Just wondering if any 4.2 users out there have a favourite "dumb" PCI controller to add a couple of SATA ports to a motherboard that doesn't include SATA support. I'm not looking for anything fancy, just 2 SATA ports that a recent vintage kernel will recognize without a lot of configuration gymnastics. The intended use is for relatively light weight internet browser workstations for younger students. Suggestions would be very much appreciated. Cheers,
Chris Mauritz <chrism at imntv.com> wrote:> Just wondering if any 4.2 users out there have a favourite > "dumb" PCI controller to add a couple of SATA ports to a > motherboard that doesn't include SATA support. I'm not > looking for anything fancy, just 2 SATA ports that a recent > vintage kernel will recognize without a lot ofconfiguration> gymnastics. The intended use is for relatively light > weight internet browser workstations for younger students. > Suggestions would be very much appreciated.Because of all of the arbitrary non-sense that goes on between the drive, controller/channel, etc..., I really can't recommend a particular chip. I could probably suggest one or two HPT (High Point Technology) models, but then they will probably run you $50-60. For $120, I can suggest the 3Ware Escalade 8006-2, even for JBOD. I know that's probably a bit more than you want to spend, but consider it -- especially if you could see the value of mirror disks. But even if you are just going to do JBOD. -- Bryan J. Smith Professional, Technical Annoyance b.j.smith at ieee.org http://thebs413.blogspot.com ---------------------------------------------------- *** Speed doesn't kill, difference in speed does ***
Chris Mauritz wrote:>Just wondering if any 4.2 users out there have a favourite "dumb" PCI >controller to add a couple of SATA ports to a motherboard that doesn't >include SATA support. I'm not looking for anything fancy, just 2 SATA >ports that a recent vintage kernel will recognize without a lot of >configuration gymnastics. The intended use is for relatively light >weight internet browser workstations for younger students.I benchmarked a number of low-end sata controllers for add-on, JBOD applications, and found that some give significantly lower performance than others. One of the good cards performance-wise turned out to be based on a SiI 3112 chipset, delivering performance very similar to intel's ICH6 (i865-based) motherboard sata controllers, and better than any others I found. That being said, I have not been able to deploy that card in a PCI-X based system; it hangs the (64-bit PCI-X) bus and won't let the computer boot. We use lots of 3ware sata controllers, and for jbod, they deliver significantly lower performance than either the ICH6- or 3112- based controllers. So I'm also looking for a 'yeah, it's cheap, it just works, and it delivers the full performance of the disk' sata controller. Dave Thompson The University of Wisconsin - Madison
I use the Sil 3112, it works with any current distribution. In Australia you can pick this card up for AUD$55. Be aware that this cards linux support does not completely reach to those SATA drives that support NCQ. It will crash on start up, i am still to rectify this problem. Pete Chris Mauritz wrote:> Just wondering if any 4.2 users out there have a favourite "dumb" PCI > controller to add a couple of SATA ports to a motherboard that doesn't > include SATA support. I'm not looking for anything fancy, just 2 SATA > ports that a recent vintage kernel will recognize without a lot of > configuration gymnastics. The intended use is for relatively light > weight internet browser workstations for younger students. > > Suggestions would be very much appreciated. > Cheers, > _______________________________________________ > CentOS mailing list > CentOS at centos.org > http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos