HBA purchase feedback or suggestion?

[nicholasfarmer]

I'm looking for some feedback on a HBA purchase for my home lab.
The card will spend most of its time running in an ESXi server but I tinker a lot so it might get ripped out at random time to test IOPS on a new line of disc, SSD etc. Im looking to future proof as much as I can without going too crazy, (12Gb is too crazy!) Budget isn't a concern.

Some features I love but not required:
6Gbps disk support
PCIe v3 8x port
Fast cache-using SSDs to cache read and writes.
Support 24 independent drives.
Flexibility to make all 24 drives independent jbod or raid some/all of them together.
On HBA DDR2/3 cache memory
Battery backup.
Hot add
Remote administration via network or software.
I like fast and flexible and hate cheap parts that need a reach around every few days to keep the array up.


Here are some cards I've found of interest:
Adaptec - 72405
Areca - ARC-1882-ix-24
LSI MegaRAID SAS 9280-24i4e (not pcie v3)
LSI 3ware SAS 9750-24i4e (not pcie v3)

Any reason to shy away from the 24 port cards and go with a smaller two port HBA and a SAS expander?
Any input as to PCIe v2 vs v3 seeing how almost all HBAs only use a 8x port?

Thank you for your time!
Nick

 

[nicholasfarmer]

Anyone know anything about the "intel rcs25zb040"?

I'm really interested to know if anyone has tested these SSD cache HBAs with a SAS expander to front some sata spinners against running pure 24 port spinner HBA with 1GB of DDR memory cache.

Nick