Recommend a HBA?

[TeeJayHoward]

I can't seem to find a place that compares and contrasts controller speeds. Lookin' for a simple HBA with the following features:

PCIe interface (Does 2.0 really make a difference?)
2 or 4 SFF-8087 mini-SAS internal connectors
Support for drives 3TB+
Solaris 11 support (Ideally certified, but at least known to function)
6Gb/s per SFF-8087

I can see plenty of cards out there that appear to fit the bill. Which one's the fastest? What makes it the fastest? What features are available on card X that aren't on card Y, and why do I need them? How do people choose which HBA to buy? Right now all I have to go by are forum posts and newegg comments.

 

[olavgg]

LSI 9211-8i

 

[dbase88]

I just bought the LSI00244 for 380$

16 port HBA, 6gb per port
so far have 4 2tb HDD and 8 1tb connected

 

[TeeJayHoward]

LSI 9211-8i

I just bought the LSI00244 for 380$

16 port HBA, 6gb per port
so far have 4 2tb HDD and 8 1tb connected

Why? What made you guys choose these controllers over, say, the areca ARC-1880ixl-8, the HighPoint 2720, the LSI 9240, or the 3ware 9750?

 

[dbase88]

I wanted non raid card
It is cheaper than the ones with raid
It is one card so cheaper in the long run
LSI are reputable compared to highpoint

I was looking at the Aceca 16 port HBA however its more expensive and more or less the same as LSI's version

I presume the other cardswill be faster due to hardware raid opposed to software. Even so the bandwidth for pcie 2.0 x8 is still overkill imo but it can be done so why not

im still a noob with these, but im happy with my card and the burst speed between drives is really good

 

[drescherjm]

Why? What made you guys choose these controllers over, say, the areca ARC-1880ixl-8, the HighPoint 2720, the LSI 9240, or the 3ware 9750?

You do not want a hardware raid card for zfs since you will not be making use of the raid part of the card.

I presume the other cardswill be faster due to hardware raid opposed to software.

Not for raidz2.