SATA PCI cards are still more expensive, unless the original poster has the wherewithal to hack a cheap SIL:mumble card.  The Sonnet SATA cards go for about $70 and I haven't seen one of the Acard 6290M or 6890M available for a while.

The OP stated that price was an important consideration, so....

In the long run, SATA would be a better solution.  Drives are easier to find and newer.  Optical drives are still available.