Goggle a RAID PCI SCSI card

basmic · 9 Feb 2006 at 00:32

Spec me a RAID PCI SCSI card

Basically after getting my current Adapter AHA-2940 for £10, I'm looking for a SCSI alternative for around twice the price.

All I want it for is to RAID 2x IBM DNES-309170W 9.1gb drives into a RAID 0 (preferably)/1 array.

After seeing the drives maxed out at nearly 20mb/sec, is there any way to up this transfer rate? Not important, but it would be nice.

I know my budget may seem unrealistic at £20-30 - but after my last purchase, I'm determined I can find just a good a bargain!

Please do not link to competitors, just name the make and model. I am capable of using price comparison sites.

Thanks, all!

Berserker · 9 Feb 2006 at 01:32

Which version of the AHA-2940 do you have (it'll say at boot-up)? AHA-2940 UW is capable of 40 MB/s, but I'm not sure if that's total or per device (I only have one device on mine). You should get an indication of the max speed of each device during POST.

SCSI cards that support RAID are more likely to be £200 than £20, unless you get lucky and come across a cheap one second hand. The SCSI RAID sector is a completely different marketplace from SATA/IDE RAID, geared for businesses that are willing to spend £££ on a high spec server, not Joe Gamer who just wants a RAID 0 array so he can load his games a few seconds quicker.

To be honest, if you want to stick with SCSI, you'd be much better off looking for a cheap (relatively speaking) Ultra-160 (non-RAID) card, providing your disks and cables are compatible with U160 specs. There's also Ultra-320, but you'll be ramping up the price again.

PS - moved thread to more sensible place.

basmic · 9 Feb 2006 at 10:32

Just noticed my late night bodge-up of a thread title.

I have the AHA-2940UW - and you're right, it is capable of 40mb/s per device. So I've reached the drive's maximum physical speed.

I got this card second-hand - TBH, I think I got lucky when I found it. But brand-new or not, it doesn't bother me - as long as it works.

To tell the truth, the current SCSI setup is purely an experiment. The main reason I don't want to waste more than £20 on any one device.

Skilldibop · 9 Feb 2006 at 11:51

experimentally You won't get an adapter that will reflect normal performance for less than about £70 second hand. For one that will do raid your looking at £150 new.These are PCI-X so you'll lose some performance putting them into a PCI slot but still quick.
you might save a bit by going for a single channel U160 host adapter, tho it'll probably only upport raids 0 and 1 and in a PCI slot you'll only get about half the 160MB/s.

basmic · 9 Feb 2006 at 13:24

So PCI-X card will work in 32-bit PCI slots, but just run slower?

Skilldibop · 9 Feb 2006 at 13:34

PCI-X is PCI 64 which apparently is 32 bit compatable. This to me would suggest you can put PCI-X in a PCI slot. Though if your mobo is micro ATX then it might have something in the way.

Mikey1280 · 9 Feb 2006 at 20:52

My friend managed to get a U320 RAID SCSI pci x card for £5.50 second hand, seems like a bargain but he is waiting for it to come. Basmic did you have to install any drivers to get your SCSI card working for it to boot windows off?

Jeff Crawly · 9 Feb 2006 at 21:42

basmic said:
So PCI-X card will work in 32-bit PCI slots, but just run slower?

Yes, however the all inportant Random Access (<3ms U320/15k)) is effected very little if at all when running in a 32-Bit PCI slot. Obviously the transfer bandwith is very limited due to the 32-Bit PCI BUS.

Mikey1280 said:
did you have to install any drivers to get your SCSI card
working for it to boot windows off?

Yes, you either need to put the drivers on a floppy and press F6 during install (like you need to on some SATA controllers) or better still simply slipstream the SCSI cards driver into your XP disc using the fantastic nLite.