Advanced RAID adapters

10th March 2007, 11:24

I'm looking to replace some parts of my server in april (when the E4300 drops in price), but I'm thinking of using a high quality raid card.

Reason is that I would like to use RAID 5 for some extra redundancy. I have tried that with an onboard (Nforce) raid, but it sucked in terms of speed, it couldn't even saturate a 100Mbps network.
I know onboard raid uses the CPU for most calculations, but that isn't much of a problem, cause it's not running anything CPU intensive. But the CPU usage was almost nothing, and it's speeds were too low.

Question is, will a good RAID card, with onboard processor (something like areca cards) be able to provide (much) better (read) speeds?

Not really interested in speding 1000$ if it can't, at least, go faster then 100Mbps. Then I'm better of with a cheap card.

easypanic · 10th March 2007, 12:55

I'm at +-150 MB/s read speed with an Areca 1210 RAID 5 setup ( 4x500GB Hitachi).

That's the cheapest Areca : +- € 300.

11th March 2007, 16:37

good, I had 4 500GB seagates (not the best in raid, I know) and they barely reached 50Mbps on the onboard nForce raid thingy.

I'm looking for more connections however (got a stacker with a max capacity of 20 disks if I push it.)

easypanic · 11th March 2007, 20:53

Areca has plenty versions for your needs

Or LSI is a good alternative...

2nd May 2007, 23:26

Try a 3Ware 9650SE-4LPML with a multilane cable. Good for the airflow but very bad for your wallet

10th March 2007, 11:24	#1
FreeStyler Posts: n/a	Advanced RAID adapters I'm looking to replace some parts of my server in april (when the E4300 drops in price), but I'm thinking of using a high quality raid card. Reason is that I would like to use RAID 5 for some extra redundancy. I have tried that with an onboard (Nforce) raid, but it sucked in terms of speed, it couldn't even saturate a 100Mbps network. I know onboard raid uses the CPU for most calculations, but that isn't much of a problem, cause it's not running anything CPU intensive. But the CPU usage was almost nothing, and it's speeds were too low. Question is, will a good RAID card, with onboard processor (something like areca cards) be able to provide (much) better (read) speeds? Not really interested in speding 1000$ if it can't, at least, go faster then 100Mbps. Then I'm better of with a cheap card.

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10th March 2007, 12:55	#2
easypanic Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 1,823	I'm at +-150 MB/s read speed with an Areca 1210 RAID 5 setup ( 4x500GB Hitachi). That's the cheapest Areca : +- € 300.

11th March 2007, 16:37	#3
FreeStyler Posts: n/a	good, I had 4 500GB seagates (not the best in raid, I know) and they barely reached 50Mbps on the onboard nForce raid thingy. I'm looking for more connections however (got a stacker with a max capacity of 20 disks if I push it.)

11th March 2007, 20:53	#4
easypanic Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 1,823	Areca has plenty versions for your needs Or LSI is a good alternative...

2nd May 2007, 23:26	#5
sandstorm Posts: n/a	Try a 3Ware 9650SE-4LPML with a multilane cable. Good for the airflow but very bad for your wallet