Are thumpers still interesting in 2011 ? (raidz3 on x4500 @ 3.0gbps ...)

[Matthew Jacob]

On 7/4/2011 8:38 AM, George Sanders wrote:
>
> If I understand correctly, the interesting thing about a Sun x4500 (a "thumper")
> is that every one of the 48 disks has a direct path to the system board,
> allowing for full, independent throughput from every single drive.
>
> The downside, in 2011, is that it is a SATA2 system @ 3.0gbps.
>
> So, is this still an interesting system ?  Is it still difficult to put together
> a system with 48 independent paths to the board, like the Thumper ?
>
> Assuming a raidZ3 configuration, does that drive independence help me more than
> being stuck at 3.0gbps hurts me ?  Or would a "modern" system with a more
> typical drive contention scheme, but running at 6.0gbps, be superior ?
>
> J
IMO, until you go with flash, even 1.5Gbps is more than adequate, 
particularly for independent busses. I mean, you're not going to really 
make use of speeds greater than rotational+density, right?