Areca 1880 series posted

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08-12-2010, 08:20 PM
Computurd

Quote:

Do the 4K hard drives report their sectors as 4K to the hard drive controller?

yes it was to my understanding that was a hardware level issue...as in controlled by the individual storage devices' onboard controller...

@mbreslin--yes being initial tester is fun! i grabbed the 9260-8i and had it airmailed next day air the very day it was released, my initial testing was posted at OCZ forums, and that thread is epic, has over 59,000 views and 1000 replies!
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/fo...hlight=9260-8i

now that i think of it, those were fun times. :banana::banana::banana::banana: it. i am buying the areca.
08-13-2010, 12:49 AM
stevecs

Quote:

Originally Posted by safan80

You guys need to realize that areca will support 4K with a firmware upgrade. It's funny how people expect support for things that are not even out yet. Areca has been good to do firmware updates granted they might be slow but they get them out the door. The big question is: Do the 4K hard drives report their sectors as 4K to the hard drive controller? Chances are they don't because it would break compatibility for a lot of motherboard controller and apps.

Really? So you have confirmation from Areca that 1) all internal asic logic supports the larger sector size both main calculation engine and expander chip and 2) that they will modify their firmware to support such? Please share. I have had zero such assurances from them on this. From other even hba vendors it is not that simple.

As for breaking support for OS device drivers/file systems et al, that is probably true under windows/ntfs but not under other OS's.

As for not out yet, for OEM internal use, you are basically correct, however they are coming i.e. :

Code:

Note: sector size is 4096 (not 512) Disk /dev/sdc: 3000.6 GB, 3000592977920 bytes 1 heads, 7 sectors/track, 104652377 cylinders Units = cylinders of 7 * 4096 = 28672 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes Disk identifier: 0xa4b57300 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdc1 2 104652001 2930256000 7 HPFS/NTFS Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary.

Even if both can be accomplished above for large sector support, the larger issue are the data integrity options (T10 PI extensions). Assuming the normal lifespan of a product being 2-3 years for a raid card we would probably be talking 5TB drives being out by the end of it's product life. We are already running into numerous issues with data integrity even on 500GB+ drives. There needs to be a way to account for torn/lost/wild/et al reads & writes. So far I've only seen the LSISAS2008 chip (on the LSI92xx series cards) that support DIF type 1 & 3 but no DIX.
08-13-2010, 04:52 PM
Computurd

okay according to the product specs this is the ram needed:

Quote:

One 240-pin DIMM socket for DDR2-800 ECC registered
SDRAM module using x8 or x16 chip organization, upgrade
from 1GB (default) to 4GB (ARC-1880ix-12/16/24)

i have found this ram, but it doesn't appear to be x8 or x16 chip organization. i have no idea of these things, please advise on best ram 4gb stick for this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820139084
08-13-2010, 05:54 PM
Biker

This should do it as well:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...800D2D4F5%2f4G

Slightly faster timings (CL5) and definitely dual rank....

Model number: KVR800D2D4F5/4G
08-13-2010, 06:00 PM
Computurd

Thanks Biker! long time no see :)
Having trouble locating the card now. One source said they had it in stock, but upon order....you guessed it. no stock. Unfortunately i am not able to find one now.....
08-13-2010, 06:04 PM
Biker

Quote:

Originally Posted by Computurd

Thanks Biker! long time no see :)
Having trouble locating the card now. One source said they had it in stock, but upon order....you guessed it. no stock. Unfortunately i am not able to find one now.....

...and so the hunt begins! :D
08-14-2010, 09:39 AM
Nizzen

Quote:

Originally Posted by Computurd

Thanks Biker! long time no see :)
Having trouble locating the card now. One source said they had it in stock, but upon order....you guessed it. no stock. Unfortunately i am not able to find one now.....

I have ordered one 1880 ix- 24 from Norway :D I hope it is comming very soon. When it is coming to stock, I do not know :( approx 100 $ more expensive than 1680ix-24 here in norway.

Now I also have to find a 4gb stick that will work.
08-14-2010, 09:41 AM
Nizzen

Quote:

Originally Posted by Biker

This should do it as well:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...800D2D4F5%2f4G

Slightly faster timings (CL5) and definitely dual rank....

