Four SAS 6 Gb/s RAID Controllers, Benchmarked And Reviewed
We got our hands on four SAS 6 Gb/s RAID controllers from Adaptec, Areca, HighPoint, and LSI and ran them through RAID 0, 5, 6, and 10 workloads to test their mettle. Does your system need eight more ports of connectivity? We can answer that!
Comparison Table And Test Configuration
Comparison Table
Manufacturer | Adaptec | Areca |
---|---|---|
Product | RAID 6805 | ARC-1880i |
Form Factor | MD2/Low-Profile | MD2/Low-Profile |
Number of SAS Ports | Eight | Eight |
SAS Bandwidth Per Port | 6 Gb/s (SAS 2.0) | 6 Gb/s (SAS 2.0) |
Internal SAS Ports | 2 x SFF-8087 | 2 x SFF-8087 |
External SAS Ports | No | No |
Cache | 512 MB DDR2-667 | 512 MB DDR2-800 |
Host Interface | PCIe 2.0 (x8) | PCIe 2.0 (x8) |
XOR Engine And Clock Rate | PMC-Sierra PM8013 / Not Published | Not Published / 800 MHz |
Supported RAID Levels | 0, 1, 1E, 5, 5EE, 6, 10, 50, 60 | 0, 1, 1E, 3, 5, 6, 10, 30, 50, 60 |
Supported Operating Systems | Windows 7, Windows Server 2008/2008 R2, Windows Server 2003/2003 R2, Windows Vista, VMware ESX Classic 4.x (vSphere),Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), Sun Solaris 10 x86, FreeBSD, Debian Linux, Ubuntu Linux | Windows 7/2008/Vista/XP/2003, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris 10/11 x86/x86_64, Mac OS X 10.4.x/10.5.x/10.6.x, VMware 4.x |
Battery Module | No | Optional |
Fan | No | Yes |
Manufacturer | HighPoint | LSI |
---|---|---|
Product | RocketRAID 2720SGL | MegaRAID 9265-8i |
Form factor | MD2/Low-Profile | MD2/Low-Profile |
Number of SAS Ports | Eight | Eight |
SAS Bandwidth Per Port | 6 Gb/s (SAS 2.0) | 6 Gb/s (SAS 2.0) |
Internal SAS Ports | 2 x SFF-8087 | 2 x SFF-8087 |
External SAS Ports | No | No |
Cache | N/A | 1 GB DDR3-1333 |
Host Interface | PCIe 2.0 (x8) | PCIe 2.0 (x8) |
XOR Engine And Clock Rate | Marvell 9485 / Not Published | LSI SAS2208 / 800 MHz |
Supported RAID Levels | 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50 | 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 60 |
Supported Operating Systems | Windows 2000, XP, 2003, 2008, Vista, 7, RHEL/CentOS, SLES, OpenSuSE, Fedora Core, Debian, Ubuntu, FreeBSD bis 7.2 | Microsoft Windows Vista/2008/Server 2003/2000/XP, Linux, Solaris (x86), Netware, FreeBSD, Vmware |
Battery Module | No | Optional |
Fan | No | No |
Test Configuration
We connected eight Fujitsu MBA3147RC SAS hard disks (147 GB each) to the RAID controllers, while conducting the RAID level 0, 5, 6, and 10 benchmarks. The SSD tests were conducted with five Samsung SS1605.
