Best SAS Controller for singles

[JASTECH]

I am going to run SATAII and SAS drives. What Controller is best for Non Raid? Adaptec, LSI or HotPoint and which model? I have a EVGA Classified on its way and a Lian Li 2110 case. My sig system will go to me wife after I build the new one. And Windows 7??

Thanks, JASTECH

 

[taltamir]

why is the world would you want a single non raided SAS Drive?

 

[JASTECH]

Because I run everything separate like my graphics, Photos ect. The SAS drives are faster then the SATAII. I use to run U320 Drives but we had a bad storm and a roof leak so my systems got shorted out. I lost everything except the tower. I like to run fast single drives to bring up my software and or graphics and work large photos w/o having to wait.

Thanks, JASTECH

 

[Emulex]

velociraptor is a 10k 2.5" sas drive with sata interface.

other than that you got 2.5 and 3.5" 15K SAS drives which are indeed faster.

hp sells hot-swap 300gb 15K 3.5" for like $330 for their workstations.

i think they use a cheap lsi logic HBA $80-150 probably.

 

[JASTECH]

Hmm, Ok I will go with the Seagate 15k.6 drives then. What controller would you recommend? I may only use a 4 drive support and make other drives the SATAII via the Classified MB. Unless there is one on Ebay that is an 8 drive support and close to the same money.

Thanks, JASTECH

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: JASTECH
Because I run everything separate like my graphics, Photos ect. The SAS drives are faster then the SATAII. I use to run U320 Drives but we had a bad storm and a roof leak so my systems got shorted out. I lost everything except the tower. I like to run fast single drives to bring up my software and or graphics and work large photos w/o having to wait.

Thanks, JASTECH

1. SAS drives are not faster, 15K drives are faster than 10K which are faster than 7.4K, but weather they are SAS or SATA is irrelevant to their speed. it just so happens that enterprise level 15K drives meant for intensive servers tend to be SAS.

2. And all of the above are much slower than SSDs.

3. You want SAS to protect from water leaks shorting your systems? what?

 

[Rubycon]

I used to run independent drives then found it was faster to stripe them and use a large full delay write back cache. A good controller with an onboard battery is essential for reliable operation. Don't use the array for long term storage unless you back up to another disk frequently in case you lose a drive. Performance will be better with this set up. You can use 8-24 15K drives in RAID 0 or 2-8 SSDs in a similar configuration. I found that I did not need over a TB of space so I tried SSDs and have been happy with the increase in IOPS.

 

[JASTECH]

I now have 1 Seagate 300GB 15k.6 and 2x Seagate 147GB 15k.6 drives. I will use the 300GB for my main drive. I take GIG's of digital photos as does my wife so I use one drive just for Photographs. I use another drive for Graphics and one for Downloads. I then will use a 1TB SAS for Backup of everything.

In order to use the RAID as you say I would need all the drives the same size correct? But either way I am looking at Adaptec 4805, LSI, Areca and ATTO but don't know which way to go.
I read the SSD's are slow at something and still not realiable?

taltamir, SAS to protect from water leaks? I was trying to say all my U320 stuff was damaged via the water leaks so I am using the insurance money to build a new system that I hope to be faster then what I had.

Thanks, JASTECH

 

[taltamir]

oh good, i was hoping i had misread that...

 

[JASTECH]

taltamir, Yes please send me the controller with a Umbrella!

 

[LokutusofBorg]

Unless you go with the new 6Gb/s SAS then SAS is just 3Gb/s like SATA II is, like taltamir said above. You will get a bit more throughput to the individual drives, I think, but not all that much. IMO you're better off with a SATA RAID array (tons of space, compared), or if you have the money SSDs (blazing fast).

EDIT: SSDs excel at random read/write, while SAS are better at sequential ops. If you're constantly copying large numbers of full pictures back and forth then you'll probably be better off with SAS. If you're editing pictures and moving them around one at a time (outside of when you dump upload them from your camera) then SSDs seem the ticket.

 

[Emulex]

most of the new sas controllers utilize pci express 2.0 and ddr3 (and 6gb sas); they are much faster at random i/o than the last gen which comprised of pci express 1.0;ddr2 and 3gb sas.

if you are going to do raid; get a raid controller with bbwc.

 

[JASTECH]

Looking at this one, what do you think? Intel SRCSATAWB 8 Port SAS RAID Controller - 128MB Embedded ECC DDR2 - PCI Express x4 - Up to 300MBps per Port - 2 x SFF-8087 mini SAS 300 - Serial Attached SCSI Internal


Description

The Intel RAID Controller SRCSATAWB is one in a family of Intel first- generation RAID solutions to use RAID-On-Chip (ROC) technology, delivering state-of-the-art power and performance. Designed for solutions using low cost, high capacity SATA hard drives, the SRCSATAWB offers features typically found in higher-end RAID solutions, such as RAID 6 and expander-based backplane support.

