Wanting a new RAID controller... but which one Areca ARC-1882ix-24 or LSI 92xx?

[tived]

Hi Guys,

I currently have two IBM M1015's in my system, but i feel they do not cut the mustard.

I want the disks to go faster, and was wondering if I would benefit from a new controller, also I would like to add more drives to improve the speed.

I want to use it in my EVGA SR-2 so it obviously need to be compatible, I can't remember if the issues people were having with the LSI 9265's have been resolved?

Also, at what stage to we begin to saturate the PCIe bus x8, how many drives will it take? I currently have 12x Intel 520 120GB -ohhh and i will be replacing my seagates they were a quick cheap solution for some storage, but they do not feel solid. But thats another issue

What I am using system for is, content creation, Image editing, and large panoramas, file sizes can go into 10-20GB, but average file size of the images I shoot are usually around 60-100mb's.

Currently I have my system configured as in my signature, except i am stuck at 3Ghz with 96GB of ram, I also need to replace my ram to better ram so I can clock it back up to 4.3Ghz (with only 48Gb it was rock solid)

I would appreciate any help, thanks guys

Henrik

[Jansa]

I had problems with SR-2 memory, not with controller. Not able to use all 48GB (per core) as soon as insert 9265-8i card, otherwise 4 x Samsung 128GB in R0 as scratch disk looks:

http://www.upload.ee/image/2552516/120620_LSI_MR9265-8i_SCSI_Disk_Device_509GB_1GB-20120620-2252.png

As you see, 32 759 MB recognized and used by system. But this could be some weird anomaly with my system. Was able to use 48GB with Areca 1231ML few bios versions back...

[tived]

Thanks Jansa,

I know that several people have had issues with memory not showing up, occationally when I had 6x8 (48GB) only 40 would show, a reboot usually solved it, and the same with 12x8 (96GB) I would have 80-88GB showing, again solved by restarting.

128896

This is my scratch disk with 8x INTEL 520 120GB attached to IBM M1015 in RAID-0, and it just seems slow or I should say I am expecting a whole lot more from it, my conclusion is that its the controller, as I have seen others reach this with just 3 disks on something like a Highpoint controller

regarding the memory, I am wanting to get some Crucial ECC 1600 DDR3 memory 12x8GB, but I am also looking at non-ECC, but given that this is a machine for Content Creation, I should probably stick with ECC

Thanks very much for responding

Henrik

[mobilenvidia]

128924

IBM M1015
RAID0 with 4x 60GB OCZ Solid3

I disable disk cache

The above is older version of Anvil where default was 100% Compressible
Your version RC2 default is 100% Uncompressible, so much more like real world performance.

You could go in to setting and adjust compression level to get a much higher score to brag with.

[tived]

Thanks mobilenvidia,

I will pass my controllers down the food chain when I get a new one. I obviouly need to work out how to configur these baby's

thanks

Henrik

[Brother Esau]

Areca all the way man! My controller in my sig has run flawlessly since I purchased it back in early 2007. The new Areca controllers utilize the LSI Logic chip on the controller so you are actually getting the best of everything with a Areca controller purchase. If its bios options and rock solid performance and server reliability then ARECA is your obvious choice!

[tived]

thanks Brother Esau,

I have ordered the Areca 1882xi 24ch with 4gb cache and BBU from the ebay guy, seems very good to deal with and very prompt to reply. So I am very excited now.

Now if I could just work out why my M1015 are not running so fast?

thanks