Help With Dedicated Controller for Media Server

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practal

Gawd
Joined
Jun 2, 2006
Messages
652
I have a media server that has gotten to big for its britches and Ive decided to rebuild. Ive always used the motherboard controller in the past but Im thinking about going with a dedicated controller on this build. I have no interest in raid but need to add more drives then most motherboards support.

Ive also noticed some slow down on disk access since moving to HD content. Im hoping that a dedicated controller might speed this up. I currently have 8 drives and intend on adding more in the future, again no RAID. Should I purchase a larger 12 or 16 port controller or go with 2 8 port controllers?

I want to go PCI-E as I imagine its faster but the selection is much more robust on the older slots. Would PCI or PCI-X limit performance? Performance is of course the number one reason for this move.

Any suggestion on cards to go with or specific features I should look for? Ive been trying to find a card with an Intel IOP proc. but Im not certain if thats the best route for my situation. Im totaly lost on specs with these things.

The Soon To Be System:
Intel Core I7 920
x58 Board
12GB DDR3 1600 (4 systemmemory, 8GB Ramdisk(Apps,caches,temps,ect)
ATI 4350
BFG 800w ES
Samsung 640GB OS, WD 750GB GP, 6xSeagate 1.5TB
 
2 * dell perc 5i would probably end up cheaper than a 16 port card
 
A Core i7 build is way overkill for a media server unless your doing something else with it other than just serving media. If you don't want RAID, just JBOD, go with the Supermicro SAT2-MV8 controller which is PCI-X or PCI based. You could also wait a couple weeks and get the new Supermicro SASLP-MV8 controllers which are PCIe based. Both of these controllers are 8 port controllers with no RAID.
 
I originaly used smaller, low power set-ups for my media server but the past 2 incarnation have been powerhouse pcs. I use to be the guy the upgraded my high-end stuff every 2-3 months and have gotten 12+ months out of the last two. Im less prone to upgrade as I dont want to hear the wife complain about the down time.

I mainly use my laptop for day to day use but jump on the main pc whenever I need some power. I utilize power saving techniques so it has low power consumption until I need otherwise. This pc also handles riping, encoding, and crazy extraction from newsgroups.

Been looking at the Perc 5i but wasnt certain if better oprions were available in similar price range. Is the BBU necissary if not using RAID?

Ive read about the new Super Micros. Are these limited to Super Micro boards? I know some of their RAID and riser cards are so Im just making sure. Didnt sound like it the way people were talking but wanted to confirm.
 
Neither the PCI-X/PCI SAT2-MV8 or the new PCIe SASLP-MV8 are limited to SM boards. A lot of people in here run the SAT2 on all kinds of different boards for their WHS boxes.
 
Good to hear. I was never realy certain if the old ones were true or just what Super Micro claimed. I looked up the new PCI-E one and noticed that it has no dedicated ram.

No performance bonus from a controller with dedicated RAM outside of a RAID enviroment? Or a dedicated IOP CPU? Also, still curious on if the BBU is needed outside of a RAID enviroment on the Perc 5,
 
If you are not going to run RAID, then there is no reason to go with a Perc 5. You would just be wasting power as the processor on board is there mainly to do the RAID 5 calculations. The BBU is required for newer versions of the firmware, otherwise it errors on bootup and you have to find and hit the ANY key to continue.

While I am no expert on the matter, if you are mainly worried about performance, then 2 8 port controllers would prolly be better than a single 16 port.

Don
 
As mentioned, if you plan on using just JBOD then it's kind of a waste to get a RAID controller as the CPU will be wasting power and emitting heat for no reason. It'll be better to get non-raid HBAs that can be passively cooled.

I would wait for the availability of either the new Supermicro PCIe 8 port card or the Areca PCIe 24 port card (ARC-1300ix-16).

If you need it *now*, then the most cost effective might be to get a 16 port raid card ($300ish) in JBOD mode, or two 8 port HBAs.
 
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