As I gotten a computer job, I've gotten sick of seeing large-case computers with junky RGB fans and expansion cards that should be USB instead like WIFI and DAC's. In this sort of guide, we'll go over actually useful expansion cards that won't waste your precious slots and yes even 5.25 bays. This thread will be updated/edited from time to time like my others.
6-17-21 Update: I have learned that most PCI-e slots (1x to 8x) on the motherboard go through the BMI (Intel)/UMI? (AMD), which is the tunnel between the CPU and Chipset. These "left-over" slots share bandwidth between USB, on-board SATA, etc. The top slot (x16) talks to the CPU directly and that is why GPU's use them. Supposedly with Nvidia SLI motherboards the 2nd x8/x16 slot talks to the CPU directly. Please keep this mind when reading about expansion cards below.
SATA Cards:
SATA Cards are my favorite kind of expansion card. They add extra SATA ports to your PC, giving you piece of mind. People mainly use these with multi-optical-drive PCs and hard drives. There is many kinds and variations based on PCIE speed and Chip speed. Although I will not be talking about RAID.
1 common type is the "x1" PCIE 3.0 versions which come in 2 flavors, 2-ports and 4-ports:
Realistically, these "x1" cards can only do 1 SSD at Full Speed (SATA 3). So, when you add more SATA devices, the speeds gets divided between them. A good use case (4-Port versions), would be to use 4 optical disc drives, which each drive would be limited to SATA 1 speeds. Another case (2-ports/4-ports versions), would be to use 2 hard drives. Each hard drive is limited to SATA 2 speeds but most hard drives don't reach SATA 3 speeds, some don't even reach SATA 1 speeds. These cards are very cheap and takes up your x1 slots.
1 semi-common type would be the "x4" cards, there PCIE 3.0 and they start at 6 ports and go beyond:
These cards are popular with hard drive users and SSD users. These cards can handle 2-3 SSDs at SATA 3 speeds and 6 hard drives at SATA 2 speeds. Just like the card above, when you add a SATA device, the speed gets divided but the margin is a lot smaller. The downside is that there pricey and they take up a x16 slot on your motherboard, which if your a gamer, you would only have 1 left. Some motherboards use the 2nd x16 slot for NVME M.2 drives, so they get disabled for use.
USB Cards:
The famous kind of expansion card, the USB card. When USB 3.0 was coming around, the demand for upgrading USB 2.0-only PCs was very large and still pretty large. These days, the common USB card upgrade would be 10-gigabit cards and the "specific case" USB card would be the the 20-gigabit cards. I'm not gonna mention the USB name mess like USB 3.1 and USB 3.2.
The old but loved USB 3.0 cards:
These cards took up x1, which wasn't asking much even back then. There cheap but since the bandwidth is shared, they can only 1 run USB 3.0 device at full speed.
The 10-gigabit USB cards:
10-gigabit USB is found on many modern computers but there still a good amount of PCs running with only USB 3.0 (5 gigabits). Like the title says, they add 10-gigabit support. A popular use for 10-gigabit is NVME M.2 external drives (DIY and consumer-friendly variants). The 2 downsides is they take up a x4 slot (x16 slot) and there kind of pricey. (This is also 2X flavors)
The ultra-luxury 20-gigabit USB cards:
Found on very few motherboards, its 20-gigabit USB. Like the title says, this adds 20-gigabit USB support to your PC. Same 2 downsides as the 10-gigabit card. If your willing to pay 10-gigabit card prices, I would aim for these 20-gigabit cards.
Honorable mention, the USB Headers cards (Currently USB 3.0 and 10-gigabits):
Instead of adding ports to your PC, they add USB headers. There useful for PC cases that offer the port but the motherboard doesn't have a header for it. Another useful case would be using it with a 5.25 USB bay, even if your motherboard has these headers.
NVME M.2 Cards:
NVME M.2's are the most sought after kind of SSD, very very fast and good prices when compared to 2.5 SSDs and SATA M.2s (Ew). Even though currently the jump from a 2.5 SSD to a NVME M.2 (PCIE 3.0 and 4.0) isn't that big but Microsoft's "Directstorage API" will make the jump even larger in the future. The demand for NVME M.2's is very large right now even if your using the PC for web browsing unironically.
