Adaptec 4805SAS RAID 5 Review and Benchmarks

[SnoMunke]

Anyone want any particular details on the card or specific benchmark? I'll start doing the install and benchmarks in the next 12 hours...

This will be my testbed:

A64-4000+
Tyan Tomcat K8E-SLI (S2866A2NRF)
2GB Corsair PC3200
XFX GeForce 7800 GT Factory Overclocked 256MB
Adaptec 4805 8-port SAS RAID Controller
Hitachi Ultrastar 15K 36.7GB SAS HDD
6x Hitachi T7K250 250GB SATA 3.0 HDDs - RAID 5
Windows XP SP2 w/ latest patches/upgrades

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

HD Tach 3.00, and upload the saved file if you don't mind. Short and long test if you don't mind. I can't wait to see this, as I've got the same drives (Hitachi 250gb SATA-150 anyway), and the Broadcom BC4852 RAID controller, with 6 drives in RAID 5. So keep me posted.

 

[JackBurton]

I'm interested. Let's start some testing!

 

[CpuDesigner]

SnoMunke,

Concerning using the A8N32-SLI:

Are you using the MCP's 16x PCIe slot (2nd 16x slot) for the raid controller ?

Are you able to configure, auto or otherwise, for 8 lanes ?

As I was interested in using a 8 lane PCIe Raid5 controller in this motherboard, I had asked/searched around about using non-graphics cards in the A8N32's 16x slots earlier and only found one person who had tried and he believed only two lanes were being utilized.

I look forward to seeing your test results.

 

[Czar]

how much does it cost?

 

[Missing Ghost]

The second slot should always be 16x.

 

[SnoMunke]

Originally posted by: CpuDesigner
SnoMunke,

Concerning using the A8N32-SLI:

Are you using the MCP's 16x PCIe slot (2nd 16x slot) for the raid controller ?

Are you able to configure, auto or otherwise, for 8 lanes ?

As I was interested in using a 8 lane PCIe Raid5 controller in this motherboard, I had asked/searched around about using non-graphics cards in the A8N32's 16x slots earlier and only found one person who had tried and he believed only two lanes were being utilized.

I look forward to seeing your test results.

A8N32-SLI has two FULL 16-lane, x16 ports... so there is no need to configure anything. I just plugged the card in and fired her up...the card runs at its full 8-lanes potential.

The specific reason I bought the A8N32-SLI is that I don't have to turn on SLI to get 8 lanes in each x16 port. I have heard many people who have use tried to use SLI motherboards with 8-lane or 4-lane PCIE RAID controllers, but ran into problems because they had to put the board into SLI to get the full 8-lanes in the second x16 port.

On the side: I did read an article somewhere where ASUS actually came out and said that with the A8N32-SLI, the second port could be used for an expansion card other than video...and now I can confirm it is true.

 

[SnoMunke]

I paid around $950 for the card...it can be found for less though...

 

[Rubycon]

Use the proper benchmark (i.e. NO atto/hdtach/sandra) which is IOMeter.

 

[SnoMunke]

Originally posted by: C6FT7
Use the proper benchmark (i.e. NO atto/hdtach/sandra) which is IOMeter.

Of course! You act as though I am a n00b! LOL

 

[CpuDesigner]

The two full 16-lane ports is the same reason I bought the A8N32-SLI as well, so I could use the Nvidia MCP?s x16 slot for an 8-lane Raid controller. I knew the hardware (the MCP?s PCIe controller for that port) supported PCIe compliant lane widths for any type of card; but, I had not heard of anyone successfully using it with 8 lanes in operation. Also, given the nature of the PCIe interface, where the number of lanes in use is determined during autonegotiation, you can have only one lane in operation and still have the card working (at reduced bandwidth) - but the PCIe controller should negotiate to 8 lanes, unless there is some software enforced limitation.

Great to hear it works !!! ? I?m waiting for my A8N32, the rest of the components, to show arrive.

Your benchmarks should be interesting...

 

[SnoMunke]

Right, with the A8N32-SLI, there is no autonegotiation...each x16 port has 16-lanes of bliss whether you use them or not...

What kind of controller are you going to use?

 

[CpuDesigner]

I have not even started looking at specific controllers yet. In any case, I also need Linux support as my future plans are to convert the A8N32-SLI motherboard over to a Linux box (sometime after socket M2 is out) to use as a software build system and file server.

FYI: Link width (and rate) negiotaion is a requirement of the PCI Express v1.0 and later specifications - where a PCIe device negotiates with the switch to find the maximum available link width and rate. I used the incorrect term autonegiotation in my earlier posts...

