?controller card?

I am pricing components to build my first computer and have a question as to what a controller card is for and do I need one?

I assume you`re talking about a pci ide contoller card.

This would enable you to connect extra ide devices to your computer.

A motherboard has two ide channels built in. these are the primary, and secondary ide channels. Each one is capable of supporting two ide devices(hard drives/cd/dvd`s etc) as master, and slave on each channel. Giving you a total of four ide devices.

Only if you needed more than four ide devices would you require a pci ide contoller card.

Regards Howard

That explains that.....

So I guess that a controller card would be good for a server.

In broad terms, a controller card is any controller you plug in a slot. Usually the term refers to storage controllers (ATA/SATA/SCSI) or IO controllers (serial, parallel, USB, firewire).

you can control more hard drives of type sata ide or scsi
you can do this with diff type of controller standard type
or raid setup and there are diff types of these
you can control extra usb ports, or serial ports or printer port
you can control your toaster,coffee maker, lights
and knitting and knitting