StarTech 4 Port PCIe SATA III Controller Card

[pokes]

Good Day

 

Haven't fully built my 1st Unraid .. aiming at  10 Sata III drives - I have are 8x 4Tb WD Reds with 2x 250Gb SSD's for cache

I also have Motherboard Asus Z97-K with 6 /Sata III -  either i5 4690 or G3258 intel cpu's  -  2x 4 Gb DDR3 1600 - Antec P100 or Three Hundred Two case

in Australia most Sata Cards mentioned in this forum need to be either imported or are hard to get 

Any ideas about a StarTech 4 Port PCIe SATA III Controller Card - Model No. PEXSAT34RH  - the Chipset is Marvell  88SE9230 ?

it's readily available down under in Australia at about $140-200 aud

Would it need any special configuration work or is it plug and play ?

Any help would be much appreciated

 

Extra info on the Star Tech:

The PEXSAT34RH 4-Port PCI Express 2.0 SATA Controller Card with HyperDuo adds 4 AHCI SATA III ports to a computer through a PCIe slot (x2), delivering multiple internal 6Gbps connections for high-performance hard drives and Solid State Drives (SSDs).

Featuring HyperDuo technology, the SATA card offers SSD auto-tiering which lets you balance the performance advantages of SSD storage with the cost-effectiveness and large capacity of standard hard drives. By combining SSD and HDD drives into a single volume (up to 3 SSD + 1 HDD), HyperDuo discreetly works in the background to identify and move frequently accessed files to the faster SSD drive(s) for improved data throughput - up to 80% of SSD performance! (Note: The HyperDuo automatic storage tiering feature is compatible with computers that use a BIOS.)

The PCIe SATA controller card supports Port Multiplier (PM), enabling multiple SATA drives to be connected to one port over a single cable, for a total of 7 drives (Up to 4 drives through PM on one port, and a single drive to the remaining 3 ports). Plus, the SATA controller card offers an effective hardware RAID solution, with native RAID (0, 1, 1+0) support.

 

Kind Regards

Pokey

[trurl]

6 minutes ago, pokes said:

88SE9230

For example:

 

 

[pokes]

Gee .. searching "StarTech 4 Port PCIe SATA III" when I should have searched: Marvell  88SE9230 chipset

thanks .. I'll steer clear off any Marvell chipsets then !

 

Trouble is good PC shops in Australia only sell StarTech or a cheaper Skymaster PCIe SATA III Card .. both Marvell chipsets 

that's if they even sell sata cards .. I might buy one from US or UK then

 

I'm not real handy when it comes to in-depth configurations on motherboards

for my setup .. any recommendations for the best sata card to use ? 

hopefully plug n play

 

Thanks

[pokes]

8 hours ago, pokes said:

might buy one from US or UK

or France .. all non marvell cards that I've found in Australia are mainly on ebay au, unbranded, under $50 Aud & look like chinese knock offs

[pokes]

this is what I'm thinking of going for LSI SAS 9201-8i

 

I've read elsewhere that the driver for this card misses out on features like s.m.a.r.t. & showing the serial number of the drives?

I can't find secondhand break out cables, new are a fair bit dearer than the card

 

1 - would it be essential to update the TI mode firmware ?

2 - can't find any documentation on cables, are these okay?

 

StarTech Mini-SAS to SATA Cable, 1x SFF-8087 Plug, 4x SATA Female

https://www.startech.com/au/Cables/Drive/SAS/50cm-Serial-Attached-SCSI-SAS-Cable-SFF-8087-to-4x-Latching-SATA~SAS8087S450

Edited July 26, 2020 by pokes
clarity

[peterg23]

Hi Pokes, check out this site below. Note that it may take a while at the moment for items to get to Australia. The cost is perhaps a bit more, but you will know it works and is not a Chinese fake. 😕

regards, Peterg (Melbourne. Australia)

 

Dell H310 6Gbps SAS HBA w/ LSI 9211-8i P20 IT Mode for ZFS FreeNAS unRAID

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-H310-6Gbps-SAS-HBA-w-LSI-9211-8i-P20-IT-Mode-for-ZFS-FreeNAS-unRAID/162834659601?hash=item25e9b3b911:g:UxcAAOSwWrxcPvQv

 

Also, take a look at:

 

Edited July 26, 2020 by peterg23

[pokes]

Pete

 

thanks for your help there

 

the mini sas to 4x sata 3 cables are either $18 

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Krysma-50cm-0-5m-0-5-meter-4x-SATA-3-0-to-4x-SATA-3-0-6Gbps-Hard-Drive-Cable/333662965690?ha

or over $67 with very little else around 

https://www.mwave.com.au/product/startech-sas-cable-sff8087-to-4x-latching-sata-ab64745

would the $18 ones be worth a go, they're from Melbourne area .. everything cable wise is made in china anyway?

EDIT: or from china $10 each for a pair that look the same as the $18 ones

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/LOT-2x-Mini-SAS-to-4-SATA-SFF-8087-Multi-Lane-Forward-Breakout-Internal-Cable/192770269883?_trkparms=aid%3D1110009%26algo%3DSPLICE.COMPLISTINGS%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140109102600%26meid%3D8a04afaae1334b7383d5bc5efc3e8af7%26pid%3D100041%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D27%26sd%3D283954767203%26itm%3D192770269883%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2508447%26algv%3Ddefault%26brand%3DUnbranded&_trksid=p2508447.c100041.m2061

 

Pokes

Edited July 27, 2020 by pokes

[pokes]

Got a used LSI 9201-8i 

how hot do these cards run at ? .. my infrared thermometer shows about 60°C on the heatsink on the underside of the card & about 48°C directly above it ?

should I reseat the heatsink or put a fan under it 

[JonathanM]

5 hours ago, pokes said:

put a fan under it 

This.

These cards are meant to be in a server, where conditioned air is continuously forced over all the card slots. In a desktop machine the cards are left to fend for themselves, which is why practically all video cards have fans.

[pokes]

The fan did it .. with the same conditions as yesterday, about 32°C on the heatsink under the card & about 29°C above it