Going the SAS Storage Way
Adaptec SAS 48300
The 48300 is a SAS host bus adapter that was designed for the PCI-X bus. Still, PCI-X is the dominating interface in the server space, although more and more motherboard products come with PCI Express core logic.
PCI-X at 133 MHz as used by the Adaptec SAS 48300 provides an interface throughput of 1.06 GB/s, which is definitely fast enough, unless the PCI-X bus is being shared by multiple devices. If a lower speed device is plugged in, all other PCI-X devices have to switch down the clock speed to match this lowest common bus speed. Making sure that a PCI-X controller has a PCI-X bridge of its own is the safe way to maintain maximum bandwidth.
Adaptec offers the SAS 4800 for the low- to mid-range server and workstation space. At a MSRP of $360, it is reasonably priced and it supports Adaptec's HostRAID feature, which is a system powered basic RAID implementation. RAID levels 0, 1 and 10 are offered. The card features one internal SFF8470 quad link connector and a second SFF8484 connector featuring four external SAS links, for a total of eight links.
The card fits into a 2U rack mount server with a low-profile bracket included. It also comes with a driver CD, a quick installation manual as well as a four-port SAS fanout cable that connects up to four system drives to the adapter board.
Stay on the Cutting Edge
Join the experts who read Tom's Hardware for the inside track on enthusiast PC tech news — and have for over 25 years. We'll send breaking news and in-depth reviews of CPUs, GPUs, AI, maker hardware and more straight to your inbox.