Areca RAID Card.

[Nikolas Britton]

On 7/22/06, Nikolas Britton <nikolas.britton at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 7/22/06, Nikolas Britton <nikolas.britton at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On 7/22/06, Chad Leigh -- Shire.Net LLC <chad at shire.net> wrote:
> > >
> > > On Jul 22, 2006, at 4:14 AM, Nikolas Britton wrote:
> > >
> > > > The motherboard I just bought, SuperMicro X7DBE, has both PCI-X
> > > > 133MHz/64-bit and PCI-Express 8x slots, I can't decide what version of
> > > > the Areca card to get... I'd like to see some benchmarks of the
> > > > ARC-11xx (PCI-X) Vs. the ARC-12xx (PCI-Express).
> > > >
> > > > The PCIe device has a faster bus (PCIe 8x = 2000MB/s) but PCI-X is
> > > > tried and true and not too shabby (PCI-X 133/64 = 850MB/s) ether.
> > > >
> > > > I have the option of ether a 1130ML (Infiniband connections) or a plan
> > > > jane 1230. I've had troubles with SATA cables in the passed so the
> > > > 1130ML is very desirable from this stand point. Another thing I'm
> > > > worried about is the 1230 will have to much weight on the PCIe 8x slot
> > > > because of all the SATA cables. and routing them all is a pain. Does
> > > > anyone have a source for an ARC-1230ML? On the other hand I've never
> > > > tried the latching SATA cables yet... but the ARC-1130 is $40
> > > > cheaper...
> > >
> > > I was just looking at the difference between the 1130 and the
> > > 1130ML.  ML cables are EXPENSIVE and look heavier than 4 normal
> > > cables...
> >
> > But they latch on and you only need 1 ML cable for every 4 SATA
> > cables. The PCI-X card/slot should be sturdy enough but I don't think
> > PCIe is, I've played with PCIe 1x cards and their super small...
> > picture a normal low profile PCI card, now take half that. Maybe they
> > don't make them (ARC-12xxML) for this reason.
> >
> > > I just ordered an 1120 from <http://www.topmicrousa.com/controllers--
> > > tekram.html> and they were the cheapest I've seen.
> > >
> > > Will be needing an 1130 myself soon I think.
> > >
> > > Can't help you with the 1130 vs 1230.  I would think the PCIe would
> > > be the way to go for future proofing your investment.
> > >
> >
> > Yes I think your right here. If you look at the "ATTO STRs and cache
> > transfer rates"[1] the ARC-1120 (PCI-X) is up against the bus limit.
> > theoretically the 1120/1220 could do up to 2400MB/s (8 drives *
> > SATA-II transfer limit of 300MB/s).
> >
> > "The results of the Areca ARC-1120 in the RAID 0 tests cleary show
> > this adapter does not have any trouble with ATTO's tiny dataset.
> > Floating high above the crowd, the ARC-1120 has a perfect view on the
> > struggles of the other adapters. Exceeding 750MB/s, the transfer rates
> > from the Areca ARC-1120 are almost equal to the effective bandwidth of
> > the 133MHz PCI-X bus." [1]
> >
> > [1] http://tweakers.net/reviews/557/18
> >
>
> The only difference between the ARC-11xx and the ARC-12xx's Intel
> XScale processor is the IOP333 on the ARC-12xx* has a "PCI Express to
> PCI-X Bridge"... Both chips are otherwise identical and both chips use
> PCI-X133 internally. Also it appears the IOP333's internal bus
> operates at 333MHz while the IOP331 operates at 266MHz but I can't
> confirm this, it's possible older IOP331's worked at 266MHz but new
> ones are 333MHz now.
>
> ftp://download.intel.com/design/iio/prodbref/25341301.pdf
> ftp://download.intel.com/design/iio/prodbref/30658301.pdf
>
> *The ARC-1210 uses a IOP332.
>
>

I decided to go PCI-Express. The deciding factor was that PCIe slots
on my motherboard have a direct connection to the Intel 5000p MCH
(north bridge) whereas PCI-X slot are connected to the Intel ESB2
(south bridge) using a PCI-X to PCIe 8x bridge... The choice was very
easy to make after I notice this.



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