the Dell PERC 5/i), the PCI-X to PCIe bridge was a common architecture. With some older designs, including those based on the Intel IOP333 RAID processor (e.g. The relatively large heatsink/ fan covers something that I am guessing is a PCI-X to PCIe bridge chip. One will also notice that there is a conspicuous lack of DRAM onboard the PCB, which is a clear indicator that this is a fake-RAID 5 solution. As one can see, the Silicon Image chip is clearly visible between the “Raid 5” sticker (someone apparently forgot that RAID is an acronym) and a heatsink/ fan. The above card is a now discontinued Rosewill RC-224 that I had sitting unused in a box. Silicon Image SiI3124 Controller PCB Shot
This low-cost architecture has been something that Silicon Image has been building for years. For about $100 one can purchase a controller and a port multiplier (based on the SiI3726 for example) and provide eight ports of connectivity. One of the biggest draws to the Silicon Image port-multiplier enabled ecosystems is cost. The Silicon Image SiI3124 controller is an inexpensive SATA II controller that runs natively on a PCI-X bus. The short story here is that I think they can be valuable and I can see that they have a place in the market. One question I am often asked is what do I think about port multipliers.
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