SATA Controller connection layout

[Chiyawa]

Hi,

 

Anyone curious about SATA Controller they had in their system? So, I was just getting to know my system, and to my surprise, the Gigabyte Aorus X570 Pro WiFi actually uses 1 SATA controller to manage 4 SATA devices and 1 SATA controller to manage 2 devices. So I'm just curious why they don't fully use 2 of the chipset SATA controller with 1 PCIe x4 SATA controller which will give 8 SATA ports but instead use 1 SATA controller from the chipset and disable the other one and 1 SATA controller connected to PCIe x4 lanes which only gives 6 SATA ports.

 

Here's the image I got (I think I got it from Anand Tech but I have forgotten), and as you can see from this image, the chipset has 2 SATA controllers that can handle 2 SATA devices each. I'm not sure if Gigabyte use one of the PCIe x4 lanes (X4 PCIe PHY) and convert to 4 SATA port, but according to the Device Manager, I think they did. If they did, I think many manufacturer that produce the motherboard with 6 SATA ports uses the same connection. I'm curious why we don't get 8 ports instead. The unused SATA controller from the chipset is a waste, don't you think?

 

 

Anyway, After a little observation, I seems to have observed how the connection were connected to components for Gigabyte Aorus X570 Pro WiFi. (Note: below are just my assumption. I have no way of confirming what I write is accurate.)

 

For the processor part, we have:

1x USB 3.10 eXtensible connection which split into 4 USB 3.2 ports, 1 being Gen 2 while the other 3 being Gen 1.

Directly interface with audio chip

2x SATA controller (probably not use because it shares PCIe lanes from NVMe slot unless using SATA NVMe)

Platform Security Processor (PSP)

1x PCIe x16 or 2x PCIe x8 for graphic cards

1x PCI (I'm not sure what is this, though, or what device is connected to it)

 

For the X570 chipset part, we have:

1x PCIe x4

2x PCIe x1

1x PCIe x4 for M.2 slot (yes, it looks like the M2 slot does not share lanes with SATA ports, but I couldn't confirm that because I don't have an M2 drive)

1x PCIe x1 for Intel I211 Ethernet controller

1x PCIe (but not sure how many lanes, but probably x1) for Intel Wifi AX 200

2x USB 3.1 eXtensible controller

     where 1 controller is connected to 1x USB-C (back panel), 1x USB 3.2 Gen2 (back panel), 2x USB 2.0 (Header, total 4 ports)

     and the other one is connected to Intel Bluetooth, 2x USB 3.0 (header, total 4 ports), and 4x USB 2.0 (back panel)

1x SATA controller for 4 SATA device (Port 0, 1, 2 and 3, I suspect they use 1 PCIe x4 connection)

1x SATA controller for 2 SATA device (port 4 and 5) (Also I suspect they disable another SATA controller that control 2 SATA device)

 

Anyone have more info on this? Are my assumption accurate?

 

Chiyawa