what about highpoint 1640 SATA RAID controller ?

[Toll, Eric]

> I recently purchased an 1820A series controller from
Highpoint, 
> which is an 8-port Serial ATA controller, 64-bit (32-bit
PCI
> compatible), for just over $200 USD.  I paired it up with
 
Not bad -- 3Wares 8 port SATA is just over 400 USD.  Refurb
8 port cards can be had for just over 200 USD.

"3ware 9500S-8MI PCI 2.2 compliant 64-bit/66MHz bus master
SATA Controller Card - OEM
(limit 2 per customer) Features: Supports RAID levels 0, 1,
10, 5, 50, Single Disk (JBOD), 128 MB of ECC protected
SDRAM, upgradable to 1 GB, Single array capacity scales to
over 3 TB per controller (64-bit LBA support), Optimized
hardware XOR RAID 5 engine provides true hardware based RAID
and intelligent drive management functions"

$231.00 USD


> I did exactly what you described, popped the card in,
hooked 
> up the drives, Ctrl-H to get into the BIOS, set up the 
> RAID-5, popped in the 5.4-RELEASE CD, and loaded it right
up 
> without having to jump through
> hoops:
> 
> FreeBSD 5.4-RELEASE #0: Wed Oct 12 23:29:12 EDT 2005
>      root at daffy.spatzie.org:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/PORKY
> Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
> CPU: Pentium II/Pentium II Xeon/Celeron (400.91-MHz
686-class CPU)
>    Origin = "GenuineIntel"  Id = 0x651  Stepping = 1 
>
Features=0x183fbff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,S
EP
,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,MMX,FXSR>
> real memory  = 268435456 (256 MB)
> avail memory = 253050880 (241 MB)
> MPTable: <OEM00000 PROD00000000>
> FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 2 CPUs
>   cpu0 (BSP): APIC ID:  0
>   cpu1 (AP): APIC ID:  1
> 
> hptmv0: <RocketRAID 182x SATA Controller> mem 
> 0xd8000000-0xd807ffff irq 18 at device 18.0 on pci0 
> RocketRAID 182x SATA Controller driver Version 1.1 RR182x 
> [0,0]: channel started successfully RR182x [0,1]: channel 
> started successfully RR182x [0,2]: channel started 
> successfully RR182x [0,3]: channel started successfully
> RR182x: RAID5 write-back enabled
> 
> da0 at hptmv0 bus 0 target 0 lun 0
> da0: <RR182x RAID 5 Array 3.00> Fixed Direct Access SCSI-0
device
> da0: 915735MB (1875425280 512 byte sectors: 255H 63S/T
116739C)
> 
> I like the price point, the performance, and the ease of 
> upgrade, I can pop this into a newer machine with a 64-bit

> slot and keep right on going. 

Cool!  I opted to go with a 64Bit board, dual 64bit procs
and the 64Bit 3Ware card running the 64 bit version of
FreeBSD (all brand new hardware was $1,800.00 usd) +shipping

Here's my dmsg:

Copyright (c) 1992-2005 The FreeBSD Project.
Copyright (c) 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991,
1992, 1993, 1994
        The Regents of the University of California. All
rights reserved.
FreeBSD 5.4-RELEASE-p1 #1: Thu Jun 23 08:33:42 EDT 2005
    root at rodan.vipstructures.com:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/HAMMER
Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
CPU: AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 242 (1595.04-MHz K8-class
CPU)
  Origin = "AuthenticAMD"  Id = 0xf5a  Stepping = 10
 
Features=0x78bfbff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,S
EP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CLFLUSH,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2>
  AMD Features=0xe0500800<SYSCALL,NX,MMX+,LM,3DNow+,3DNow>
real memory  = 2146893824 (2047 MB)
avail memory = 2063540224 (1967 MB)
ACPI APIC Table: <PTLTD          APIC  >
FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 2 CPUs
 cpu0 (BSP): APIC ID:  0
 cpu1 (AP): APIC ID:  1
MADT: Forcing active-low polarity and level trigger for SCI
ioapic0 <Version 1.1> irqs 0-23 on motherboard
ioapic1 <Version 1.1> irqs 24-27 on motherboard
ioapic2 <Version 1.1> irqs 28-31 on motherboard
acpi0: <PTLTD    XSDT> on motherboard
acpi0: Power Button (fixed)
acpi0: Sleep Button (fixed)
<snip>
twe0: <3ware Storage Controller. Driver version 1.50.01.002>
port 0x4000-0x400f mem 0xf0800000-0xf0ffffff irq 25 at
device 1.0 on pci9
twe0: 2 ports, Firmware FE8S 1.05.00.068, BIOS BE7X
1.08.00.048
twed0: <Unit 0, TwinStor, Normal> on twe0
twed0: 238474MB (488395120 sectors)
SMP: AP CPU #1 Launched!
Mounting root from ufs:/dev/twed0s1a

> I never got the same warm and fuzzy from 3Ware, plus their

> cards are much more expensive, and I'm working on a lower
budget.

Warm and fuzzy?  Hmmmm.  They (3Ware) did have all kinds of
files/drivers/utils for FreeBSD even the 64 bit version --
which I'm running. I called techs at 3Ware and they actually
talked to me about FreeBSD before I bought it and helped
with recommendations. For me it doesn't get much warmer than
that.
 
> I can't speak about any monitoring tools or management 
> software, as I haven't looked into it, but for the way it
is, 
> it suits my needs just fine.
> 

Well - if you have RAID - then data is important.  IMHO It
is very useful to know when the array is in trouble. With
the highpoint I guess you have to watch logs etcetera --
does the card have an audible alarm on it?

Also for me it all goes back to the optimized XOR RAID
engine that provides *true* hardware based RAID that you get
when you buy a 3Ware.  Can you rebuild an array in the
controller BIOS screen?  If the data is worth the extra $100
or $200 get the 3Ware - I paid $147.00 USD for the 2 port
that I have..


Eric