Project: PrometheusCu

Hey folks.

I'm searching for a RAID controller.
Here is exactly what I want, in terms of board layout and specs:
Suitable for use with 4x 64GB SSDs
SATA2
Compatibility with Vista Ultimate 64
4x front facing SATA ports

*optional, but preferred* 2-4 rear IO eSATA ports

The card posted above is the Rosewill RC-218 - and although it may seem ideal at first glance it is only a 4-channel card; which means that it can only run 4 of the 6 ports at once (4xinterior & 0xexterior - or - 2x2). Since I'll be using 4x64GB SSDs with the board at all times, that makes the extra eSATA ports entirely useless.

If that's not possible then a 4-channel card with no external IO will do - but it must be 3gb/s, and have front facing ports.

I don't have much experience with RAID controllers, so any advice for things to look for and things to avoid are greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot in advance!

well... good luck.. lol you have lost me...

He wants a 6 channel RAID controller which is black and has the same layout as the above pics. e-SATA is a bonus but not necessary and must be compatible with 64bit Vista and deliver 3gbps speed.

I will see what I can find mate, they will probably be Australian stores but you may be able to look up the model number back home.

I found something that would suit your needs, it does have a green PCB but has a copper heatsink ;). I was thinking you could make a cover for it like your graphics cards.
High Point RocketRAID 2000 Series:
http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA/series_2000.htm

Hazaa! The 2310 looks pretty ideal - but I'll need to do some more research on it.

Yeah they look pretty decent, besides the green PCB lol.

I have an older version of that card. I used it until I got a computer new enough to have SATA ports on it. The eSATA ports would be half covered up when the card was installed.

This is basically the controller you want, trust me, you do NOT want ur 4 high performance ssd's to be run of a low performance controller without onboard memory and a decent cpu =)

your disk performance will plummit without something around these speccs

copy/paste

3ware 9690SA

Expand your Horizon
AMCC builds on established 3ware SATA RAID leadership to introduce the 3ware 9690SA SAS controller, the new standard in Serial Attached SCSI RAID. As SATA and SAS technologies converge, users look to 3ware SATA for price and performance and to SAS for SAS/SATA connectivity with expansion up to 128 devices. The 3ware 9690SA delivers accelerated SAS performance and the flexibility of internal and external connectivity. Whether customers require SAS, SATA, or SAS/SATA connectivity, 3ware will provide the right tool for the job.

Use the Right Tool
The 3ware 9690SA offers configuration flexibility with three PCI Express low profile controller choices: eight internal ports, eight external ports, and four internal/external ports. AMCC now offers a highly scalable 3ware serial storage product portfolio that includes 2- to 24-ports of SATA connectivity with the 3ware 9650SE and maximized SAS expandability to up to 128 devices per controller with the 3ware 9690SA.Users will also enjoy a unified RAID management interface and software suite which assures a picture perfect configuration experience with every 3ware controller, irrespective of its storage interface.


Data Protection and Performance
Advanced 3ware RAID architecture, SAS and SATA II performance features, including 3Gb/s and NCQ, help rocket the 9690SA to RAID 5 and RAID 6 performance heights. An optional Battery Backup Unit with integrated write journaling and remote battery mounting capability provides added data protection in the event of a power outage. The 3ware 9690SA supports RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and Single Disk.

3ware 9650SE Features

* 8th-generation StorSwitchT non-blocking switched architecture
* On-board I/O RISC processor and RAID offload provides true hardware RAID - SCSI device driver model to take advantage of SAS or inexpensive Serial ATA drives
* Bootable array support for greater fault tolerance of your OS
* Variable stripe size for performance tuning by application
* Support for greater than 2TB volumes
* 512MB DDR2 533 memory with ECC protection
* 128 max disk drives via SAS expanders
* Complete configuration management suite
- 3ware BIOS Manager (3BM) - easy to use BIOS configuration tool
- 3ware Disk Manager 2 - browser-based management tool
- Command Line Interface (CLI) - scriptable configuration tool
* SNMP support
* SMTP support for email/pager notification
* Staggered drive spin-up support
* Auto carving allows LUNs > 2TB to be divided into multiple units for legacy operating systems limited to 2TB max. per LUN
* Battery Backup Unit (BBU) with remote battery support
* Write journaling for improved performance and data protection against accidental drive removal
* Multiple SAS/SATA RAID sets
* Multiple logical unit sizes and RAID levels on one card
* Hot-swap and hot-spare support for data availability
* Dynamic sector repair for robust data protection
* S.M.A.R.T. disk drive monitoring for reliability
* Emergency Flash Recovery protects against failed firmware upgrade
* Drive activity LED support
* Array/Drive Status and drive identification LED support
* Enclosure management via I2C and SES 2.0
* Drive insertion and removal notification
* Online Capacity Expansion and RAID Level Migration
* RoHS 6 of 6 and WEEE compliant

Model 9690SA-8I 9690SA-8E 9690SA-4I4E
Form Factor Low Profile Low Profile Low Profile
Port Count 8 8 8
PCI Express Lanes x8 x8 x8
Raid Levels 0,1,5,6,10,50,Single Disk 0,1,5,6,10,50,Single Disk 0,1,5,6,10,50,Single Disk
Onboard Memory 512MB DDR2 533 512MB DDR2 533 512MB DDR2 533
Connector Type SFF-8087mini-SAS SFF-8087mini-SAS SFF-8087/SFF-8088 mini-SAS
BBU Support Yes Yes Yes

Thanks for the info mate, but I've decided on either:
HighPoint RocketRAID 3510 with an optional BBU *most likely choice*
or
Dell Perc 5/i.

well.. better you than me cuz i have no idea when it comes to them