PCIE 3.0 & 4.0 x4 NVME M.2 SSD:
There is plenty of these adapters all over the market right now and for good reason. There dirt cheap and run NVME M.2's (PCIE 3.0 and 4.0 variants) at full speed but the only downside is that it takes up a x4 slot. Useful for motherboards that support NVME M.2s but don't have a slot and there also great for adding an additional M.2 slots if your motherboards got some already. Theoretically the PCIE 3.0 card can be added to any PC rocking a PCIE 3.0 x4 slot but I'm not sure if your motherboard would see this card as bootable if doesn't naturally support it.
PCIE 4.0 x16 Quad NVME Raid Cards:
Another example of "Ultra Luxury" and "Specific Case" cards. These cards offer quad PCIE 4.0 NVME M.2 support to your PC. Variant cards range from 128-gigabits (4000 megabyte per M.2) to 256-gigabits (8000 megabyte per M.2). There meaty (x16 slot), expensive, and motherboard/chipset specific.
5.25 USB Bays:
The go-to solution for PC Junkies craving the current USB tech. There many kinds of USB bays, fan controllers, card readers, quick charging, hot-swaping and of course 10-gigabit.
The USB 3.0 Bays:
A common upgrade for PC cases that don't have USB 3.0 ports, motherboards that have a 2nd motherboard USB 3.0 header and for people that added a USB 3.0 header to there motherboard using a USB header card. You will find many 5.25 USB bays that have 4+ USB 3.0 ports but do keep in mind, each USB header (2.0 and 3.0) can only handle 2 ports. One another downside is that there kind of pricey even though its 2022 as of writing this.
USB 3.X 10-gigabit Bays:
The hottest kind of USB Bay, the 10-gigabit ones. Although 20-gigabit is the future, 10-gigabit is now almost common. I think 1 10-gigabit device is supported with each header. 1 downside is that also kind of pricey but they cost the same as USB 3.0 Bays, so I would get this plus an USB 3.0 to "Type E" adapter (If your motherboard only supports USB 3.0) or even a "Type E" 10-gigabit header card.
USB Charging Bays:
Found on USB bays, they sometimes feature a simple 2.0+ Amp charging port to a full fledged QC 3.0 charging ports like the bay above. Charging ports on computers are not a new idea since they can found on motherboards dating to around early 2010s.
USB Card Reader Bays:
If were dealing with tech in the 2000s, you probably dealt with the various portable storage formats and one of these was a bit of must back then. Over the years USB versions have gotten more popular, so the need for one of these bays is not needed if your on a tight budget. Although these kinds of bays are great for cases that have a couple bays and want a "all-in-one" package.
Honorable mention - Hot Swap USB Bays:
Hot Swaps were the rage because people want to store all there drives into PC and wanted the option to use the drives on other PCs. There is USB Hot-Swap bays but I would just stick with an hot-swap-only bay unless you got limited amount of bays.
Another mention - Fan Control USB Bays.
Since people wanted that "all-in-one" experience, companies made fan control USB bays. I don't have much to say about this.
Fan Controllers Bay:
These fan controllers were the rage and then quickly went away. With 3-pin fans, you can set the speed but the motherboard wouldn't ramp up the fans when your PC got hot. That's where these fan controllers used to come in. They offered easier fan control and sometimes even automatic fan speed with thermal probes (Before 4-pin PWM). Since LED fans were also a thing around this time and many hooked up there fans to these controllers. The problem is that as you turned down the speed, the LEDs would go dimmer due to fan controllers being just essentially voltage regulators. There still useful if you just want easier manual control and got 3 pin fans.
The manual-only fan controllers:
These controllers were the basic kind, they controlled 1 to 2 fans per knob and didn't offer anything automatic.
The automatic fan controllers:
Since people wanted easiness, companies offered automatic fan controllers. These fan controllers come with thermal throbs, so the controller ramps the speed when it senses the temp as increased.
The touch-screen fan controllers:
If wanted to feel cool, you got one of these at-the-time fancy touch screen fan controllers. They offered animated touch screens along with automatic fan control.
