ARECA Owner's Thread (SAS/SATA RAID Cards)

PCMark Vantage Hall of Fame...was ninth at one point...slipping a little..PCMV is probably the most storage intensive bench ive ever seen...
 
Who are you on PCMV HoF? "COMP@XS9260-8i FPFTW!"?

Looking at the majority of the top 20, is it safe to say the 1231ML is still the best card to be running? Looks like almost everyone up on that list run it.
 
yup, but the 1880 is very new...limited availability of the correct cache is holding people back...just today though i received this all the way from taiwan, courtesy of areca :) one 4gb stick!

The caveat with the 1231 is these are cache runs. they are with ddr2 speeds for the most part. you cant compete with that :) Also, all guys in the top ten have the 980X, which gives uber scores for the different processor subsets (i have the highest non-980x result) the 980x has definitely changed the landscape....it just monsters the video processing, etc.
For actual array usage, without the cache, Mbreslin is the leader with a 9260-8i at number five, with an array of eight c300's
2010-09-0212-25-02385.jpg
 
Thanks for the info.

Why do I feel another hobby coming my way...

I need to raise my credit limits ;)
 
yes the 980x is outta my range...trying to fend them off with the lowly 920 until SB drops....
first test with the 4gb stick...not bad...:D
MUhAHAHAH.png
 
Do you know how much data this version of AS-SSD writes? I was just wondering if it all fit in your 4GB cache.
 
oh believe me i know cache is in serious play here, but it is still impressive~!
not sure how much it writes, but there is no way my gen 1 vertex are writing that fast, but that is the purpose of the cache...to free up the array for straight reads
 
Anyone know what size dataset PCMark works with? I was just wondering if a large RAM Xeon with maybe 50GB set aside for Ramdisk could probably top the charts.
 
it will not allow runs to complete on ram disks....believe me many many many have tried
that is one of the big motivations for people to use PCMV is that it isnt like PCM05 where you can cheat like crazy, they included tons of things to close loopholes people were exploiting
 
I wonder if it will work with the expander since the 9280 didn't. They use the same ROC.
 
At least I have enough spare hardware to test it. Hopefully it works better. If not, I'll probably just return it and deal with whatever restocking fee there is.
 
I think that it will work with the expander. The 1880IX-12 has a built-in expander, so there has to be some compatibility there. Also, Areca is pushing its new 6gb/s expanders in the coming months, so you know for SURE it will work with that. but the cost? who knows?
 
nitrobass24 said:
I wonder if it will work with the expander since the 9280 didn't. They use the same ROC.
Click to expand...

The Areca ARC8020 3G SAS-expander will work with 1880 because it is backward compatible. I can't say for the other sas-expanders... The Areca 6G SAS-expander is expected to be released in Oct.

ROC has very little to do with SAS-expander compatibility (PCB design and firmware has more to do with it).

And finally, the new 6G SAS-expander prices will be equivalent to current Areca 3G sas-expander price point, replacing the 3G sas-expanders.
 
bai said:
The Areca ARC8020 3G SAS-expander will work with 1880 because it is backward compatible. I can't say for the other sas-expanders... The Areca 6G SAS-expander is expected to be released in Oct.
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I was specifically referring to Blue Fox's expander (HP SAS Expander)
 
hey big issue here found what is keeping me from running the uber clocks with this card...
during the certain benchmarks that require uber bandwidth + video card simultaneously the card is beeping. i did have the beeper turned off so i didnt notice.
looked in the cards error log and it says that the card is getting low power....do you have any idea how to fix this? maybe youve had the same issue with your 1231?
need more juice to the actual device itself on the pcie bus. any ideas?
it says specifically "3.3 voltage Under Voltage"
 
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Do you have a fairly accurate DMM?

You should measure the 3.3V on the 1880 and see if indeed the 3.3V is too low. When you run stuff faster then what it was designed for, it WILL draw more power. maybe the +3.3V power bus on your motherboard is overloaded? Does your MB give you the ability to change the voltage levels for the PCIe slots? I'm not sure if that's normally the case.
It also depends on the voltage tolerances the 1880 will allow.
+/-5% is the normal voltage tolerance for most parts, so at +3.3V that would mean +3.135V to +3.465V
 
yea it is getting to 3.14 during run according to eleet (software monitor) so i kicked down overclock on video card to see what happens...
 
well there are many voltages but accordin to my voltage guide for the EVGA E760 there are voltages for all kinds of controllers ON the bus, but not the actuall pcie i think..dunno need to dig here...
 
Perhaps your power supply doesn't have enough capacity on the 3.3V rail. As far as I know, most mobo's don't control the PCI/PCIe bus voltages. My guess is you're overloading you PSU, maybe not on the 3.3V rail specifically, but depending on your PSU's design, a heavily loaded 12V rail could also bring down the minor rails.
 
Hey guys, I'm hoping someone can help me out, I'm having some majorly annoying beeping going on. I've had this system running for almost 10 hours now total... and all of a sudden when it boots up, the card starts beeping maybe 15 times, and sometimes for like 20-30 times. Now I'm building my array (have been for the past 5 hours) and it will continue to beep like that sometimes 2 or 3 times back to back, and other times just one 15 beep set, and will stop.

There are no messages in the event log and nothing in my IPMI (X8ST3-F) event log. I did a little searching and someone says that on a Mac, this could happen because the motherboard is having a hard time initializing the PCIe slot or something. Has anyone experienced this before?
 
if you can post the hardware info (Information -> System information), raidset hierarchy(Information -> Raid Set Hierarchy) and event log (System Control -> View event/mute beeper), I can have our tech guys take a look.
 
bai said:
if you can post the hardware info (Information -> System information), raidset hierarchy(Information -> Raid Set Hierarchy) and event log (System Control -> View event/mute beeper), I can have our tech guys take a look.
Click to expand...

