Which RAID controller?

[jcazes]

I just spent 2-3 hours doing some research, but I feel as though I'm not that better off than when I started... Basically, I want some room for expansion via a reliable RAID controller (other than the two on my bad axe 2). The Matrix controller on my board has been fine so far but I need to expand. The onboard Marvell controller gives me little to no options. Also, I only have ONE slot left on my mobo, and it's a PCIe (8x, I think), so that narrows down my possibilities.

I plan on running drives in RAID 5, and they're all SATA II. The few that I found on Newegg seem to either receive GREAT reviews or TERRIBLE reviews... why aren't there any solid PCIe cards (or is the newegg review pool just inaccurate)?

So far, these are the possibilities I think I have:

Promise Ex8350
This Adaptec (although it's a little too pricey for me)
This 3ware (again, kind of expensive for what the reviews indicate)

The highpoint rocketraid looks like it has terrible reviews (although the price is right) and the Areca seems to have terrible support (not something I want to risk).

Why are my options so seemingly abysmal?

 

[swatbat]

With an 8x pci express slot you have a good amount of options. If you want hardware raid your going with 4x or 8x. Personaly I was able to find an intel SRCSAS18E for cheap. Great card. SAS with support for 8 sata drives. Comes with 256 ddr2 that you can expand to a gig.

If you catch them on ebay you can get them new for 300 bucks.

 

[jcazes]

is that SATA II?

 

[swatbat]

Supports sata 2. Really it is a sas controller. Has the cables to switch the ports to sata. Supports the 300 meg speed over sas or sata drives. Has the plugs on it to hook it up to a sas backplane but has adapter cables that give you 8 sata ports.

Card was designed by lsi. Megaraid something. Can't think of the model off the top of my head.


Anyway I've seen these cards go for under 300 on ebay new. Gotta keep an eye out for them.

Specs
http://download.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/srcsas18etpsr101.pdf

 

[Blue Fox]

Look for an Areca card on Ebay? I bought a 1130ML for $315 on Ebay (compared to $700 on Newegg), so you may be able to find PCI-E controllers at similar prices. Since $500 doesn't seem to be stretching your budget, if you only need 8 ports, you can pick up a brand new 1220 for $530. I don't recommend the multilane Areca cards unless you have an Infiniband backplane as cables for it aren't cheap.

 

[jcazes]

Thanks for the input so far, guys. I will keep my eyes peeled for auctions, but I don't want to spend more than $400 so that rules out the 1220. Plus, I have no idea what an Infiniband backplane is (although I do know that some of the 8-drive cards I looked at have "lanes," which in turn can support 4 drives per lane ).

 

[Blue Fox]

Thanks for the input so far, guys. I will keep my eyes peeled for auctions, but I don't want to spend more than $400 so that rules out the 1220. Plus, I have no idea what an Infiniband backplane is (although I do know that some of the 8-drive cards I looked at have "lanes," which in turn can support 4 drives per lane ).

By multilane, I meant ones where you have 4 SATA drives attached to one port (my card has 3 Infiniband ports which support 4 drives each). The 1220 uses regular SATA cables (and fortunately includes them...mine didn't). You can actually buy the 1220 for $400: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280134819102. Have a look at the manual before you buy it to see if it has the features you desire (which I bet it will). The 12/16/24 port cards are really nice as they include an ethernet port and expandable memory. You can then adjust the settings through telnet or HTTP without having to install any software. As far as Windows is concerned, my 2.5TB RAID 5 volume is just a really big drive.