The dual-bay touch-screen fan controllers:
If you got plenty of left over bays, you would get one of these dual-bay touch screen fan controllers. Overkill, yes.
6-17-21 Update: I have learned that most PCI-e slots (1x to 8x) on the motherboard go through the BMI (Intel)/UMI? (AMD), which is the tunnel between the CPU and Chipset. These "left-over" slots share bandwidth between USB, on-board SATA, etc. The top slot (x16) talks to the CPU directly and that is why GPU's use them. Supposedly with Nvidia SLI motherboards the 2nd x8/x16 slot talks to the CPU directly. Please keep this mind when reading about expansion cards below.
SATA Cards:
SATA Cards are my favorite kind of expansion card. They add extra SATA ports to your PC, giving you piece of mind. People mainly use these with multi-optical-drive PCs and hard drives. There is many kinds and variations based on PCIE speed and Chip speed. Although I will not be talking about RAID.
1 common type is the "x1" PCIE 3.0 versions which come in 2 flavors, 2-ports and 4-ports:
Realistically, these "x1" cards can only do 1 SSD at Full Speed (SATA 3). So, when you add more SATA devices, the speeds gets divided between them. A good use case (4-Port versions), would be to use 4 optical disc drives, which each drive would be limited to SATA 1 speeds. Another case (2-ports/4-ports versions), would be to use 2 hard drives. Each hard drive is limited to SATA 2 speeds but most hard drives don't reach SATA 3 speeds, some don't even reach SATA 1 speeds. These cards are very cheap and takes up your x1 slots.
1 semi-common type would be the "x4" cards, there PCIE 3.0 and they start at 6 ports and go beyond:
These cards are popular with hard drive users and SSD users. These cards can handle 2-3 SSDs at SATA 3 speeds and 6 hard drives at SATA 2 speeds. Just like the card above, when you add a SATA device, the speed gets divided but the margin is a lot smaller. The downside is that there pricey and they take up a x16 slot on your motherboard, which if your a gamer, you would only have 1 left. Some motherboards use the 2nd x16 slot for NVME M.2 drives, so they get disabled for use.
USB Cards:
The famous kind of expansion card, the USB card. When USB 3.0 was coming around, the demand for upgrading USB 2.0-only PCs was very large and still pretty large. These days, the common USB card upgrade would be 10-gigabit cards and the "specific case" USB card would be the the 20-gigabit cards. I'm not gonna mention the USB name mess like USB 3.1 and USB 3.2.
The old but loved USB 3.0 cards:
These cards took up x1, which wasn't asking much even back then. There cheap but since the bandwidth is shared, they can only 1 run USB 3.0 device at full speed.
The 10-gigabit USB cards:
10-gigabit USB is found on many modern computers but there still a good amount of PCs running with only USB 3.0 (5 gigabits). Like the title says, they add 10-gigabit support. A popular use for 10-gigabit is NVME M.2 external drives (DIY and consumer-friendly variants). The 2 downsides is they take up a x4 slot (x16 slot) and there kind of pricey. (This is also 2X flavors)
The ultra-luxury 20-gigabit USB cards:
Found on very few motherboards, its 20-gigabit USB. Like the title says, this adds 20-gigabit USB support to your PC. Same 2 downsides as the 10-gigabit card. If your willing to pay 10-gigabit card prices, I would aim for these 20-gigabit cards.
Honorable mention, the USB Headers cards (Currently USB 3.0 and 10-gigabits):
Instead of adding ports to your PC, they add USB headers. There useful for PC cases that offer the port but the motherboard doesn't have a header for it. Another useful case would be using it with a 5.25 USB bay, even if your motherboard has these headers.
NVME M.2 Cards:
NVME M.2's are the most sought after kind of SSD, very very fast and good prices when compared to 2.5 SSDs and SATA M.2s (Ew). Even though currently the jump from a 2.5 SSD to a NVME M.2 (PCIE 3.0 and 4.0) isn't that big but Microsoft's "Directstorage API" will make the jump even larger in the future. The demand for NVME M.2's is very large right now even if your using the PC for web browsing unironically.
