SATA Controller

[timmage89]

I accidentally bought an SATA hard drive to go along with my mobo that does not have an SATA plug-in. If I buy a pci SATA controller, and hook the hdd up to that, would I be able to install and boot windows on that drive?

[Sterling_Aug]

Absolutely. Get the best SATA card you can afford. The cheaper ones are not as good as the slightly more expensive ones. We got one for $70 at work and installed (4) 400GB SATA drives in a RAID5 setup for backup of users hard drives when we work on them. We can keep the images for 9 months before we delete the oldest ones. Grear protection for the users.

[Midknyte]

shouldn't be a problem. you'll need to change you bios boot order. you may need to use the "scsi card" setting.

[timmage89]

I'm just building a lower-end gaming computer for a friend, do you think this one will do the trick?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16815124006

[BipolarBill]

Garbage. Get one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16816102064

Not only is it better and faster, but it includes a very good IDE controller as well.

[timmage89]

I'm not looking for fast, I just want something that works, and that is reliable. I could buy a whole new motherboard for $50! How much of a difference can a more expensive card make? Wont that $12 do just fine? Keep in mind, I'm not building the best gaming comp. (socket 478 p4 2.8, 768mb of pc 2100 ram, geforce 6200)

[BipolarBill]

If you want reliable in a car, you buy a Toyota - not a KIA. It's the same principle.

[Midknyte]

why don't you just sell off the SATA drive and get a PATA instead?

[timmage89]

I think I'll just get the cheap card, I don't want to spend alot of money. If it craps out
I can just get a new one.

[BipolarBill]

If it craps out
I can just get a new one.You'll be lucky to get it working at all. Read the reviews there at Newegg.

If you're going to ignore our advice, why ask?

[Sterling_Aug]

Why ask, because he was hoping that someone would tell him it was ok to make a bad decision and buy the cheaper card that doesn't work. Why buy an expensive card that works great when you can buy 3 cheap cards that don't work?

[timmage89]

You'll be lucky to get it working at all. Read the reviews there at Newegg.

hmmmm, I think 72 reviews with an average of 4 out of 5 "eggs" is pretty good, but they are all over the place, some good, some horrible.

How bout this one insted: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16816132001

Never heard of "rosewill", but the reviews look pretty good.

[Sterling_Aug]

Rosewill also sells low end LCD monitors.

The key point is "low end".

[timmage89]

Well I think I'll go with that one then. Thanks for your help everybody!

[orkboss]

Watching the thread I think you has already made up your mind.

[timmage89]

Yeah I'm on kind of a tight budget so I wanted to spend the least amount of money possible. I would get that $50 one that BipolarBill suggested if it wasn't for my lack of money :)