Areca 1880

[Computurd]

Finally! some stats inbound...
one ARC-1880IX-12 with a 4GB memory stick, which hopefully works...

[Computurd]

Well... the ram linked from newegg will not work..I will do some more looking into that, maybe there is a procedure to reset the card after the ram installation?
reinstalled the 1gb stick, i have a different 4gb stick that meets the manufacturers specs in tomorrow, so we shall test that.
initial impressions:
*Its HUGE!!!! Much larger than the lsi series, used to the 9260 and 9211 this thing is a monster by comparison, there are pics of it next to the 9260 below, the 9260 being the card next to it with the red cables going in.
*It runs much hotter....i mean alot hotter than the LSI...and i dont have any devices connected to it yet, but it is a furnace, fans will be a 24/7 requirement for sure. Just one of the HS is twice as hot as the 9260, and they are both cooking! and also, are the ROC lsi2108 on these cards clocked higher? the heatsinks are much larger, so they could handle more heat, they have no problem dissipating it, thats for sure.
*Card initialization is a shocker, only 9 seconds, of course this is without any devices, but i shall post a comparison timing soon. regardless, that is good.
*pics follow for some eye-candy/9260 comparison...gonna have to SE the 'ol barefoots and then get em on the card, then im just an image away from some numbers!

[Computurd]

reserved

[Nizzen]

Nice Computurd!

*High five!*

First I am testing 1 gb memory, then I am testing the orginal Arc 4gb memory that is a few days away.

I hope we can compare results here! I testing 8 c300. But I have 2 more to test if it is not enough. 10+ intel 160gb is going to be tested as well. Next week Hitachi 2tb drives arrives

Right now the 1880 is on a torture IOMETER runs

My test setup

[Anvil]

Thanks for the images and info Computurd,

I guess I'll need to get a fan for that thing, my 9260s aren't generating much heat at all, I've got a 8cm fan (low rpm) directed at both of them just in case.

@Nizzen,

Didn't notice your image
Your table-fan looks just like the one I'm using.

[Nizzen]

CDM 2gb testfile 64k stripe 8xc300.

I want it faster

[Wintel64]

Hi Computurd,

Will you remove the heatsink to confirm the ROC is LSI2108?

[Nizzen]

Hi Computurd,

Will you remove the heatsink to confirm the ROC is LSI2108?

It is pcp 440 on steroids

[Wintel64]

It is pcp 440 on steroids

Like this?

[Computurd]

nice pic, i have no tim! the only thing i have right nw is IC Diamond and i definitely do not want to use that. going to order some MX-2, but I am confident it is, as Areca representative has verified it to me personally, via email
@nizzen-Awesome! just fantastic! those c300's make my eyes water...unfortunately my old vertex gen 1 wont hold a candle to that insane setup! I have had so many rigs look like that gotta love it!
Putting array on now, had some housekeeping to do (image, etc) and some SE on the barefoots, so my numbers will be in soon.
I am eyeing the ports on this card right now, if in fact they are running a variant of the LSI firmware for the card, it might be possible to use the fastpath key with it. I know the LSI key works with intels, and vice versa, so....logic would dictate...but is areca gonna use fastpath-type device?
but i do have a feeling that this is a different architecture entirely, which will be interesting, an areca 'spin' on the already-learned lessons from the LSI corp firmwares/drivers. Knowing how areca likes to cater to the enthusiast crowd, and LSI likes to literally push them and their motherboards away, this could prove very interesting. I am sure to bore you with some LSI v. Areca numbers soon

EDIT: going to email areca again and double verify the ROC, their reply did leave it between two controllers, but sure its 2108 as the 2116 appears to be a external controller. maybe thats the port multiplier hiding behind heatsink number 2? (mystery guest?) here is their previous reply:

We use the PPC architecture ROC-From LSI 2108 and 2116.
Areca has well experienced the external RAID controller ARC-8060 from AMCC 440SP PPC SOC since 2007.

[Anvil]

How about a few screenshots of the management software?

[Computurd]

Bios or the Archttp?

[Computurd]

@Nizzen---I have studied the routing on the PCB of the card, and it appears the primary ROC is the chip to the rear of the card, and the bottom three connectors on the rear of the card go directly to that chip. the rest of the connectors are routed to the forward chip, which i assume is the expander. Since the only three on my card are routed to the rear chip, i am assuming it is the primary ROC> I just happened to notice that your drives were connected to the top connectors, so if they are going through the expander i would assume some latency, no matter how finite , would be added? just for grins you might try using the bottom three ports on the rear of your card to see if there is any difference?

EDIT: i couldn't be more wrong, turns out the roc is the rear chip near the bracket..so big question..why do they route everything through the expander when it is only three port card?

[Anvil]

Bios or the Archttp?

