Need basic 4 port pci-e raid controller

M

Matthew Kane

Supreme [H]ardness
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Dec 1, 2007
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Hi

Preferably under $120 or so just need a basic raid controller to support 4 x 2TB sata2 drives that I will be migrating over from onboard. Need's to be able to support the usual raids, but I need good raid 5/0 performance out of it. BBU is optional but most with one tend to be bit more pricey.

I've got my eyes currently on a HP P400 smart array SAS controller with native sata2 support and I was thinking if I can get regular sas to sata cables and use that?

Any recommendations, ideas, opinions greatly appreciated. But don't link me to newegg or amazon, located down-under Aussie so might not have the same prices to match.

Cheers
 
Anything LSI based hsoul dbe good. I don't know how the newer HP cards are, but last time I did a lot of research on different cards, a lot of people did not like the HP cards.
 
Matthew Kane said:
Any particular LSI model? Most of them are expensive here.

Thanks
Click to expand...

The trick to ge cheap LSI based cards is to get ones that are sold under different company names.

If you don't need cache or BBU, look into a Dell H310. Looks like they go for about $75 on Ebay.

Instructions to flash with LSI firmware can be found here:
http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12767.525

If you want cache and BBU support, get a Dell PERC 5/i. They generally come with a 256MB stick, but can be upgraded to 512MB.

They are only 3Gb/s cards, but you are not going to get anything over that with spinning drives anyway. You will have to attach a heatsink to the controller chip though as they will overheat in a regular machine if they don't have one.

They can also be flashed with the LSI firmware.
Here is a whole forum thread dedicated to these cards:
http://www.overclock.net/t/359025/perc-5-i-raid-card-tips-and-benchmarks

Ebay has them for around $15 right now.
 
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the perc5's are very old at this point, and performance generally sucks. I've had pretty good luck with ibm m5015 (lsi 9240 rebadge).
 
dave99 said:
the perc5's are very old at this point, and performance generally sucks. I've had pretty good luck with ibm m5015 (lsi 9240 rebadge).
Click to expand...

Can you get the m5015 for $120 or less?

I've got one running on a small file server that gives me 300MB/s read/write with disk benchmark software.

This is with 4x 320GB Seagate drives in RAID 10.

Card has the BBU and a 1GB stick installed. The card only says 512MB, but I did tests between a 512MB stick and the 1GB stick and the 1GB stick gave slightly better performance.

That is still going to be faster than a card with no cache.. at least for spinning disks.

Not sure about RAID 5 though.
 
Matthew Kane said:
Thanks for the response.

Didn't find any at $75 each but I did find one for little less than $100 shipped to here

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-Dell...rollers_RAID_Cards&hash=item3a842e378e&_uhb=1

Doesn't include SAS extension to Sata cables though.

Well I bought it for now..

Any other suggestions welcome.
Click to expand...

Why RAID5? And keep in mind using desktop SATA disks with SAS controllers can cause issues unless they are made for RAID arrays. It's not always the case but its not uncommon.
 
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