System Hardware | |
---|---|
Hardware | Details |
CPU | Intel Core i7-920 (Bloomfield) 45 nm, 2.66 GHz, 8 MB Shared L3 Cache |
Motherboard (LGA 1366) | Supermicro X8SAX, Revision: 1.0, Chipset Intel X58 + ICH10R, BIOS: 1.0B |
Controller | LSI MegaRAID 9280-24i4e, Firmware: v12.12.0-0037, Driver: v4.32.0.64 |
RAM | 3 x 1 GB DDR3-1333 Corsair CM3X1024-1333C9DHX |
Hard Drive | Seagate NL35 400 GB, ST3400832NS, 7200 RPM, SATA 1.5Gb/s 8 MB Cache |
Power Supply | OCZ EliteXstream 800 W, OCZ800EXS-EU |
Benchmarks | |
Performance measurements | CrystalDiskMark 3 |
I/O Performance | Iometer 2006.07.27 File server Benchmark Web server Benchmark Database Benchmark Workstation Benchmark Streaming Reads Streaming Writes 4k Random Reads 4k Random Writes |
System Software & Drivers | |
Operating System | Windows 7 Ultimate |
Current page: Comparison Table And Test Configuration
Prev Page LSI MegaRAID 9265-8i: RAID Software And Array Setup Next Page Benchmark Results: I/O Performance In RAID 0 And 5Stay on the Cutting Edge
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americanherosandwich Great review! Though I would have like to see some RAID 1 and RAID 10 benchmarks. Don't usually see RAID 0 for expensive SAS RAID Controllers, and more RAID 10 configurations than RAID 5.Reply -
purrcatian I just sold my HighPoint RocketRAID 2720 because of the terrible drivers. Not only do the drivers add about 60 seconds to the Windows boot, they also cause random BSODs. The support was a joke, and the driver that came on the disc caused the Windows 7 x64 setup to instantly BSOD even though the box had a Windows 7 compatible logo on it. I even RMAed the card and the new one was exactly the same.Reply -
dealcorn Very cool, fast and expensive means not home server stuff. For that, try the IBM BR10I, 8port PCI-e SAS/SATA RAID controller, which is generally available on eBay for $40 with no bracket (I live for danger). You are stuck with 3 GB/sec per port, but if you add $34 for a pair of forward breakout cables you have 8 sata ports at a cost of under $10 per port. The card requires a PCIe X8 slot but if you only give it 4 lanes (the number of lanes offered by our Atom's NM10) if will give each port 1.5 Gb/sec. Cheap SAS makes software RAID 6 prudent in a home storage server.Reply -
slicedtoad I have pretty much no use for anything other than raid 0 but it was still an interesting read. I think i prefer this type of article over the longer type with actual benchmarks thrown in (not for gpu or cpu reviews though).Reply -
pxl9190 Only wish this review had came earlier !Reply
I had a hard time deciding between 9265-8i, 1880 and 6805 a month ago. I bought the 6805 and always wondered why RAID-10 was not as fast as I thought it should be. This reviewed proved my worries.
I eventually went to RAID 6 with 6 Constellation ES 1TB disks. Here's where the adaptec really shines. This is for a photo/video storage/editing disk array.
Admittedly if I have a choice again I would have picked the Areca after seeing the numbers. Adaptec was the cheapest among all of them so it's not too much of a regret. -
Great review! As I am in the process of building a new home file server and always have a habit of going overboard in such situations, I will be referring back to this article many more times before purchasing.Reply
That said can you please talk more to the differences performance wise between SATA and SAS? I understand the reliability argument, however I wonder if for my purposes I would not be better served by using cheaper SATA disks over SAS disks?
I would also love some direction with regard to a good enclosures/power supplies for a hard drive only enclosure. I realize I am quickly priced out of an enterprise solution in this arena, but have seen at least a couple cheaper options online such as the Sans Digital TR8M+B. (This enclosure is normally bundeled with some RocketRaid controller which I would probably discard in favor of either the Adaptec or LSI solution.) -
You are missing a huge competitor in this space. Atto RAID Adapters are on par and I think the only other one out there, why are they not compared in this review?Reply
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Marco925 I bought the Highpoint, for it's money, it was incredible value at a little under $120Reply -
stuckintexas I evaluated all but the Highpoint for work. What isn't shown, and would be unrealistic for a home user, is that the LSI destroys the competition when you throw on a SAS expander. With 24 15k SAS drives, the LSI card tops out at 3500MB/s, RAID0 sequential write, while the Areca isReply