Just something showing VD settings/options would be fine

[Computurd]

I will post soon, se drives, and i have been tracking my drive usage for last year with SMART data and est drive life, so i am documenting each drive real quick before i move to testing.

in other news...

Hi,

ARC-1880ixl is using others using 2108.
You just uplug the 1GB register DIMM module and plug-in 4GB DIMM module.
No BIOS setting is required.


Regards
Billion Wu

[eva2000]

Thanks for the info and photo comparisons - that's one huge card compared to LSI 9260! Got a thermal probe/infra-red thermometer to read how hot it actually is on Areca ? I'm tempted by 1880ix-12 as well (~AUD$1155 or US$1033) but didn't realise how hot it is! Other choice is LSI 9260-16i

Curious are the LSI 9260-8i sata cables interchangeable on Areca ?

Already have the ssds ready

looking forward to your updates

[SteveRo]

@ mr eva, wow, 12x SF drives! Nice to see you're like me, all or nothing!

edit - regarding the cables - interchangability - if the LSI cables are fanout to sata then yes they should work.
I use highpoint fanouts for both LSI and areca controllers.
also FYI - in the past - areca has sent a complete set of cables with all of their cards also.

wow, 12x SSDs! - you and Mr mbreslin! all or nothing.

[Hakker]

I saving to get me a 1880-24 myself for my new fileserver

[Nizzen]

Computurd:

No benchmarks yet?

Some ATTO "luvin"

Atto: 8x c300 r0


CDM 8x c300 r5 This array took about 10 minutes to create in foreground!

Looks like I got into a 17-1800MB cap. I testing further...

[Computurd]

nah not yet 14 hour day at work today so....now i get to my real work ;0

someone above asked if there is support for 2tb drives, there is, but there are caveat to the types of drives etc. i know you can use the new ones with 4k sectors, but there are conditions to that, there is info at their site on it in the areca manual.

@eva it certainly wouldnt be anythin to keep me from buying or using the card (the heat)

tbh my initial impressions of the card are a little...well...let down? it isnt giving the performance or the latencies that i was getting with the LSI, but that is with cursory examination, and i also have had a random reboot on rock-solid settings, which NEVER has happened with LSi, to early to call it based on that of course, could be a fluke or something. this early, with only playing on it basically, gives me bad vibes. maybe bad install is giving me these strange results, but right now it is flying like a brick compared to the 9260 with fastpath. however, i am sure the install is good because i did a fresh install, Acronis doesnt recognize the controller so it wont restore images to the array unless i use it from an OS, the boot disk isnt allowing it. I am sure there is a way to load the driver, but i have never had to do that with acronis, so i will have to do some learning on that.
latency measured with Everest is .10. need to experiment more though with different settings. i know that read aheads/etc affect these things. got some testing to do...9260 is .08
do not take this as some type of negative comment on performance, it is too early to quantify anything, and also it is apparent they are using their own firmware/drivers etc, so they may need time to mature/develop. the thing is though, honestly, the 9260 is already there...
the memory stick from memoryten didnt work either so that is a BIG GAH!!!!! gonna have some RMA'ing to do. need a solid link on some ram that works with this thing, emailed areca to see if they can give me a link to something specifically. I do not want to order the ram used for their older cards though, it doesnt run at the speed of the ram on the card right now, it is slower.

also gonna around with the settings a bit, try the different drivers, and maybe reflash firmware, anything....

[Johnny87au]

sorry about the other post in your other thread hehe didnt realise u made a thread, Cant wait for benchmarks mate, i wonder whos gonna be the title holder after everyone gets their hands on the areca controller, unfortunately for me i cant dish this kinda cash out, even the 9260 is quite expensive here.. Might actually go with the 9260 after reading its no wear near as hot as the areca cards... Sub'd anyhow

[Anvil]

Computurd,

Nizzen seem to struggle a bit as well, it's early days yet though.

The results he got using the single drive were great, not sure why 8 drives are sort of underperforming.

How does Areca compare to LSI on the frequency of FW updates?.

[Computurd]

to my knowledge, in the past arecas firmwares/drivers etc are not very frequent. others might chime in here. on the other hand, LSI issues new firmware/drivers all the time, over the last year that the 9260 has came out there have been 7 firmwares for the card, that is not counting driver changes. I am curious, it seems they are using the same firmwares, etc for this as other (older) controllers which makes me wonder...
still the main attraction is cache. it doesnt put up fastpath numbers with random 4k, but they are close, and (it seems) you do not have to sacrifice your write performance to get them. I will post some more detailed results very soon.

[Sandon]

Ive seen LSI release firmwares quite a bit back before the 1680ix came out and a bit after but it has slowed recently. Might speed up again with the 1880 release.

[Anvil]

I expect there could be a few quick updates from Areca, this being a new controller.

Looking forward to some benchmarks Computurd,

Nizzen is about to test a load of Intels