Highpoint's 4 channel 2310 SATA-II controller tested

PCI Express is now starting to show its versatility with cards starting to pop up all over the place which take advantage of this new bus technology. For example, we now have TV tuners from ATI popping up, LAN cards from Gigabyte and RAID controllers from Highpoint.

Servers have now started to take full advantage of PCI Express - why use long 64-bit PCI-X cards that take up more space than a parked Boeing 747, when you can use a smaller card offing up to 10 times the bandwidth of PCI or PCI-X? It seems pretty redundant.

Highpoint has jumped onto the PCI Express bandwagon very quickly for both servers and the consumer PC market with its range of RocketRAID controller cards. So far, we have looked at the first instalment, the RocketRAID 2320, an 8 port SATA-II PCI Express controller card which is designed for servers or very high-end desktop computers.

Today we have its smaller and more affordable brother - the RocketRAID 2310 - which is a 4 port version using PCI Express x4 for its interface but also works in x8 and x16 slots for added compatible and flexibility. Let's take a close look at Highpoint's latest and RoHS world friendly controller. We'll see if it should find a place in your desktop PC, if you're looking to expand your storage capabilities.