To fully support SATA III / 6.0Gbps, you need to have the drives plugged directly in - no expander backplane. See http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/rs2bl080/sb/CS-030631.htm
If your speed drops suddenly, check to make sure your cache settings haven't changed. See http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/CS-020926.htm
Just to be clear, after I plug the raid card into the PCI-e slot in the workstation, just make sure that each drive is directly connected to the card via the sata III cable.
To get to the origional question how is the real world performace of this ard in a raid 5 array? Most likely using 7200 sata III drives, not SAS,
Thanks!
Carl.
In informal lab testing with the RT3WB080 using 7 SSD disks and no BBU with the following policies enabled:
Stripe Size 256K
I/O Policy Cached
Disk Cache Policy Enabled
Read Ahead Policy Always
Controller Cache Enabled
We saw:
MB's I/O's
1MB - 100% read - 100% seq 1115 1115
1MB - 100% write - 100% seq 623 623
512B - 100% read - 100% random 23.5 48113
512B - 100% write - 100% random 6.7 13865
You see the performance in XOR streaming writes (includes RAID5 & RAID6) which is limited by the 256MB cache memory the RT3WB080 has.
Regards,
John
Carl,
In addition, the RT3WB080 is SATA only. It doesn't support SAS HDDs
Regards,
John
I saw that you used SSD's, but would any SATA III drive work OK with this card? i.e.:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136792
I need to move rather quick on this so I can get the external raid returned and get these new card/drives within the return window of my vendor.
Thanks!
Carl,
For best results use disk drives from the RT3WB080 Tested hardware and operating system list.
Regards,
John
I'll take a close look at the list. One final queston. This is going into a full stize tower workstation. It appears this card is half hight. Do you know if will fit in a full hight slot? i.e. Do you know if it comes with the metal back piece I can swap out from the short to the full height?
Obviously this is very important. Thanks again for all your help!
Carl
Check the RT3WB080 Quick Start User's Guide.
Im reading hrough the compatability list but I an noot see my MOBO listed on theere. Again, this is just a high end workstation. Would the Asus Rampage III Extreme MOBO workwith this card? Im close to making a purchase.
Thanks!''
I checked http://usa.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1366/Rampage_III_Extreme/, but I don't see a Tested Adapter List. You may have to contact them directly, to make sure.
I think it will work OK. I can give it a try and if it does nto work I can always return it.
Thanks again for the restearch.
Dan-O: Do you anything about this add on tech and if it is worth the moeny and if so, how much?
http://www.intelraid.com/uploads_demo/Intel_RAID_SSD_Cache_with_FastPath.pdf
Thanks man,
Carl
Totally worth it. Since Intel doesn't do direct sales, you'll have to talk to your local reseller for pricing, though. If you don't already have one, check out http://www.intel.com/buy/premier/index.htm
What I am trying to figur e out ids what the optional accessories do? That will help me define if they are worth the moeny or not. Do you know that the 4 biillable options for the cardactually do? BTW... the card and 8 hitachi drives shuold be ehre tomorrow if all goes well.
