hp sas expander vs res2sv240

[patrickberry]

I know this has been beaten to death, but i can't seem to find a good single thread one this.
Can someone help?

According to http://forums.servethehome.com/raid...tel-res2sv240-24-port-sas2-expander-wiki.html

Pros:
- MOLEX connector for power, unlike the HP SAS Expander
- Negotiates SATA up to 6G, unlike the HP SAS Expander which maxes at 3G for SATA disks
- Comes with 6 miniSAS cables: 2 x 10" and 4 x 24"
- Can be combined with the Supermicro ATX power control board for an inexpensive JBOD expander chassis
- Can be dual-linked (link aggregated) with RAID/HBA's and additional expanders for increased throughput
- Ideal for a 20-bay chassis like the Norco RPC-4220

Cons:
- 24 ports at around the same ~$250 pricepoint as the 36-port HP SAS Expander
- Not ideal for a fully populated 24-Bay server case since it only has 20 usable ports after an uplink to an RAID/HBA card
- No external SFF-8088 port, which would mean an SFF-8087 to SFF-8088 adapter bracket (~$35) would be required for building an JBOD expander chassis.

Bottom line: Due to its ability to negotiate a 6G link with SATA-III harddisks, the LSISAS2x36 (which the LSISAS2x24 is binned from) *is* the superior SAS2 expander chip compared to the slightly older PMC8005 found on the HP SAS Expander. Unfortunately the 36-port LSISAS2x36 hasn't yet shown up on a dedicated expander PCIe card, its currently only found integrated with other products as mentioned.

It seemed the
But somehow experts like odditory and others here seemed to favour the HP SAS Expander.
Am i missing something apart?

Baring the small $ (the price difference in amazon is ~$250 Intel vs $270 HP), if someone like me who is looking for a 24 port expander within a single case, what should be the 'best' card ?

I have a USAS2-L8i at the moment, but might be giving the hardware RAID cards (LSI 9270-8i)ago sometime in the future in different build.

 

[odditory]

"experts"- heh. You mean people that know just enough to be dangerous.

That post from STH is a little dated, meantime there are several parts that use the 36-port LSISAS2x36, like the Chenbro CK32601. http://www.provantage.com/chenbro-micom-ck23601~7CHEN11K.htm

Intel also has one but the mounting is a little weird since it was designed to install in an Intel server chassis. http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/servers/raid/raid-expander-res2cv.html

As for HP SAS Expander vs Intel RES2SV240, which one is "better" depends on your needs. The HP gives you more ports for the money, but only negotiates up to 3G with SATA disks. It also requires a PCIe slot for power. The Intel based on the LSISAS2 expander obviously negotiates at 6G, but less ports for the money, and will take molex power.

The HP SAS Expander has been discussed longer and may seem more widespread simply because its been around longer, given the big thread here that started over three years ago (damn). The reason I still have half a dozen of them and havent replaced them with LSISAS2 based expanders is because in my testing and *in my configuration* (meaning this wont be the same for everyone), there was no real difference in throughput (I have 24 x SATA-III disks per Norco case attached each HP expander, in turn attached to Areca cards configured to 2 x 12-disk RAID6 arrays). The main difference there's not much difference in throughput 3G versus 6G is because the spinning disks still aren't saturating 3G (though getting close with drives like the ST3000DM001). The other reason I've kept the HP's around is because theyve been rock solid now going on three years of 24x7 use, never a hiccup. But I also own a couple Intel and no real complaints.

However if I had to re-buy everything new, I'd probably go 36-port LSISAS2x36 based, probably the Chenbro CK32601 or whatever else exists (I sort of stopped following the latest expander cards).

One thing that might help you make a decision: Do you ever plan to connect SSD's to the expander. If so, then get an LSI based expander hands down.

 

[patrickberry]

by experts, i mean people that gives quick good consumer advices to normal joe like us!


I don't have enough dough for SSDs RAIDs now, but would sure love to play with it when the SSD drops further. Meanwhile, it seemed that given i am starting anew, it would be more 'fun' in the future to go with the LSISAS2x36 then!

Will look into the Chenbro CK32601 then. Any other good LSISAS2x36 options?