[Pc_Support] RE: 3DM and Intel Chipsets with PCI-X/64 -- WAS: 3wareRAID controller scripts

[Bryan J. Smith]

Damien McKenna <dmckenna at thelimucompany.com> wrote:
> On a related note:
> http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content.asp?id=9550sx4lp
> A review of the 3Ware 9550SX-4LP PCI-X card which compares
> it to several others, including Areca's PCI-E card.

Yeah, seems like 3Ware/AMCC is still working out the bugs in
their firmware -- the card was almost brand new back when the
September review hit.  It's good to know that the 3Ware
9550SX controllers support PCIe, so we should see such a card
in the future.

Areca uses the Intel IOP331 (PCI-X) and IOP332 (built-in
PCI-X to PCIe bridge) for its products.  I wonder where they
get their firmware from (Broadcom? LSI? Intel? Their own?). 
Anyhoo, it's hard to compete with that XScale at RAID-5.

On a related note, did you see the earlier article comparing
hardware v. southbridge?  Look at the absolute _crap_ the
Intel ICH7R and nVidia MCP-04 southbridge RAID-5 is at write
speeds (even worse than the others in 32-bit at 33MHz PCI
slots):  
 
http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content.asp?id=raid505&page=9
 

It's interesting to note that the Broadcom 4852, which is
largely a host (software) RAID solution, is well designed
enough at the integrated SATA controller to perform well
enough.  But I sure wish they'd get their new 8-channel
SAS/SATA RAID BCM8603 chips in products soon.


-- 
Bryan J. Smith                | Sent from Yahoo Mail
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