Features

Manufacturer Intel Corporation
Ports 2 x SFF-8087 mini SAS 300 - Serial Attached SCSI Internal
Standard Memory 128MB Embedded ECC DDR2
Form Factor Half-length Low-profile Plug-in Card
Manufacturer Part Number SRCSATAWB
Manufacturer Website Address intel
Dimensions 2.53" Height x 7.75" Width
Product Name SRCSATAWB 8 Port SAS RAID Controller
Host Interface PCI Express x4
Data Transfer Rate Up to 300MBps Per Port
Product Type SAS RAID Controller
RAID Levels 0
RAID Levels 1
RAID Levels 6
RAID Levels 5
RAID Levels 60
RAID Levels 50
RAID Levels 10

Tech Specs

Host Interface PCI Express x4
Ports 2 x SFF-8087 mini SAS 300 - Serial Attached SCSI Internal
Form Factor Half-length Low-profile Plug-in Card
Standard Memory 128MB Embedded ECC DDR2
Manufacturer Intel Corporation
Manufacturer Part Number SRCSATAWB
Data Transfer Rate Up to 300MBps Per Port
Dimensions 2.53" Height x 7.75" Width
Manufacturer Website Address intel
Brand Name Intel
RAID Levels 60
RAID Levels 50
RAID Levels 10
RAID Levels 6
RAID Levels 5
RAID Levels 1
RAID Levels 0
Drive Support Up to 16 x Physical
Product Model SRCSATAWB
Product Name SRCSATAWB 8 Port SAS RAID Controller
Product Type SAS RAID Controller
(From LSI and or Intel website) Thank You



Thanks, JASTECH

 

[JASTECH]

Here is another in my price range, I think it is made by LSI?

INTEL SRCSASRB 8-port SAS RAID controller 256mb

http://www.techbuy.com.au/p/89...)_C/Intel/SRCSASRB.asp

I went ahead and ordered this one, I hope I didn't mess up?
3ware 9690SA-8I 8 Port SAS RAID Controller - 512MB ECC DDR2

Thanks, JASTECH

 

[Emulex]

well thats not bad. you did get the cables?

 

[JASTECH]

I sure hope so, if not I will have to order me some. Also I read that the SAS cards will perform better with the BBU on it?

Thanks, JASTECH

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: JASTECH
I sure hope so, if not I will have to order me some. Also I read that the SAS cards will perform better with the BBU on it?

Thanks, JASTECH

It was rumored that Areca controllers upon detection of a BBU would change the aggressiveness of the write back cache flushing strategy but I have not seen performance numbers to validate this claim. A BBU is for safety not performance, however. Many hosts will not even allow you to use write back policy in the event the BBU is not installed, PERIOD!

If you want the best performance right now Areca wins hands down. Even passthrough disks benefit from the write back cache.

 

[Emulex]

actually with 12 15K SAS in raid-10 i found very little (if any) advantage to cache in write back in sequential. you can overwhelm the bandwidth of the controller in some cases.

but for raid-5/6 you want to run a 50/50 cache ratio.

you are insane to run a write-back without a battery. you can alot of data

 

[JASTECH]

My new SAS Controller has arrived, the 3WARE 9690SA-8I-SGL. Now after reading Rubycon's comment on the Areca was faster for separates I think was mentioned? SSD's, I can't afford them at the moment and I would like some time on them before I switch for the long haul. So far this is what I have for the system.

Case=Lian Li 2110
MB= EVGA Classified
CPU=i7 920 D0
HS/F=CoolerMaster V8
RAM=Mushkin Red 2x6GB=12GB
VD=EVGA GTX 275 896MB
CC= 3ware 9690SA-8I 8 Port SAS 512MB cache
HD1=Seagate Cheetah 15k.6 ST3300656SS
HD2=Seagate Cheetah 15K.6 ST3146356SS
HD3=Seagate Cheetah 15K.6 ST3146356SS
CD/DVD=LG Super Multi Blue GGW-H20L
Card Reader=LIAN-LI|CR-25B R
PSU=Enermax Revolution 1050w

I thought maybe get more of the 146GB drives, there is still room to grow and help from this community make things work out right

Thanks, JASTECH

 

[Emulex]

yeah i'd run sqlio or iometer vmware bench over and over for a few days to make sure everything is stable.

you can also migrate the raid stripe size online if you have BBWC/BBU to find optimal settings for your needs.

i am not sure if vista does proper alignment like win2k8/win7 does automatically; windows 2003 surely doesn't. mbr align you might be able to find if you google around.

 

[JASTECH]

I would need a Windows 7 I guess the lateset available for DL is an RC?

Thanks, JASTECH

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: JASTECH
I would need a Windows 7 I guess the lateset available for DL is an RC?

Thanks, JASTECH

Yes. If you have a technet subscription the RTM will become available next Thursday. (6th) IIRC.

The Classified is a good board HOWEVER the IOPS performance is about 15% off from other X58 boards I've tested to date: Asus P6T6 and P6T7. The Asus boards have turbo throttle enabled by default and you can NOT disable it in the current BIOS release. This will only affect you if you're running a 920/3520 at 21X for max speed. The multi under high load (Linpack) drops to 20.5 and even 20 if the cpu core temp really gets high (80C+). This reduces throughput. The Classified (759) that we've tested did NOT do this even with the CPU fans unplugged and core temperatures were allowed to reach the max (100C)!

 

[JASTECH]

Emulex, I shall do that after it is done and I install W7U on it. I decided not to make it dual boot with Linux as I will make a system just for Linux that will be the best bet I think. I had to RMA the case as they sent me the 2010 instead of the 2110 with the locking front door. I have a 2yr. old son going on 12.

Thanks, JASTECH