Here are all three of those..

There are a few things in the "View Event" page that I should explain. There are a ton of "raid powered on" events at a certain point which were caused by the machine not posting. The raid card beeped about 15-20 times at this point, but I traced the issue to a ps2 keyboard, not the raid card. Once I removed the keyboard, the machine posted and booted fine, and the raid card still beeped.

Second, the DRAM 1-bit ECC came well after these beeps. These errors did not show up until I started moving data. This happened when I tested the card on another machine as well, at which point I swapped out the ram for another non-ecc unit I had and I did not noticed those errors again. But I dont see an actual ERROR for these events, so I'm confused. I hope I dont have to RMA the whole card just for the memory. I would like to get the 1GB stick, so maybe they will let me pay a little extra and they'll ship me that. *shrugs*



 
two quick observations that might be causing issues

1. You have overlapping LUN on RAID Set #00 and #01. It will cause your system to hang and corruption. Goto volume set function -> modify volume set and change the LUN on your RAID set #2

2. What memory are you using. The ECC error means the RAM is constantly trasmitting false data. During system startup, the RAID controller does test the memory and it will beep or hang if having an incompatible or missing a memory.
 
bai said:
two quick observations that might be causing issues

1. You have overlapping LUN on RAID Set #00 and #01. It will cause your system to hang and corruption. Goto volume set function -> modify volume set and change the LUN on your RAID set #2

2. What memory are you using. The ECC error means the RAM is constantly trasmitting false data. During system startup, the RAID controller does test the memory and it will beep or hang if having an incompatible or missing a memory.
Click to expand...

1. Ok, so I need to make that second Raid set 0/0/2? I just let it do it automatically, I didnt noticed that before, thanks.

2. I'm using the Ugen or whatever its called, that came with it. I have put in some of my own before and I believe the 1-bit errors went away. Do you work for Areca? Do you know if I can RMA just the memory?
 
cybertron, i had the same message on my 1220 when the ram went bad. Change the stick and it should be good.

Also. The ECC prevents some memory errors, with the ammount of data that moves through the buffer its a good idea to use ecc.
 
Kritter said:
cybertron, i had the same message on my 1220 when the ram went bad. Change the stick and it should be good.

Also. The ECC prevents some memory errors, with the ammount of data that moves through the buffer its a good idea to use ecc.
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Yeah, I definitely will. This card is brand new though, so I'm hoping its covered.
 
I don't work for Areca Taiwan. But I work for Areca distribution in the US. Memory is covered under the same 3 yr warrenty.

where did you get it from? depend on where you get it the RMA process is different. (you also mentioned you got it brand new, some vendor have 30 days advance replacement)
 
bai said:
I don't work for Areca Taiwan. But I work for Areca distribution in the US. Memory is covered under the same 3 yr warrenty.

where did you get it from? depend on where you get it the RMA process is different. (you also mentioned you got it brand new, some vendor have 30 days advance replacement)
Click to expand...

Well, technically I purchased it off ebay, but the guy never used it, it was still shrink rapped, etc, etc. I can ask him if he has the original invoice, I believe he said he got it from newegg.
 
Btw, for those people who are looking for 6G SAS-expander to go with 1880, there is already one option out similar to the 3G HP SAS-expander. (24 port, PCIe card form factor, internal and external host port)

you can find them on arecaraid.com or tekram.com
 
@bai, I assume you're with Tekram in O.C. - if so welcome (very nice people over there). That is a SEXY expander - in fact it looks perfect given the 7 internal connectors, two external connectors for daisy chaining and 4-pin molex for power. I'd be curious what settings could be controlled via VT100.

All it would need when placed in an empty server chassis is a PSU and a power supply board - something like a Supermicro CSE-PTJBOD-CB1. I wonder if Areca plans to sell their own power control board?

I'm also curious which 6G SAS chip Areca has used - PMC or LSI, etc. I'm trying to get my hands on a 1880i to test with the HP SAS expander - which does support 6G - but afterwards I'll give the Areca expander a look.
 
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odditory said:
@bai, I assume you're with Tekram in O.C. - if so welcome (very nice people over there). That is a SEXY expander - in fact it looks perfect given the 7 internal connectors, two external connectors for daisy chaining and 4-pin molex for power. I'd be curious what settings could be controlled via VT100.

All it would need when placed in an empty server chassis is a PSU and a power supply board - something like a Supermicro CSE-PTJBOD-CB1. I wonder if Areca plans to sell their own power control board?

I'm also curious which 6G SAS chip Areca has used - PMC or LSI, etc. I'm trying to get my hands on a 1880i to test with the HP SAS expander - which does support 6G - but afterwards I'll give the Areca expander a look.
Click to expand...

Yes, I am in QA and tech support in Tekram. Areca most likely won't step into any chassis related business because they already make awesome money from just making RAID cards, and I can tell you 99.999% its going to be LSI chip on the Areca expander. :D

The Tekram expander I posted is an LSI chipset as well.
 
one more question @bai, have you heard anything on the ARC-1320 series non-raid HBA's? Back in April, Areca TW had given me an estimate of "June" but obviously that was optimistic. I need to test one with the HP expander (and WHS).
 
We have been delayed in ETA at least 3 times on these 6G HBA. So even I dont trust their ETA now. LOL

but from what I can tell you its still no where close to mass production. It will be at least a month or two away from now.
 
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