Model number: KVR800D2D4F5/4G

FB dimm? :rolleyes:
08-14-2010, 10:09 AM
Computurd

yes i noticed that as well, that one definitely will not work. here is a stick with the correct properties (as far as i know):

http://www.google.com/products/catal...d=0CDkQ8wIwAw#

EDIT: a 24 port? wow i was going for a twelve :) how many devices do you plan to use?
08-14-2010, 03:33 PM
Biker

Buffered dimm's will not work?

Oh well.... back to the drawing board then :D
08-15-2010, 06:18 AM
Nizzen

Quote:

Originally Posted by Computurd

yes i noticed that as well, that one definitely will not work. here is a stick with the correct properties (as far as i know):

http://www.google.com/products/catal...d=0CDkQ8wIwAw#

EDIT: a 24 port? wow i was going for a twelve :) how many devices do you plan to use?

I am going to use my 12 seagate 15k.5 sas drives + mayby 8 ssd.
08-15-2010, 07:05 AM
SteveRo

has anyone found the 1880 for sale yet anywhere?
also - i assume I can use my 4gb stick from the 1231?
08-15-2010, 07:25 AM
Anvil

It's listed all over in Europe

arecaraid.com have listed the 1880 series for sale Link
Looks like they are located in CA

Don't know about the 4GB stick

from the specs
-512MB on-board DDR2-800 SDRAM with ECC protection (ARC-1880i/1880x/1880ixl-8/1880ixl-12)
-One 240-pin DDR2-800 DIMM socket with default 512MB of SDRAM with ECC protection, upgrade to 4GB (ARC-1880ix-12/16/24)
08-15-2010, 12:22 PM
SteveRo

well this doesn't look good -

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/2306/capturemp.png
08-15-2010, 06:53 PM
Computurd

yes i already have one pre-ordered from the same site Mr. Steve. they will have stock on the 27th.
The ram for the new areca is faster, 800 v. the older, which is 533 from what i can gather. so you can get some improved throughput there as well. not sure if there is a timing difference there, either. there just seems to be a dearth of information on this card. i mean they aren't releasing squat. Can we get the name of the ROC for the love of christ?

however, i have been in contact for the last few days with a guy who has one :) he posts at EVGA, which is a forum i also happen to lurk on. (im everywhere:comp10:)

NOW, he is a very nice guy, and does video reviews, etc. However, his knowledge of raid is not very comprehensive, as he made a few mistakes with his benches, for instance ran CDM with a 100mb test file (ouch) so the preliminary results from him might not be an accurate representation of what the true performance is. I am still in contact with him via PM ping-pong in an attempt to get some more comprehensive involved tests here, he's a good guy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q8LGLtcz1Y

that is his vid, this is his thread:
http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?h...mpage=1#511794

in that thread there is also an un-boxing vid at the top.

the results arent that great, and the 4k-64 results are indicative of a bad driver. He said that they didnt include a driver disk with the card, which is bad juju as there are no drivers on their site either, so once he receives a driver maybe we can get a better idea of the performance. bear in mind his card is the 1880i EV, so it only has 512 of onboard cache, we can get a idea of the cache speed with the CDM however, for whatever that is worth, since he ran it with the small test file, maybe that can give us an idea of bandwidth difference? Im not sure, but im trying to glean whatever conclusions i can from such scant results. The latency is .1, same as the ICH10r.
I have checked the overseas shops as well, and they are all pre-orders as well.
looks like actual launch is closer though, tekram also has them listed for pre-order, but they fulfill their orders from the same supplier as arecaraid.com so you are looking at the exact same arrival date.

hopefully sirjamesdtech over there can get ahold of some drivers so we can see some numbers of the power of the ROC.
For me personally, i know what the cache will bring to the table, and i am not really so much interested in that. I am more interested in the low QD 1-4 small file random. If it isnt significantly better than the LSI (which preliminary indicators are that it isnt, but he needs drivers) without cache then im not terribly interested, outside of testing purposes. Even though he has the card that doesn't have the big cache, i think that we can determine the power of the ROC regardless. i guess we shall see.
the PCI-E 3.0 cards from LSI that boast 300k IOPS are supposed to be launched around the same time as intel rolls pcie 3.0 on sandy bridge, so......that might be the direction i am more interested in.
08-15-2010, 08:43 PM
AceNZ

He claims the ROC is a Radon 800MHz chip.

