://content.etilize.com/User-Manual/1024897098.pdf

Is there a way to know which PCIe slot(s) in your Z400 are faster than PCIe generation I?  Yes, it is on page 101 of the manual linked to above....... Here is that page for you to ponder:

Note that there are 3 PCIe generation 2 slots (slots 1,2,4).  There is one PCIe generation 1 slot (slot 3).  You don't want to put that card in slot 3 because those run at 1/2 the speed of a gen 2 slot.  So, use slot 1,2 or 4.  Generally you want to save the video slots for video cards, which are slots 2 and 4.  Thus, use slot 1 for that card.  If necessary you could use slot 4 assuming you are not running 2 PCIe video cards.

Do not attach more than one SSD to that card if you want full SATA III speed out of it.  If this does not make sense it is time to go for professional help at a computer shop..... take a copy of this thread with you.

EDIT:  For others..... the Z400/Z600/Z800 all are SATA generation II workstations.  It is not until you get to the Z420/Z620/Z820 family that you get a few native SATA generation III ports built in.  A SATA III drive will virtually always run fine in a SATA II workstation, at SATA II speeds.  Most people will not notice the speed difference between SATA II and SATA III drives.  Virtually anyone can tell the difference between a SSD and a regular mechanical hard drive, easily.  

[audi92]

DGroves and SDH

thank you all,

I appreciate your help