I had posted a question recently on this list regarding the new series of cards from 3ware, and wanted to follow up with some real-world results. My test motherboard was an Intel D945GTPLKR (a desktop board). I was able to use the motherboard video and plug the 3ware card into the PCIe x16 slot. The card I was testing with (16ML) is a PCIe x8 card. Hardware-wise, everything worked without a hitch. Kinda cool to be able to get high bus performance out of a desktop motherboard. I guess we all can thank the gamers for that. The driver in the currently-shipping CentOS kernel (2.6.9-42.0.3.ELsmp) didn't know what to do with the card. However, the driver from the 3ware web site (9.4.0.1) worked fine, and was straightforward to build and load. As typical, older versions of the cli don't work with the newer driver; I had to download the new version of the cli also. Performance-wise, the new card seems ok. The tests I ran were on a pair of striped desktop drives, so I wasn't looking for anything earth-shattering. Now on to building the real file server... Dave Thompson UW-Madison
David Thompson wrote:> >I had posted a question recently on this list regarding the new series of >cards from 3ware, and wanted to follow up with some real-world results.<snip> Yes, the 9650SE runs on an Intel D945GTP in the PCIe x16 slot. However, the technical reference for the D945GTP motherboard clearly states, on page 61 of D1407001US-1.pdf, topic 2.8.2.2 "Add-in Card Connectors", (quoted): "NOTE: The PCI Express x16 connector is configured to support only a PCI Express x1 link when the Intel GMA950 graphics controller is enabled." Who me, accuse Intel of artificially crippling their desktop motherboard performance to boost "$erver" motherboard $ale$? I wouldn't do that. For this application, PCIe x1 performance will probably be enough, but anyone thinking about using intel x16 slots for anything except video may want to take note. I'm just glad Intel is reserving the PCIe x16 performance for the screaming GMA950 on-board video. Bad Intel. No biscuit. Now checking into other vendors, Dave Thompson UW-Madison