His results for 4R0 with 4 * Vertex 2 Turbo drives:

AS SSD: Seq read = 805 MB/s, 4K QD64 = 114 MB/s (29K IOPS)
CDM 100MB (from cache only): Seq read = 2298 MB/s, 4K = 189.6 MB/s (he didn't run 4K QD32)

The CDM 100MB cached sequential read results for my 9260-8i with 8R0 X25-M and FastPath was 1135 MB/s -- so the 1880i is fully twice as fast! However, as @Computurd said, the 4K-64 results suck; it doesn't look any faster than a single drive.
08-15-2010, 10:07 PM
Computurd

tbh i missed his listing of the ROC, however, outside of areca themselves publishing it, who knows, i don't want to rely on it...

my cache runs:(trick is enable write back)
http://i517.photobucket.com/albums/u.../cacheruns.png

i dont wanna compare these to that, though. too many variables that i am not aware of with how he tested it. I did receive another PM from him, and in fact the situation has changed, he did have the drivers, they emailed them. curious.

anyone familiar with any of the ROC that raidon makes i cant find specs, or even listings, of any of their chips. they seem to make a lo0t of external enclosures.
http://www.raidon.com.tw/

EDIT: i actually think he is just reading from there specifications, the only way they have listed this is as "raid-on-chip 800 mhz" so he is reading RAID-ON-chip :)
08-15-2010, 10:41 PM
AceNZ

Interesting. My 1135 MB/s CDM result was with WB enabled (it was 878 MB/s with WT). I still feel like the SR-2 has some performance issue--although I'm running the 3.0 x64 version of CDM, so I suppose it might also be a S/W difference. I'm tempted to try the Tyan S7025 next. Sigh.

BTW, are you using a BBU on your 9260?
08-15-2010, 11:14 PM
Anvil

These are the listings at the norwegian forum

1. Anvil : Seq. 2532/2726, 512k 2346/2543, 4kb 175.2/164.6, 4X25-M 80gb G1 LSI9260-8i
2. Agrophel : Seq. 1512/1358, 512k 1438/1265, 4kb 160.3/145.7, 2X25-M G2 160gb Areca1231

This was using one of the early drivers for the 9260.
08-16-2010, 02:46 AM
AceNZ

Quote:

Originally Posted by Computurd

EDIT: i actually think he is just reading from there specifications, the only way they have listed this is as "raid-on-chip 800 mhz" so he is reading RAID-ON-chip :)

Hah! Hilarious!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anvil

These are the listings at the norwegian forum

1. Anvil : Seq. 2532/2726, 512k 2346/2543, 4kb 175.2/164.6, 4X25-M 80gb G1 LSI9260-8i
2. Agrophel : Seq. 1512/1358, 512k 1438/1265, 4kb 160.3/145.7, 2X25-M G2 160gb Areca1231

Are those 100MB/in-cache results from CDM?

I actually had faster results from iometer, uncached: 8R0 was 1570 MB/s with a 1GB test file size (1W, QD128), in write-through mode, vs. 1135 MB/s with CDM and WB mode.
08-16-2010, 03:42 AM
SteveRo

Paul - "The ram for the new areca is faster, 800 v. the older, which is 533 from what i can gather."
I will check my 1231 4GB stick tonight and see what it says.
08-16-2010, 07:41 AM
Anvil

Quote:

Originally Posted by AceNZ

Are those 100MB/in-cache results from CDM?

Yes, thats the 100MB CDM. (pre CDM 3.0)

I'll retest using the latest driver/firmware.
08-16-2010, 07:30 PM
Computurd

Quote:

ram for the new areca is faster, 800 v. the older, which is 533 from what i can gather.

I am basing this off of the ram for sale for the arecas currently. not sure if that is the only ram they can use.
08-16-2010, 07:57 PM
Computurd

and more on the ram front...

Quote:

8 or 16 chips would NOT be ecc ram. ECC is ONLY in multiples of 9. 9,18,36,etc.

nice tidbit of info there from a fella over at 2cpu.com forums...(luckybob)
wondering about that though....why would they list it as that, if that multiple isnt typically ECC? maybe i need to PM the ram gurus...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820139084
08-17-2010, 01:08 AM
AceNZ

@CT: which version of CDM is that? Looks like the latest is 3.0.0f? I've been using 3.0.0d.

Also, which versions of the 9260 firmware and driver are you running?

Have you made any BIOS or OC tweaks?

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