Adaptec's Series 5 Unified Serial Controllers

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RAID Controller Overview

The market offers multiple, powerful solutions for Unified Serial storage requirements. The following table lists all available options, including the new Adaptec Series 5. Please also have a look at the following articles for more details:

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ManufacturerAdaptecAdaptecAMCCARECA
ModelRAID 5805RAID 38053Ware 9690SA-8IARC-1680
Internal connectors2x SFF 80872x SFF 80872xSFF-80872xSFF-8087
External connectorsnanana1xSFF-8088
Cache512 MB DDR2-400 ECC128 MB DDR2 ECC512 MB DDR2-533 ECC512 MB DDR2-667 ECC
ProfileLow ProfileLow ProfileLow ProfileFull Height
InterfacePCI Express x8PCI Express x4PCI Express x8PCI Express x8
RAID Level Migrationyesyesyesyes
Online Capacity Expansionyesyesyesyes
Multiple RAID Arraysyesyesyesyes
Hot Spare Supportyesyesyesyes
Battery Backup Unitoptionaloptionaloptionaloptional
RAID 5 init30 min1h 12min1h 6min18min
RAID 6 init44 min1h 02min1h 16min18min
FANnononoyes
Supported OSWindows XP, Server 2003/2008, Vista, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), SCO OpenServer, UnixWare, Sun Solaris 10 x86, FreeBSDWindows 2000, XP, Server 2003, VistaRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)Novell NetWare 6.5SCO OpenServerUnixWareSun Solaris 10 x86FreeBSDWindows 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, RedHat EL 5, OpenSuSE 10.2, SuSE Enterprise (SLES) 10, Fedora Core 6Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, Linux, FreeBSD, Novell Netware 6.5, Solaris 10x86/x86_64, SCO Unixware 7.x.x, Mac OS x(not bootable)
Other FeaturesCopyback HotspareCopyback HotspareRow 15 - Cell 3 Row 15 - Cell 4
Warranty3 years3 years3 years3 years
Price$650$575$700$1,000
ManufacturerAttoICPLSIRaidcore/Ciprico
ModelExpressSAS R348ICP 5085BLMegaRAID SAS 8888ELPRC5252-8
Internal connectors2x SFF 80872x SFF 80872xSFF-80872x SFF 8087
External connectors1x SFF 8088n/a2xSFF-8088n/a
Cache256 MB DDR2 ECC256 MB DDR2 ECC256 MB DDR2-667 ECC-
ProfileLow ProfileLow ProfileLow ProfileLow Profile
InterfacePCI Express x8PCI Express x4PCI Express x8PCI Express x4
XOR EngineIOP 348800 MHzIntel 80333800 MHzPowerPC500 MHz LSISAS1078software
RAID Level Migrationyesyesyesyes
Online Capacity Expansionyesyesyesyes
Multiple RAID Arraysyesyesyesyes
Hot Spare Supportyesyesyesyes
Battery Backup Unitoptionaloptionaloptionalnot required
RAID 5 init23min57min17min2h 42min
RAID 6 initn/a57min17minn/a
FANnononono
Supported OSWindows Vista, Server 2003, XP, 2000Mac OS X (10.4.x)Linux (Fedora, Red Hat and SuSE)Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, VistaRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)Novell NetWare 6.5SCO OpenServerUnixWareSun Solaris 10 x86FreeBSDWindows 2000, XP, Server 2003, VistaRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 4,5SuSE 9.3, 10.1, 10.2SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)Solaris 10SCO UnixWindows 2000, XP, Server 2003, VistaRed Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 4,5SuSE 9.3, 10.1, 10.2SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)Fedora Core 5,6
Other FeaturesDVRAIDCopyback HotspareRow 35 - Cell 3 Controller Spanning
Warranty2 years3 years3 years3 years
Price$1,095$650$850n/a
Patrick Schmid
13 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Fedor
    The degraded figures for streaming writes don't look right. They are too close (or above??) the normal/optimal state numbers. One idea that comes to mind is that if the writes were too small, they would all go into the cache regardless and render the results somewhat useless.
    Reply
  • h4vok
    FedorThe degraded figures for streaming writes don't look right. They are too close (or above??)The figures look OK. Sequential writes to a degraded array are basically done the same way as writes to an optimal array. The only difference is that the write to the failed drive is skipped.
    Reply
  • guan1307
    I am confused your testing report , due to Our testing figure of Areca ARC-1680 firmware 1.45 is better than your report ,
    Reply
  • bull2760
    Can someone tell me what Database server pattern, web server pattern, file server pattern mean. When I run iometer those options are not present I can select 4k-32k or create a custom script. Plus at what stripe size are these tests being run at? I purchased this exact controller and have not duplicated TG results. It would be helpful if you explain in detail how you configured the RAID setup. RAID 5, 6 or 10 with a 16k, 32k, 64k, 128k, 256k, 512k or 1MB stripe size.
    Reply
  • I have an ASUS P5K-E/WIFI-AP which has 2 PCI-E x16. The blue one runs at x16 and black can run at x4 or x1.
    Will this Adaptec card work on my board?
    Reply
  • kakashi
    I think that Tomshardware should run the Areca’s ARC-1680ML test again with the firmware 1.45 and maybe with the latest IOMeter 2006.07.27. Areca claimed that they have better result: http://www.areca.com.tw/indeximg/arc1680performanceqdepth_32%20_vs_%20tomshardwareqdepth_1_test.pdf
    Reply
  • MrMickelson
    Degraded RAID 5 write performance is going to be better than an optimal RAID 5 write because only data stripes are being written opposed to writing data stripes then using XOR to generate the parity stripe thus the write operations will be quicker. Degraded RAID 5 read performance will take a significant hit in performance because rather than just reading only the data stripes for an optimal RAID 5, the available data stripes and available parity stripes will be read then XOR will re-generate this missing data.
    Reply
  • Initializing the controller during POST takes a very long time with Adaptec Raid 3 series, which is very frustrating when used in high performance workstations.
    Has this been fixed with the new Raid 5 series ?
    Reply
  • makaira
    Turn up the heat all right. I installed a new 5805 in a Lian-Li 7010 case with 8 x 1 Tb Seagate drives, Core 2 Quad 2.83Gb and 800w PSU - more fans than you could poke a stick at.

    The controller overheated - reported 99 deg in messages and set off alarm.
    That was on drive initiation. We had a range of errors reported from drives, a number of different drives. The array (5.4Tb Raid 6) never completed building and verifying.

    CPU temp was 45, motherboard 32, and ambient room temp 22deg.

    I installed a 3ware - and all worked fine. Was Tomshardware comment "turns up the heat" written tongue in cheek as there seems to be a heat issue with this card?
    Reply
  • elektrip
    I'd love to see how this controller performs with some Intel X25-M/E or OCZ Vertex SATA SSDs connected. The tested drives here are probably a bottleneck, not the storage controller. Rather in I/O then sequential though.
    Reply