PCI SATA card support

[fredthompson]

Is there a list of known compatible PCI SATA cards?

I have an Asus Asus A7N8X Deluxe 1.04 motherboard which I would like to use as my Amahi server. This board has an integrated Silicon Image 3112 SATA RAID Controller. I also have that exact same chipset on a PCI card which is in the motherboard, currently running Windows XP Pro.

There is enough confusion in Windows with identical SATA controllers. I'd prefer to avoid that with Amahi.

I'd like to know about compatible low-cost 2 or 4-port PCI SATA2 cards to replace the existing PCI card and, possibly, the motherboard chipset if the throughput is sufficient. Goal is to stream HD from the Amahi server without it bogging down if other streams (audio) or web apps are being used.

[cpg]

this is really more of a fedora/linux question, as amahi is independent of this.

a quick search reveals some of this: http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Hardware/sata.html

i have never used a sata pci card (always used system chipset), though generally with linux what you want is hardware that is not way too old, or way too new.

my 2c

[moredruid]

hmmm get one that's not too dependent on drivers, the cheap SATA PCI cards still rely on your CPU to handle lots of stuff (just like onboard controllers) so you won't see any benefits. This is what they call fakeraid in the link cpg gave you and most of them don't perform well. A good card will cost you, but you will see real benefits (large onboard cache and capable processor + BIOS make a real difference).

that said, if you're on a budget just don't. Linux RAID is usually faster than fakeraid chipsets (onboard/cheap pci).
that and the fact that a sata (or better: sata2) disk is more than capable of streaming multiple HD streams concurrently makes an add-on RAID controller a bit moot.

budget tip: buy a previous generation server class SCSI controller and 2 10k/15k rpm SCSI drives if you definately want speed. I've tested this and it's blazing fast once everything is initialized (it'll add a hefty 5 to 10 seconds to your boot time because it has its own BIOS and stuff). this stuff can be had quite cheap on eBay. new 15k 72GB disks go around 100 euros here in NL, the controller can be had around 100 euros new as well (I recommend an LSI 22320, if you have an PCI-X slot free get the -SE (1056Mbps throughput) otherwise the -R(640Mbps throughput)). 2nd hand is cheaper of course, but I'd only recommend that for the controller and not for the disks but that's just me.

[fredthompson]

edited:

OK, that helps, thanks.

The goal isn't hardware/driver RAID, it's SATA-via-PCI in a stable manner so an old computer can be used.

I've changed my mind about streaming HD so bandwidth desired drops. There's so much market movement in small ion-based PCs at the TV that price/performance probably makes it better to preload the source files onto that device.

SATA "RAID" situation looks to me like the old days of telephone modems with all the games played about supposed throughput which exceeded bandwidth.

Here's an example of the type of card which interests me:

Rosewill RC-222 PCI Low Profile Ready SATA Controller Card ~$36, delivered
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product
It's PCI with 4 SATA 150 ports.

This particular card uses the Silicon Image 3114 chipset which, according to the link above, is "fakeraid", offloading processing to the CPU. OK, so Linux RAID is used instead of mutant driver-CPU-card-RAID.
This thread seems to agree: http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=181066

A quick Google search with the terms "fedora 12" and either "sil 3114" or "sil3114" yields other reports of problems with "mutant" hardware RAID but software RAID operating just fine.

Is my assumption that such a card "should" function as a simple PCI-SATA interface correct?