 

[Vegito]

Any update yet ?

I'm ready to get rid of my lsi 320-2e x2 with 20 15k scsi drives asap if this is much faster..

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: Vegito
Any update yet ?

I'm ready to get rid of my lsi 320-2e x2 with 20 15k scsi drives asap if this is much faster..

Highly doubtful. The 320-2e screams as it is. Put more cache on it and use write back as long as you have a battery pack installed.

 

[Vegito]

Originally posted by: C6FT7

Originally posted by: Vegito
Any update yet ?

I'm ready to get rid of my lsi 320-2e x2 with 20 15k scsi drives asap if this is much faster..

Highly doubtful. The 320-2e screams as it is. Put more cache on it and use write back as long as you have a battery pack installed.

ok cool.. no need for me to waste more money.. whats the max memory on these... standard is 128, the docs doesn't say if you can upgrade more or not..

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: Vegito

ok cool.. no need for me to waste more money.. whats the max memory on these... standard is 128, the docs doesn't say if you can upgrade more or not..

Officially it's 512MB. Performance increase varies wildly with use and current firmware does not allow changing cache flush timings so one may find that flushing 512MB to their arrays while copying huge files an annoyance.

 

[Vegito]

Originally posted by: C6FT7
Officially it's 512MB. Performance increase varies wildly with use and current firmware does not allow changing cache flush timings so one may find that flushing 512MB to their arrays while copying huge files an annoyance.

Crap im out of luck, dl the manual, 2E - 256, it looks like a intel processor but the 2x supports 512..

2E - 80332 Processor
2X - LSI53C1030 Processor

I know intel makes the 2E also.. wonder if thats resold through LSI or something..
EDIT: their manual sux.. haha.. the 80332 is pci controller, found on page 55, they both use the LSI 53C1030 SCSI controller...

EDIT2: Page 56 says both can take 512mb.. but on first few pages it says 256/512

 

[Rubycon]

Thought this may be of interest too!

I have to let you know that upgrading the memory will void your warranty.
It would also be beneficial for you to know that going beyond a certain
memory size will only give you a 1 percent gain. That is more than likely
why they do not go up to the 512mb limit. But just in case you still want
to do this here are the specs.
72 bit
pc2700
184 pin
DDR
ECC
Unbuffered
Unregistered
2.5v
2.5 clock cycles or better

Thank you,

LSI Support-02
LSI Logic - Field Support Technician

 

[SnoMunke]

No update yet. I am still trying to work out the bugs on the A8N32-SLI....seems bios 1009 screws up alot of things...

 

[capitainealbator]

To CpuDesigner: Did you test A8n32-Sli with a 320-2e raid card?
Does it work with 8x lanes?
Thanks for your answer.

 

[CpuDesigner]

I have not tested a (8x or othewise) raid card in my A8N32 motherboard. What I was indicating is that the hardware should support 8x (as wall as 1x, 4x, 16x) as lane width negiotation is part of the PCIe specification (in fact, the hardware must support lane width negiotation to be PCIe compliant).

SnoMunke is the one testing with an 8x raid card (SAS/SATA) and he indicated that it was working as expected. His last post indicated that he was having software issues (mentioned bios version 1009). Perhaps he will follow-up with his current status.

 

[SnoMunke]

Latest update: A8N32-SLI sucks if you push it too hard.

With the Adaptec 4805SAS controller plugged into the A8N32-SLI, I cannot utilize ANY of the onboard SATA ports without BSODs. If I boot off the 4805SAS controller, I have no problems until I get into Windows. In Windows I seem to be having a very high rate of system lock ups...not sure if this is the motherboard, RAID card, or HDDs. So far I am not impressed with the Asus board...

I ordered a TYAN 2866 motherboard which has a PCI-E x16 slot running at 8-lanes, so I will be testing the controller on this motherboard soon.

There is another guy at StorageReview Forums that has the 4805SAS controller as well if anyone wants more info.

 

[CpuDesigner]

SnoMunke,
I suspect that you are running into raid driver conflicts in windows. Are any of your motherboard SATA (or IDE) ports enabled for RAID with the nVidia raid drivers installed ?

Perhaps you have already tested this line of thinking (e.g., reinstalled windows with the motherboard disk controllers not enabled for raid and in particular without the nVidia or Silicon Image raid drivers).

 

[capitainealbator]

I called ASUS tech support in France yesterday and they said me that if I want to use a raid scsi card like LSI 320-2e (Pci e 8X) in the second SLI port, I must switch off sata controller on the motherboard (A8n32-SLI deluxe)...

Hope this will help you.....