Why not SCSI?

[Eagle784]

I often read SCSI is untouchably expensive, but I can get a Ultra160 card for about $100 (Adaptec 19160) and a 15K rpm 74 Gig Seagate Cheetah for $70. Isn't this better than a couple of 36 gig Raptors in Raid 0 (~$200, just for the drives)?

 

[Bobthelost]

How old is that 74 cheetah and what's the warranty like?

Add that in with the fact it won't perform much better than a raptor 74 (better than RAID0 36GB) and it's noisier draws more power and i don't see much point.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

At this point, you'd be better off at looking for SAS hardware.

 

[George Powell]

That is not a normal price for a 74G cheetah. In fact a more realistic price would be about 3 to 4 times that.

 

[Ayah]

74GB 15K SCSI drives go for around $300-350 each @ retail.

 

[Ayah]

Also, SCSI is rather worthless unless you're in PCI-X or PCI-E due to the choking speeds of the standard PCI bus.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

It would be cheaper to buy a 74GB Raptor (although that's a huge waste of money too). And who would even consider buying 36GB Raptors anymore?

 

[blackangst1]

The thing you guys are forgetting about SCSI is its ability to handle multiple threads at once. Something non-SCSI cannot do. I run only 10k SCSI for my OS and games, and bought a raptor. I RMA'd it coz I saw a difference in performance within minutes.

 

[bob4432]

op - be a little concerned of the early 10 and 15K generation of hdds (or the u160 ones). they are loud and hot. you would be better off getting a used card for ~$30 (lsiu160, adaptec 19160, 29160 or 39160) and a newer generation hdd. and you will want to actively cool them. personally i actively cool all my hdds, so for me it was not big deal.

you will probably pay $120-$150 for a newer generatin 36GB 15K but it will not sound like a bandsaw nor be a space heater.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Ayah
Also, SCSI is rather worthless unless you're in PCI-X or PCI-E due to the choking speeds of the standard PCI bus.

a single scsi hdd will not fuly saturate the pci bus, regardless of generation

 

[Ayah]

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: Ayah
Also, SCSI is rather worthless unless you're in PCI-X or PCI-E due to the choking speeds of the standard PCI bus.

a single scsi hdd will not fuly saturate the pci bus, regardless of generation

I don't know why anyone would run a single SCSI drive.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Ayah

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: Ayah
Also, SCSI is rather worthless unless you're in PCI-X or PCI-E due to the choking speeds of the standard PCI bus.

a single scsi hdd will not fuly saturate the pci bus, regardless of generation

I don't know why anyone would run a single SCSI drive.

why not?

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: Ayah
Also, SCSI is rather worthless unless you're in PCI-X or PCI-E due to the choking speeds of the standard PCI bus.

I don't know why anyone would run a single SCSI drive.[/quote]

I can think of a couple. I used SCSI externals way back in 1993 - all my CD burners until XP were SCSI externals. They were all single SCSI drives.

In 1985 I had my first internal SCSI HDD - a whopping 20 MB! RAID had not yet been invented.

I assume you are talking about internal SCSI HDDs, and I would agree with you. My first RAID array was a pair of matched SCSI 20 GB drives back in '98. They ran on their own BUS and were very reliable.

 

[Ayah]

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: Ayah

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: Ayah
Also, SCSI is rather worthless unless you're in PCI-X or PCI-E due to the choking speeds of the standard PCI bus.

a single scsi hdd will not fuly saturate the pci bus, regardless of generation

I don't know why anyone would run a single SCSI drive.

why not?

I've only found SCSI useful while running some sexy RAID 5 or 6s for some serious bandwidth and security.

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

For single user use, SCSI is not worth it. The current 150Gig Raptor is the fastest HD for single users right now, and only the most recent generation 15K SCSI HD's can come close to or equal the raptor's performance (Of course for true multi-use server use, the raptor can't compare to SCSI).

Buying a 1-2 generation old cheetah (which is 10K I believe), will not compare with a new raptor, in addition to being louder and hotter as well.

 

[JoeFahey]

IIRC, SCSI is best for servers, and EIDE, IDE, and SATA are best for home users.

Also, another reason is that you will find less SCSI systems around for personal computers, so compatibility is an issue too.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: JoeFahey1
IIRC, SCSI is best for servers, and EIDE, IDE, and SATA are best for home users.

Also, another reason is that you will find less SCSI systems around for personal computers, so compatibility is an issue too.

compatibility a problem? please explain....it is pretty simple to figure out what works with what....

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: JoeFahey1
IIRC, SCSI is best for servers, and EIDE, IDE, and SATA are best for home users.

Also, another reason is that you will find less SCSI systems around for personal computers, so compatibility is an issue too.

compatibility a problem? please explain....it is pretty simple to figure out what works with what....

I think he means you'll have to buy an adapter card.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: t3h l337 n3wb

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: JoeFahey1
IIRC, SCSI is best for servers, and EIDE, IDE, and SATA are best for home users.

Also, another reason is that you will find less SCSI systems around for personal computers, so compatibility is an issue too.

compatibility a problem? please explain....it is pretty simple to figure out what works with what....

I think he means you'll have to buy an adapter card.

really don't know what he means but a $30 adapter shouldn't be a reason not to buy a 15K scsi hdd

 

[JoeFahey]

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: t3h l337 n3wb

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: JoeFahey1
IIRC, SCSI is best for servers, and EIDE, IDE, and SATA are best for home users.

Also, another reason is that you will find less SCSI systems around for personal computers, so compatibility is an issue too.

compatibility a problem? please explain....it is pretty simple to figure out what works with what....

I think he means you'll have to buy an adapter card.

really don't know what he means but a $30 adapter shouldn't be a reason not to buy a 15K scsi hdd

Not really a big reason. You're right, at worst, it will only cause you $30 more dollars. But it is just another annoyance, and just another reason why not.

 

[BoberFett]

I've got an 18GB Cheetah 15K.3 as my main drive. I've never benchmarked it and compared to modern IDE/SATA drives, but it definitely feels snappier than other PCs I've used. I got a couple of those drives for free as pulls from a server that I upgraded, and thought it'd be cool to put in my machine. I have it on a cheap LSI controller and it works great. *shrug*

 

[0roo0roo]

not worth it anymore with sata.
there was a time before even dma access where ide just sucked donkey balls and scsi was like a breath of fresh air, being able to multitask without your system grinding to a screeching halt.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
not worth it anymore with sata.
there was a time before even dma access where ide just sucked donkey balls and scsi was like a breath of fresh air, being able to multitask without your system grinding to a screeching halt.

what does sata have to do with anything besides having a small connector? or are you specifically referring to the raptor series of drives? for the most part with the same hdds in either sata or pata flavors their performance is pretty =

 

[dexvx]

Its obviously better (29160 + Maxtor 15K II). Whether its worth the priced is up to you.

BTW, look on eBay. 29160's are like $25 shipped.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
not worth it anymore with sata.
there was a time before even dma access where ide just sucked donkey balls and scsi was like a breath of fresh air, being able to multitask without your system grinding to a screeching halt.

what does sata have to do with anything besides having a small connector? or are you specifically referring to the raptor series of drives? for the most part with the same hdds in either sata or pata flavors their performance is pretty =

oh i was lazy typing, and cuz sata has long cables now right?

anyways i do remember feeling a dramatic difference in performance back then. course this was during the time when drives were measured in hundreds of megs.. not gigabytes.