Help me understand Adaptec SCSI card models: 2930 or 2940? (updated compare 2940U2W to 2930U2)

[Noriaki]

I don't get it..what's the difference between the 2930 and the 2940

I don't think the 2930 is available in a U2W model...but other than that...what's the difference if you take a 2930UW vs a 2940UW?

So confusing...

I know the new ones, the 19160,29160(N),39160..but the older cards have me stumped.

I want to get a SCSI CDRW, a Plextor 40x CDROM, and a small SCSI hard drive, like 2gig or something...what adaptec SCSI card would suit this best? (the 2gig is to be my CDRW's source drive so it doens't have to be an U2W card or anything massively fast...)

I'm keeping my 75GXP for my main boot drive that will run windows and everything...I just want a fairly cheap adaptec SCSI card that will run those 3 drives...so I guess a 40MB/s card would be fine but which one?

Edit: why yes, yes I do mean 29x0, not 2x90, that for the correction.


Edit #2:
AHA 2940U2W
SCSI Card 2930U2

The 2940U2W has: SCSI-1, SCSI-2, SCSI-3, Ultra SCSI, Ultra2 SCSI
External Connector:
68-pin High-Density Ultra2 SCSI
Internal Connectors:
68-pin High-Density Ultra2
68-pin High-Density Wide Ultra SCSI
50-pin High-Density Ultra SCSI

The 2930U2 has: Ultra2 SCSI, Wide UltraSCSI, UltraSCSI, Fast Wide SCSI, Fast SCSI, SCSI-2, SCSI-1
External Connector:
50-pin high-density (Ultra and Fast SCSI devices)
Internal Connector:
50-pin standard (Ultra and Fast SCSI devices)
68-pin high-density (Ultra2 SCSI devices)

So the 2940 has no "fast" SCSI? And the 2930 has no SCSI-3?
Does it look like the 2930 supports LVD? I'm thinking of getting a decent SCSI card that way if later I want to upgrade to using fast SCSI hard drives I could...do hard drives use SCSI-3? Could I put an Ultra160 capable hard drive on the 2930? (Obviously it would only run at 80MB/s but that's ok)
I don't care about the external, but what about the "68-pin High-Density Wide Ultra SCSI" the 2930 is missing, what's the dif between Wide Ultra SCSI and Ultra 2 SCSI, both are 68pin...

They both have 15 devices and 80MB/s, they are both bootable...
The 2930 says it's windows only.....I wonder if that's true..no linux support would suck...

In case you didn't notice I'm a SCSI n00bie!

 

[cloudchief]

I think you mean 2930 and 2940, and I think the main difference is the 2930 doesn't have 68 pin connectors.

 

[Sword]

The 2940U2W (i dont know if there is a 2940UW) is a 80 Mb/s with :

1 internal 68 pin U2W 80Mb/s LVD
1 internal 68 OR 50 pin
1 external U2W 80Mb/s

Very new CDRW can accept 68 pin 20Mb/s (or maybe 40Mb/s but surely not 80Mb/s)
That mean that you cannot put a CDRW on a U2W LVD channel or this channel will slow down in speed to the lowest component on the chain....

So if I were you, I would first determine what is the maximal speed of your CDRW and then choose a HDD and a controller that only have 1 channel with that speed. This way you wont pay for something u dont need.

If you look my sign, I have 3 HDD on the U2W LVD chain and 2 CD/CDRW on a 50 pin 10Mb/s chain. I needed this because my main HDD are SCSI.

I really dont know what are the difference between the 2930 and 2940 but I can say that the 2940 is way too expensive for your needs...(or if you can get one for 50$, then go for it)

Good luck

 

[Windogg]

Is the 2930 bootable?

 

[Caitiff]

Hmm, I have a 2940 card, and it is only a 50 pin version. the 'UW' spec card has both. If the price difference is minimal, go w/ the 2940 over the 2930, I'm not sure of the difference, but from the description of what you need it to do, the 2940 will fill the role admirably.

 

[mikee]

Windogg, don't know much about SCSI, but I do have the 2930. It is bootable. It has on-board bios.

 

[Windogg]

Kills my theory.

Windogg

 

[roc919]

The 2930 is only SCSCI II or aka Fast SCSI, which means that it the max bandwidth is only up to 10MB/s, while the 2940 is an Ultra SCSI card, which can do twice the amount, up to 20MB/s.

Having the UW (Ultra Wide) models doubles the data rate of a normal Ultra bus. So the UW 2940 can do up to 40MB/s. The U2W (Ultra 2 Wide) doubles the UW, going up to 80MB/s. The latest and greatest doubles the U2W doing up to 160Mb/s, but I forgot the tech. term for it.

Also, a non-Wide bus uses a 50-pin connector vs a Wide bus that uses the 68 pin connectors.

 

[Noriaki]

update bump

 

[schmoe]

Another thing about 2930... it doesn't work with Unix(or it hasn't been tested with unix)... so plan accordingly..

 

[Noriaki]

Yeah I noticed that...I use Win2000pro, Linux and Win98SE right now...
So that could be an issue...

what's this about "fast" SCSI that the 2490U2W seems to lack? Is that important?

 

[Sword]

the 2940U2W doesnt lack the fast scsi....this card is compatible with all the previous scsi standard (not the U160) BUT the speed on a channel will be limited by the slowest devices...To proove that just look in my sign => i have 2 Fast SCSI devices.

So, if I were you i would try to find a 2940UW so you can have up to 40 Mb/s transfer rate. Also, I think u have 2 channel on the 2940UW so u could have 1 channel with CDRW at 10Mb/s or 20 Mb/s and your HDD can go up to 40 Mb/s.