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I'm looking for a way to use an msata ssd (such as the crucial m4 msata) in an older Intel x48 based PC. Does such a PCIe card exist? The only thing I've been able to find is this card, but it's limited to PCIe x1. Would such a card allow me to use msata HDDs on the X48 motherboard? Or is it pretty much trial and error? Any chance I'd be able to boot from it?

Edit: Cheapo version of PCIe sata card controller from Newegg
Edit 2: Perhaps something like this would be a safer bet, using SATA II port...

Anyone have any experience with either of these solutions?

An mSATA to SATA adapter is probably your best bet. It should make the drive look like a standard SATA SSD, which maximizes your odds of being able to boot from it without hassles.

A single lane of PCIe 2.0 is good for 500 MB/s, so an mSATA drive is unlikely to be bottlenecked (that card actually states a lower max throughput anyway, so if any bottlenecking happens it's in the card, not the interface). But converting to normal SATA, as JBI suggests, is likely to give you fewer headaches.