Fast and Secure: A Comparison of Eight RAID Controllers

LSI Logic Megaraid I4

The Megaraid i4 from LSI Logic proved to be a good Ultra-DMA/ 100 controller. It is equipped with 16 MB of cache and achieved good scores with RAID 0 and 1. In the RAID-5 comparison, however, it was behind the Escalade 7850 in every discipline.

At 16 MB, this card has the largest memory capacity of all the cards we tested. It supports RAID levels 0, 1, 3 and 5, plus the combinations 0+1, 0+3 and 0+5. The four-channel controller is based on the Sil 0649 chip from Silicone Image, is hot-pluggable, and allows connection of up to eight hard disks. With its five-year manufacturer's warranty, the Megaraid i4 gets good marks for service. Although not one of the top performers, the LSI card is a suitable alternative to the Escalade 7850.

The four channels of the LSI Logic Megaraid i4 are neatly arranged in line, and will accept up to eight drives.