What PCI Express adapter to use in a dell optiplex9010

**Robert Donithan** · 1 Week Ago

I have a dell optiplex 9010 desktop and would like to know if this adapter will work in my computer.Not too knowledgeable about this.

I was wondering if i hooked up my two ssd drives to the Sata ports (on the pci adapter)would the performance (speed)increase.
I was going to wait for more$$ before buying a M.2. Will a M.2 work if i move or copy my whole /: C drive to it?.

I think i would want two Sata3 ports to increase my speed in my ssd drives from 500 mb to 6gb from what research I've done.
The only fear is that it won't be compatable with my dell optiplex 9010 desktop.
It has on it's motherboard a pcie x16 slot but I've heard where the generation differences matter according to youtube tutorials.

**Steenamaroo** · 1 Week Ago

Hi,
I don't think that card is what you're looking for.
As far as I can tell it wants you to connect the sata ports to your motherboard, serving as an adapter that lets you run various slot-type ssds from regular motherboard sata ports.

I think what you're after is something like this.
This uses an existing PCI-E slot and uses it give provide you with 4 extra SATA ports.
With that particular card you'd only get two ports at full speed as they're sharing bandwidth in pairs.
I use that and get about 500 each way on two SataIII ssds.

You've had quite a few posts about various storage protocols and connectors lately. Are you having a problem?
The M.2 straight to PCI-E are nice for ridiculous transfer speeds but, really, it's going to take a huge work load to actually say you need that.
Heavy video work, maybe...

The three drive setup described in your last thread (2xSataIII and 1xSataII) really should be more than adequate for pretty much any audio work.

**Robert Donithan** · 1 Week Ago

I got a warning about lack of storage in my S/: drive(S for storage)so i thought I'd add another drive for backups.The S drive is 500gbssd.The main C/: drive is 256gb with 120gb free storage.So i was listening to people on various forums and youtube and it seemed if i was going for another internal ssd i should look into a PCI Express adapter and that would increase the speed and have it for storage (S), projects from Cubase etc. after moving everything from S/: to the Pcie drive.
I just want to have an opinion or some first hand knowledge as to what to do concerning a new ssd or Pciexpress. I don't think that adapter acting on it's own increases speed in my existing sdd drives.From a misunderstanding or something i was led to believe that it would do something positive in the way of speed,and also be an upgrade to something more modern.

**Steenamaroo** · 1 Week Ago

Really there are two easy options.

1: Buy a sata storage SSD and plug it in. You have Sata II ports spare. Done.
Speed = 250MB/s, ish.

2: Buy a sata storage SSD and plug it into the pcie card I linked, or similar.
Speed = 500MB/s, ish.

Unless you're planning to move 10s of GBs back and forth every day, or do intense video work right from your storage disk, option one would be just fine.

**jamesperrett** · 1 Week Ago

Do you really need an SSD for storage (assuming we are talking about audio files)? For audio recording you'll see very little difference in performance with a spinning disc as the files tend to be recorded contiguously. Of course, if you are using it for sample storage or the operating system then SSD makes sense.

**Robert Donithan** · 3 Days Ago

Originally Posted by Steenamaroo

Hi,
I don't think that card is what you're looking for.
As far as I can tell it wants you to connect the sata ports to your motherboard, serving as an adapter that lets you run various slot-type ssds from regular motherboard sata ports.

I think what you're after is something like this.
This uses an existing PCI-E slot and uses it give provide you with 4 extra SATA ports.
With that particular card you'd only get two ports at full speed as they're sharing bandwidth in pairs.
I use that and get about 500 each way on two SataIII ssds.

You've had quite a few posts about various storage protocols and connectors lately. Are you having a problem?
The M.2 straight to PCI-E are nice for ridiculous transfer speeds but, really, it's going to take a huge work load to actually say you need that.
Heavy video work, maybe...

The three drive setup described in your last thread (2xSataIII and 1xSataII) really should be more than adequate for pretty much any audio work.

That controller says 2.0x 1. Should i go for 3.0x1 or is my computer slot 2.0?
These are the computer specs.

1 PCI Slots (Support Standard Rev 2.3)
2 PCIe x16 Slots (Support Standard Rev 3.0)
3 PCIe x16 (wired x 4), PCIe x1 Slots, miniPCIe (Support Standard Rev 2.0)
4 Serial ATA ( 2 ports Support Standard Rev 3.0, the rest of ports Support Standard Rev 2.0)

**Robert Donithan** · 2 Days Ago

PCIe PCI Express to 6G SATA3.0 4-Port SATA III Expansion Controller Card Adapter - Newegg.com
Will this work? I think a 3.0 cable-adapter and drive all give me top speed.

**Steenamaroo** · 2 Days Ago

Pretty sure your card and mine are comparable in specs/performance.
As far as I can see they're both PCIE 2, single lane, ~500MB/s.

To see a substantial improvement beyond that you'd need to go to Nvme/m.2 SSDs into PCI-E slot cards.

I still think it's important to give more context, though. If you're backing up a session or two to this drive once in a while, the spare SataII on your motherboard is totally fine.