PCIE 3.0 & 4.0 x4 NVME M.2 SSD:
There is plenty of these adapters all over the market right now and for good reason. There dirt cheap and run NVME M.2's (PCIE 3.0 and 4.0 variants) at full speed but the only downside is that it takes up a x4 slot. Useful for motherboards that support NVME M.2s but don't have a slot and there also great for adding an additional M.2 slots if your motherboards got some already. Theoretically the PCIE 3.0 card can be added to any PC rocking a PCIE 3.0 x4 slot but I'm not sure if your motherboard would see this card as bootable if doesn't naturally support it.
PCIE 4.0 x16 Quad NVME Raid Cards:
Another example of "Ultra Luxury" and "Specific Case" cards. These cards offer quad PCIE 4.0 NVME M.2 support to your PC. Variant cards range from 128-gigabits (4000 megabyte per M.2) to 256-gigabits (8000 megabyte per M.2). There meaty (x16 slot), expensive, and motherboard/chipset specific.
5.25 USB Bays:
The go-to solution for PC Junkies craving the current USB tech. There many kinds of USB bays, fan controllers, card readers, quick charging, hot-swaping and of course 10-gigabit.
The USB 3.0 Bays:
A common upgrade for PC cases that don't have USB 3.0 ports, motherboards that have a 2nd motherboard USB 3.0 header and for people that added a USB 3.0 header to there motherboard using a USB header card. You will find many 5.25 USB bays that have 4+ USB 3.0 ports but do keep in mind, each USB header (2.0 and 3.0) can only handle 2 ports. One another downside is that there kind of pricey even though its 2022 as of writing this.
USB 3.X 10-gigabit Bays:
The hottest kind of USB Bay, the 10-gigabit ones. Although 20-gigabit is the future, 10-gigabit is now almost common. I think 1 10-gigabit device is supported with each header. 1 downside is that also kind of pricey but they cost the same as USB 3.0 Bays, so I would get this plus an USB 3.0 to "Type E" adapter (If your motherboard only supports USB 3.0) or even a "Type E" 10-gigabit header card.
USB Charging Bays:
Found on USB bays, they sometimes feature a simple 2.0+ Amp charging port to a full fledged QC 3.0 charging ports like the bay above. Charging ports on computers are not a new idea since they can found on motherboards dating to around early 2010s.
USB Card Reader Bays:
If were dealing with tech in the 2000s, you probably dealt with the various portable storage formats and one of these was a bit of must back then. Over the years USB versions have gotten more popular, so the need for one of these bays is not needed if your on a tight budget. Although these kinds of bays are great for cases that have a couple bays and want a "all-in-one" package.
Honorable mention - Hot Swap USB Bays:
Hot Swaps were the rage because people want to store all there drives into PC and wanted the option to use the drives on other PCs. There is USB Hot-Swap bays but I would just stick with an hot-swap-only bay unless you got limited amount of bays.
Another mention - Fan Control USB Bays.
Since people wanted that "all-in-one" experience, companies made fan control USB bays. I don't have much to say about this.
Fan Controllers Bay:
These fan controllers were the rage and then quickly went away. With 3-pin fans, you can set the speed but the motherboard wouldn't ramp up the fans when your PC got hot. That's where these fan controllers used to come in. They offered easier fan control and sometimes even automatic fan speed with thermal probes (Before 4-pin PWM). Since LED fans were also a thing around this time and many hooked up there fans to these controllers. The problem is that as you turned down the speed, the LEDs would go dimmer due to fan controllers being just essentially voltage regulators. There still useful if you just want easier manual control and got 3 pin fans.
The manual-only fan controllers:
These controllers were the basic kind, they controlled 1 to 2 fans per knob and didn't offer anything automatic.
The automatic fan controllers:
Since people wanted easiness, companies offered automatic fan controllers. These fan controllers come with thermal throbs, so the controller ramps the speed when it senses the temp as increased.
The touch-screen fan controllers:
If wanted to feel cool, you got one of these at-the-time fancy touch screen fan controllers. They offered animated touch screens along with automatic fan control.
The dual-bay touch-screen fan controllers:
If you got plenty of left over bays, you would get one of these dual-bay touch screen fan controllers. Overkill, yes.
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