Cheap RAID enclosure (pics + review in progress)

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Viper GTS

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After months of indecision I finally placed an order for my new RAID storage system. I particularly agonized over the cost difference between a hot-swappable SAS compatible enclosure and the (much cheaper) non hot-swappable, SATA only models. I finally decided on the non hot-swappable since the price difference equalled another 8800GTS 512 to put in SLI with it's brother.

I ordered this one:

http://www.pc-pitstop.com/sata_enclosures/scsat84xb.asp

They shipped same day which was impressive. It finally showed up today:

The box:


Opened:



8 x 3.5" to 5.25" adapters - These feel very cheap, but I suppose it doesn't matter that much.



2 x 2m Infiniband cables (screw to screw) - Almost $120 in two cables... Almost like Monster Cables!



The front of the case - 9 5.25" bays even though we'll only be using 8.



Back of the case. Note the two fans, we'll re-visit those later.



The business end... 2 4-port Infiniband connectors.



Cables inside the case - 8 x SATA cables, 8 4-pin Molex to SATA power adapters.



Internal shot of the fans - The grills are a nice touch.



2 x 4 port SATA breakout boards.



One power supply... Mapower, beats the hell out of me if it's any good. I'll provide some kill-a-watt data later. I don't have high hopes for the noise level given the single 80mm fan.



The back of the power supply - Boo for manual voltage selection.



All loaded up with 8 Seagate 7200.10's (320 GB). Formats at a little over 2 TB in RAID 5.



Inside cable clutter... Not too bad. One of drives (the very bottom one) was just out of reach of the supplied SATA cables, luckily as a proper geek I have a drawer full of random cables & was even able to color match.



Dell PERC 5/E (front)



Dell PERC 5/E (back)



Dell PERC 5/E (connectors)



Cable/connectors:





Benchmarks

Everest Linear Read



More to come later... I actually do have everything installed and running but I haven't taken pictures of it yet. I must say I am VERY impressed at the noise level. It's far, far quieter than I expected. I guess I'm just used to the real SAS arrays I use at work which are absolute screaming monsters but this thing is unbelievably quiet considering I have no side panels installed. I had expected to buy 8 Scythe Quiet Drive (another reason why I went the non hot-swappable route since I didn't think I'd use them anyway) but I don't think it will be necessary.

Working on benchmarks now...

Viper GTS
 
Viper GTS said:
Dell PERC 5/E PCI-e card (with battery backed cache).

Viper GTS
Click to expand...

please post pics of the raid card
and machine where it is putted in also both cases connected :D


so you use infiband cables??

may i see the interface at raid card??
 
Viper GTS ---

If this box is going to be in the $3500 price range (1T drives plus the cost of the PERC 5/E), then the price might be reasonable for a business but even then ...

2 4in3 drive cages looks more attractive price wise. (And you do express some price concerns)
 
GeorgeHR said:
Viper GTS ---

If this box is going to be in the $3500 price range (1T drives plus the cost of the PERC 5/E), then the price might be reasonable for a business but even then ...

2 4in3 drive cages looks more attractive price wise. (And you do express some price concerns)
Click to expand...

I specifically wanted external storage, but even if I hadn't there would have been very little price advantage in going with 4in3 cages. Two cages would cost roughly what I spent on the external enclosure (before cables & shipping), & once I sold the PERC 5/E and bought an internal controller + the fan out cables the cost difference would be minimal at best.

My reasons for wanting external:

Current and future case flexibility (ie I wanted to keep my P182SE)
Noise concerns. Notice I got 2m cables, this is going to be stuffed under a desk out of sight and hopefully earshot. Also I have the option to go with silencer type enclosures for the drives which I would not be able to do if I went internal.
Portability - All I have to do is swap the card into a new system to move the array.

My costs for the project so far:

PERC 5/E with battery and RAM - $100
Enclosure + cables + shipping - $381.57
Drives - $459.92

Total: $941.49

Viper GTS
 
what motherboard are you using with the perc 5?

A lot of people have been having incompatibility with perc 5's so I try to keep track of which ones are good.
 
So you are paying $900 for 2T of storage. Seems like a poor deal to me.

But your math is much better than mine.
 
GeorgeHR said:
So you are paying $900 for 2T of storage. Seems like a poor deal to me.

But your math is much better than mine.
Click to expand...

Its not the space, its the speed, and the redundancy. 485 MB per second average read speed.

So what are you going to be using this array for Viper GTS? Looks like a nice setup?

Does the Dell do OCE?
 
GeorgeHR said:
So you are paying $900 for 2T of storage. Seems like a poor deal to me.

But your math is much better than mine.
Click to expand...

Where would you get it cheaper? It's not just drives, he's got a controller and a case too.
 
rally9x said:
what motherboard are you using with the perc 5?

A lot of people have been having incompatibility with perc 5's so I try to keep track of which ones are good.
Click to expand...

It's in an ABIT IX38 Quad GT. I couldn't get it to work in my 680i board (with the most recent BIOS). I hear the older BIOS(es) might help but since I'm already in queue for a 780i step-up I wasn't going to put much effort into fixing it. It worked with no issues whatsoever in the middle slot (4x electrical) on the IX38.

jawpaul said:
Its not the space, its the speed, and the redundancy. 485 MB per second average read speed.

So what are you going to be using this array for Viper GTS? Looks like a nice setup?

Does the Dell do OCE?
Click to expand...

Still haven't decided 100% what I'm going to use it for. I'll probably end up running several VM's (virtualize my hardware firewall, a couple test machines, and Vista for MCE functions) as well as good old-fashioned storage.

Yes, the PERC5 does OCE:

http://www.scsi4me.com/dell-perc5-e.html

For the $100 I paid it's a great controller.
 
Viper GTS said:
Dell PERC 5/E PCI-e card (with battery backed cache).

Viper GTS
Click to expand...

Question, I have a PERC 5/I and I didn't think there were any Vista drivers (they are essentially the same card and I noticed your benchmark was run in Vista) so did you have to flash yours to an LSI firmware or what?

Thanks.
 
thebeephaha said:
Question, I have a PERC 5/I and I didn't think there were any Vista drivers (they are essentially the same card and I noticed your benchmark was run in Vista) so did you have to flash yours to an LSI firmware or what?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

The PERC5 is supported natively by Vista, no additional drivers are required. I'm running what was the latest PERC5 firmware as of 4+ months ago when I bought the card, I'm sure there's newer now. The card works fine in Vista from the moment you boot off the DVD.

Viper GTS
 
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