Best way to add 8 SATA ports to a ASUS P5B-VM

[Berg]

I was wondering if you could share with me your thoughts on the best/cost effective way to add 8 SATA ports to my unRAID server, that uses a ASUS P5B-VM motherboard.

 

I gather the quick and dirty way to do it is to purchase two PROMISE SATA300 TX4 PCI add-on cards, but given it will be using the PCI slots, I was wondering if there was a reasonably priced PCI-X card with 8 ports that would be comparable but would enhance the write performance of the system.

 

Does it make a difference to use the PCI-X "bridge" instead of the PCI "bridge" ? Would there be a real write performance difference ?

 

Thanks for sharing your wisdom.

[WeeboTech]

Some people also use the 8 Port Super Micro SATA card in a PCI Slot.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815121009

 

The benefit being cost and support for staggered spin up.

 

If I were going that route, I would probably choose a 4 Port PCIe SATA Card and grow incrementally.

 

 

 

[RobJ]

If I were going that route, I would probably choose a 4 Port PCIe SATA Card and grow incrementally.

 

Speaking of which, I just found this card on Newegg:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816103058.  This is a 4 port SATA II PCIe-X4 card for $99 with free shipping, needs a PCIe-X4 slot or can use that empty PCIe-X16 slot.  That's one PCI Express lane per port, perhaps more performance than unRAID can take advantage of.  Reviewers found very impressive RAID performance with low CPU hit, for a card under $100.  It does not appear to have Port Multiplier support.  As to compatibility, a Newegg reviewer says "This is one of the few cards that is fully supported by the sata_mv driver (PCI id: 9005:0243) in recent versions of the Linux kernel (tested with 2.6.23-rc7)."

 

Also found it on ProVantage for $94, http://www.provantage.com/adaptec-2240900-r~7ADPD00P.htm.

 

I wonder if this could be used with 2 or 4 drives in a RAID0 or RAID1 mode as an unRAID Cache disk?

 

So the big question is, who is going to be first to test this card for us?

 

[WeeboTech]

If I were spending the money, I might choose a card with port multiplier support.

 

I've been toying with the idea of this one

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16815280008

 

And this one for another machine

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16816132013

 

I.E. Unless it can be proven that the Adaptec card's raid mode can be seen by unRaid.

 

 

[Berg]

Thanks guys.

 

What is the benefit of using a port multiplier card ? How what that fit in with unRAID ?

[RobJ]

If I were spending the money, I might choose a card with port multiplier support.

 

I've been toying with the idea of this one

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16815280008

 

And this one for another machine

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16816132013

 

I agree that port multiplier support does give much better value.  There are several forum threads about their benefits.

 

For the benefit of those who might think that Masscool in the first link has 4 ports, see this thread:  http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=1559.  It has a SiI3132 chipset with good port multiplier support, for 2 ports.  I suspect that Masscool is only too happy to have people buying this card thinking it has 4 active SATA ports available.  It is still a good buy, with very versatile usage, but I wish they were presenting it in a more honest way.  The Rosewill in the second link *does* have 4 ports, at a great price, however they are on a SiI3114 chipset, which does not support SATA II speed or port multipliers.  I am in no way knocking either of these, just want them fairly presented.

 

[WeeboTech]

According to this website the 3114 does support port multiplers. Perhaps the kernel doesn't yet.

http://www.siliconimage.com/products/product.aspx?id=28

 

I agree the MASSCOOL is ambigious, Until you go to the website and see "Support 2 Independent SATA Channels"

Still the ability to have 2 internal or external port multiplier ports would work for me (at a nice price).

 

As far as 3GB/s vs 1.5GB/s,  it would not matter much for me. A single drive in itself can only go so fast.

What I store on the slower drives doesn't need to be accessed at breakneck speeds.

I don't do HD today (heck I don't even have an HD tv! LOL)

 

Thanks for clarifying RobJ.