RAID controller for $600 AUD

[jcool]

Ok, did a quick comparison between the 3520 and 5805 for you and came up with 3 major differences:

1. XOR. The Highpoint uses the Intel IOP 81341, an 800Mhz singlecore chip that used to be top of the line. The Adaptec 5 series, however, uses the latest Intel IOP 348 which is a 1,2Ghz Dualcore (!) chip. Apart from the Adaptec 5 series, AFAIK only the highest-end Arecas use these XORs (1680xi and the likes).
2. Cache. The 5805 has double the cache at 512MB.
3. SAS. The 5805 can handle both SAS and SATA drives, which may come in handy some time. The 3520 is SATA only.

In Germany those 2 cost the same, so unless the Highpoint is way cheaper for you, I'd go for the Adaptec any day of the week.

Here is the Intel spec sheet on the IOP348, says something about hardware raid 6 acceleration with near raid 5 speeds as well, which might be nice with 8 drives (I'd run a raid 6 with 8 drives I think, 8 standard desktop drives in raid 5 isn't that safe really )

For comparison, Raid 6 on my 5405, still with 4 WD6400AAKS:




Though obviously you need more drives for a raid 6

[Gogeta]

I've been running a RocketRaid 3520 since May in a file server 24/7. Aside from my own understanding of benchmark results under Linux, I've had zero problems. The speed has been right in line with what I expected from a R5 array spanning 4 disks. It gets my vote.

Edit: Controller is hosting 4x500GB Seagate ES.2 in R5 and 2x250GB ES.2 in R1, booting OS from the R1 array.

[NapalmV5]

since jcool/you guys are talking about 5805

heres my 5805 stock cooling/4x 16gb ssd


a 3520 read performs about the same but the write is in q

[SoulsCollective]

As posted in the OP, yes, I'll be running -6.

Ok, I'm sold on the Adaptec 5805 from a performance perspective. However, as I've said above I can't find it for anything less than $750 AUD, whereas the Highpoint 3520 I can find for $600. I simply don't have an extra $150, I need that for the drives themselves. I'll keep looking, but I think I'm going to have no choice but to go with the 3520.

Thanks everyone for your input

[NapalmV5]

if the 3520s write performance is better than my 3510:



go for the 3520..

[jcool]

Wow Napalm, I thought the Adaptecs didn't like SSDs.. guess that ain't true after all.
What kind of drives exactly?

[SoulsCollective]

Hmmm? That posted graph above is for the Highpoint 3510 -

if the 3520s write performance is better than my 3510

[jcool]

Yeah, and it shows the lack of write performance the 3510 apparently suffers from. Since you said yourself that the 3510 is virtually identical to the 3520 you are looking to buy, I guess that bench applies

It doesn't really say anything about the Raid 5 performance tho. Theoretically, the Adaptec will give you double the write speed of the 3520 with 8 drives in raid 5 as well. If you hardly ever do writes, that doesn't matter I guess.

[NapalmV5]

Wow Napalm, I thought the Adaptecs didn't like SSDs.. guess that ain't true after all.
What kind of drives exactly?

supertalent masterdrive px

yeh the 5805 performs marvelously @ 4x ssd.. though needs a bit more calibration/tweaking from adaptec.. nonetheless very well balanced controller

Hmmm? That posted graph above is for the Highpoint 3510 -

as for 3520s write performance.. eva2000s 4x ssd and ender17s 4x raptor..

was encouraging enough for me to order a 3520

3510 vs 3520 - not quite the same.. my 3510 is v1.0

[NapalmV5]

3520 v1.3: same performance



the 3510/3520 bios/firmware are old and dont fully support my ssd..

thus not surprised @ same performance on both the 3510/3520

unfortunately i dont have any other 4x array i can test..

the 3510/3520 afterall should perform the same.. the difference is the hdd/ssd used to run on the controllers

[SoulsCollective]

Ok, I found the 3520 for $525 at a clearance sale, full retail package apparently, not OEM and cable-less. Of the few places that actually listed the Adaptec card as in stock, they were all charging $800+. I simply can't afford that, and for the majority of the time what will matter to me will be read speed, write merely needs to be adequate - so the 3520 will be nearly as good.

Order placed for the 3520 @ $550 inc shipping and six WD6400AAKS drives @ $90/drive = $1,090 tot.

Will post pics and results when the loot arrives. 2.5TB RAID-6 array here we come

[jcool]

Nice, we can compare numbers then, as I use the same drives. My raid 6 screenie with 4 WD6400AAKS is in post #26

[SoulsCollective]

The trial version from their website doesn't appear to have the write speed option

Burst speed is lower, probably due to less cache, but access times are improved and sequential read is very good. Going from the above graphs re write speed, I'm assuming write is somewhere around the 200MB/s range.