Advice wanted on dual channel U/160 RAID HBA purchase

[Jake the Dog]

I'm looking at purchasing a Dell PERC3/DCL dual channel U/160 card (w/ 64MB ECC) and two new Compaq branded 36GB Cheetahs (ES). the Dell card is a rebadged LSI Logic/AMI Megaraid Elite 1600(493) card. it's specs read that it's a 66MHz/64-but card but I'm told by the seller that it works in a standard 33MHz/32-bit PCI slot. can anyone here confirm this?

if I go ahead and purchase this, I'd like to use it to run the twp Cheeath's in RAID 0 under WinXP. am I kidding myself that is this is a worthwhile investment in performance? the price is right, that's not the issue.

lastly, the HDD's are SCA drives so I'd need to purchase a couple of SCA>U/160 converters. what would you suggest and where can I get them, keeping in mind in in Oz.

cheers.

 

[Mercutio]

1.) 80 to 68pin adaptors are a serious PITA, or at least I haven't found them to work well.
2.) Compaq-labelled drives usually have "weirdo Compaq drive BIOSes", too.

 

[Jake the Dog]

1.) 80 to 68pin adaptors are a serious PITA, or at least I haven't found them to work well.
2.) Compaq-labelled drives usually have "weirdo Compaq drive BIOSes", too.

thanks for the reply Merc. could you please elaborate on "weirdo Compaq drive BIOSes"? is there a chance that these drive may not be recognose or not perform at their optimum because of theit "weirdo BIOSes"?

 

[Mercutio]

That is correct, sir.

 

[Jake the Dog]

eeek, major typos in my last post

OK, thanks for the info Merc. it looks like I'm risking buying into some dissapointment if I go ahead. I'd rather miss out than have hassles and/or disappointmemts.

 

[Dïscfärm]

...I'm told by the seller that it works in a standard 33MHz/32-bit PCI slot. can anyone here confirm this?...

Yes, they will work fine in any modern 32-bit PCI expansion bus.

2.) Compaq-labelled drives usually have "weirdo Compaq drive BIOSes", too....

I'm always reading where someone buys one of these (or HP, or Sun, or...) drives and then they likely have performance problems. The firmware in many of these drives is specially designed for use in specific arrays. Depending on which model (in this case, the Compaq model number) you have, it could be a "normal" drive or it could be a specialised drive mechanism. The firmware version in that drive might have the drive operating with a particular interleave for use in a 3-drive member RAID 5 array, whereas another model number might have firmware that has the drive operating with a particular interleave for use in a 5-drive member RAID 5 array.

 

[mubs]

I'll risk stating the obvious: are XP drivers available for the PERC3/DCL? It may be a rebadged LSI/AMI, but it likely has "Dell" firmware.

 

[Jake the Dog]

yes XP drivers are available for this card. it also, so I am told, will run with LSI and AMI's BIOSes.

 

[Dïscfärm]

Since most of the RAID host adaptor manufacturers have done such a dandy job of Snatching Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory during the past 2 or 3 years, this has more or less left Adaptec and LSI Logic in charge of the top realm of the RAID host adaptor market.

I can tell you unequivocally that LSI Logic has nothing to fear from Adaptec's latest and greatest attempts in the RAID host adaptor marketplace. The soon-to-be-shipping-in-volumes LSI Logic MegaRAID SCSI 320-X series have already proven in many public demos to be absolute I/O stormers when plugged into a capable dual-Xeon system with a 133 MHz PCI-X bus. 8)
Adaptec...??? er... :idea: not ready for prime time ...probably never.

 

[Pradeep]

So you would recommend waiting for the Megaraid 320-2X as opposed to going for the 320-2?

Thanks.