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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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So after several months of thinking, reading, browsing etc... I've come to the conclusion that my next box is best built with a RAID controller in one of the expansion slots rather than building off the built in motherboard controller. I kinda realized that this is the best direction for me, considering I rebuild my machines about once every 18 months and moving an array is a pain when you are getting rid of the controller (which is what I am dealing with right now).  I'm looking for an 8-port SATA II controller that will survive for a long time and several system rebuilds. I do not plan to use this as my boot partition - just a big volume for files. After some initial research, I'm seeing that the pricerange for these is $250 - $600+. Reading reviews on newegg, I'm seeing reviews all over the map and am having trouble finding one that sounds solid. Anyone have any experience with this recently? Or any advice?
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Joined: 7/4/2006
Posts: 1079
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A couple of questions before I can give a decent answer:
What kind of slot are you going to be using? PCI-X, PCI-E or PCI?
What level of raid are you looking for, i.e. Raid 1, raid 5, etc?
Gary
You can't fix dead.
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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>>What kind of slot are you going to be using? PCI-X, PCI-E or PCI?
What do you recommend to futureproof it for about 4-5 years Xaak? PCI-E? I haven't built this machine yet, first revision will use a Penryn when I save up the money but I want to make sure I can migrate it 2 years from now when the Penryn starts getting old.
I won't be using this box for heavy graffix stuff.
>>What level of raid are you looking for, i.e. Raid 1, raid 5, etc?
RAID5, or thinking about RAID6 if the controller supports it. Read/write performance is not very important to me, but longterm reliability and GB per $ is.
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Joined: 7/4/2006
Posts: 1079
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Sorry it took so long to respond.
For you, I think PCI express is the way to go. PCI-X is only available on server motherboards, and that will severly limit your performance (overclocking) ability, as well as drive up the price of the system.
Unfortunately, that limits your choices.
From what I can see, on Newegg at least, your choices start at around 439 for This. That's the cheapest pci-e card with 8 internal sata ports and raid5.
I don't have any experience with Highpoint though. I have an LSI chipset on my new server motherboard which supports 8 ports, and it's very solid, but I haven't tried the raid features, just hanging a mix of sas and sata drives on it for the database. I've also used Adaptec in the past with great results.
I'm not sure this helps much, but needing 8 ports puts you well into the server class boards which aren't cheap.
Gary
You can't fix dead.
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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No worries on the delay Xaak. I won't be pulling the trigger on this project for some months. Plenty of time to learn. [EMO]glasses.gif[/EMO]
I expect having to drop a few hundred on this, although would prefer sub $400 if at all possible. What do you think of this one in comparison to your other recommendation?
PROMISE Supertrak EX8350 PCI-Express x4 - $360
Do you think PCI Express x8 slightly more future proof than this one which is x4?
Also, I don't overclock much, but want to learn. So I guess PCI-X is out of the question since it's tough to find 775 boards that have it - do I understand you correctly? It's mainly for 771 or dual 771 boards?
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Joined: 7/4/2006
Posts: 1079
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The reviews on that unit would give me pause, but Promise has been around forever and at least USED to make decent products. Haven't owned one in about 10 years though so I can't speak for their current products. The price is decent, but sounds like there are some serious issues with the firmware and drivers.
You could look at it two ways as far as future proofing. A 4 port card now, and a second one (if?) when needed (maybe even a better one by the time it is needed) might be better than a single 8 port card. Might be cheaper too, at least to start off with.
PCI-X is a server host bus. There are 775 boards that have them, but again, they're server based boards and tend to me more expensive and less flexible than the consumer based boards.
Gary
You can't fix dead.
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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Xaak wroteYou could look at it two ways as far as future proofing. A 4 port card now, and a second one (if?) when needed (maybe even a better one by the time it is needed) might be better than a single 8 port card. Interesting point. Basically, build 2 volumes instead of 1 huge one. That might be what I do depending on prices. Thanks Xaak!
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Joined: 7/5/2006
Posts: 148
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Last promise card I had would not work correctly no matter what... I snapped that pos in half then bought a highpoint.
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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MikeC wrote
Last promise card I had would not work correctly no matter what... I snapped that pos in half then bought a highpoint. Whoa, duly noted. Thanks Mike,
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www.team-enterprise.org
Joined: 7/26/2006
Posts: 224
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I have used quite a few 3ware cards at work and they have performed flawlessly. The 9650 series gives you PCI-E with RAID 6.
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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Joined: 7/9/2006
Posts: 1182
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Joined: 11/4/2007
Posts: 342
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Made my decision this week, and ended up going with an 8-port Highpoint RocketRAID 3320. It was a sizeable investment at $490 compared to smaller 4-port cards, but I am really hoping this controller will last me a good 5 - 7 years and several system rebuilds. Plus I really like the growth options with those extra 4 ports.
The first thing I am going to try is just plugging the drives into the controller to see if they will migrate without having to rebuild the array. If that doesn't work out, I will have to bring the box to work, copy everything off the drives onto our NAS, rebuild the array with the new controller and copy them back on.
Now that this decision is done with, next up is designing the next box so I can retire my Socket 939 X2 4400+ for a quad core Penryn.  The 3320 has some pinouts for LED status lights, I might see if I can use those with something.
Thanks for the help and input all,
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