I have a PCI 4 port SATA controller with a Silicon Image Sil3114CTU chip on it.
It has Win98 drivers I believe. I havent tried it yet, I only got it a few weeks ago in a bundle of other boards.

That should allow a 2.5" SSD to work and be bootable in Win98.

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2025-01-08, 22:00:

I have a PCI 4 port SATA controller with a Silicon Image Sil3114CTU chip on it.
It has Win98 drivers I believe. I havent tried it yet, I only got it a few weeks ago in a bundle of other boards.

That should allow a 2.5" SSD to work and be bootable in Win98.

Win98 should be OK, but check PCI slot voltage requirements. A lot of later SATA controllers are keyed for universal PCI but only work if 3.3V is present in the slot. That means they'll generally only work in systems with PCI 2.2. or higher, so not on BX boards etc.

I just bought one. and one of those ATX adapters for the macintosh LC series.

i'll let people know how it turns out.

dionb wrote on 2025-01-09, 00:04:

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2025-01-08, 22:00:

I have a PCI 4 port SATA controller with a Silicon Image Sil3114CTU chip on it.
It has Win98 drivers I believe. I havent tried it yet, I only got it a few weeks ago in a bundle of other boards.

That should allow a 2.5" SSD to work and be bootable in Win98.

Win98 should be OK, but check PCI slot voltage requirements. A lot of later SATA controllers are keyed for universal PCI but only work if 3.3V is present in the slot. That means they'll generally only work in systems with PCI 2.2. or higher, so not on BX boards etc.

I think I have an 440GX board. Not sure if I have an 440BX board though I will have to have a look.
Wouldnt mind a 440BX board though. Not had one for a long long time.

Would Sandra tell me if it has 3.3v?

No. But at a glance, AT boards are USUALLY 5v boards. ATX boards are almost always capable of both.

douglar wrote on 2025-01-07, 21:22:

If you are using Windows 98, stick with devices < 128GB.

I personally disagree with this, at least for data drives - my OS drive is a 8GB SLC SATA SSD connected via an old cheap SATA->40-pin IDE adapter which contains a 2GB partition for the OS itself and the second partition is for the Windows 98 install CD and critical drivers/software, I use a 2TB Crucial MX500 connected via a Promise SATA150 for everything else. With rloew's PATCHATA and PATCH1TB, the only performance issue I've noticed with the 2TB SSD is that the first write to the drive will take around 30-45 seconds which only started happening when I used up more than 50% of the available space, but subsequent writes are perfectly fine. It's currently about 80% full.

luckybob wrote on 2025-01-09, 00:39:

No. But at a glance, AT boards are USUALLY 5v boards. ATX boards are almost always capable of both.

Wouldn't be so sure. ATX boards certainly have 3.3V on the connector, but early ones don't connect that to the PCI bus. Even relatively high-end BX boards like the P2B-F lack 3.3V on PCI, for example. I tested my Frankenstein-SSD on MSI MS-6168 (i440BX) and Tekram P6B40-A4X and P5MVP-A4 boards and it failed. I know it's voltage-related as I have an MS-6168 I modded for 3.3V and it works perfectly there.

You can't assume 3.3V to be present on PCI until PCI 2.2, which was introduced late 1999 with Intel's 8-series.

dionb wrote on 2025-01-09, 07:10:

Wouldn't be so sure. ATX boards certainly have 3.3V on the connector, but early ones don't connect that to the PCI bus. Even relatively high-end BX boards like the P2B-F lack 3.3V on PCI, for example. I tested my Frankenstein-SSD on MSI MS-6168 (i440BX) and Tekram P6B40-A4X and P5MVP-A4 boards and it failed. I know it's voltage-related as I have an MS-6168 I modded for 3.3V and it works perfectly there.

You can't assume 3.3V to be present on PCI until PCI 2.2, which was introduced late 1999 with Intel's 8-series.

Yes, Tekram P6B40-A4X does not have 3.3V on PCI bus.

It was a surprise to find such a 'late' board lacking it, but it does. A good way to check this is using a POST card analyzer with built-in leds for voltages.

I thought i board with the notch on the rear of the slot, (close to the PCI bracket) was the indicator of a 3.3volt slot.
If it doesnt have that notch then it is a 5volt slot.

It is rare to find a board with that notch, I have only one board with it.

DEAT wrote on 2025-01-09, 01:15:

douglar wrote on 2025-01-07, 21:22:

If you are using Windows 98, stick with devices < 128GB.

I personally disagree with this, at least for data drives - my OS drive is a 8GB SLC SATA SSD connected via an old cheap SATA->40-pin IDE adapter which contains a 2GB partition for the OS itself and the second partition is for the Windows 98 install CD and critical drivers/software, I use a 2TB Crucial MX500 connected via a Promise SATA150 for everything else. With rloew's PATCHATA and PATCH1TB, the only performance issue I've noticed with the 2TB SSD is that the first write to the drive will take around 30-45 seconds which only started happening when I used up more than 50% of the available space, but subsequent writes are perfectly fine. It's currently about 80% full.

When advising someone what to buy for a retro build, I'd still tell them to avoid devices > 128GB (LBA48), especially for the system drive and I'd only recommend it as a data drive for the adventurous & or those looking for a challenge.

But it sounds like you know all the tricks to make that work, so you are golden. Curious about the slow first access time. After searching google, I see other people run into that as well as large fat volumes start filling up. Perhaps it is calculating free space. Perhaps there is a way to reduce that delay by increasing the buffers setting in your config sys. Are you currently setting buffers in your config.sys?

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2025-01-09, 13:41:

I thought i board with the notch on the rear of the slot, (close to the PCI bracket) was the indicator of a 3.3volt slot.
If it doesnt have that notch then it is a 5volt slot.

It is rare to find a board with that notch, I have only one board with it.

The notches are for signalling levels - rear notch indicates 3.3V signalling, front notch indicates 5V signalling, a card with two notches supports both.

However that does not tell you whether the power lines for those voltages are connected or not. 5V signalling slots may also have 3.3V supply (and must do so from PCI rev 2.2 onwards), 3.3V signalling slots have 5V supply as well.

So if the notch fits, it guarantees that you won't blow something up, but it doesn't guarantee a card will work.

Good lord, every fucking time....

Again. To reiterate. Restate. Reinforce. Repeat. To beat a fucking dead horse...

AT A GLANCE.

Every god-damned, motherfucking time I make a generalization, someone around here gets a massive fucking boner to point out examples of how I'm wrong.