Adaptec 29160 or Tekram 390U3D SCSI card?

[alkemyst]

I have a Tekram 390F (40MB/s) card. I want to upgrade to get rid of cable length worries most of all.

What's the better card? Why?

Thanks

 

[Zepper]

I like Tekram because they work very well and cost less than Adaptec (and the 390F was my first SCSI adapter too!). If Adaptec were made in USA or some oher country with high std of living or worked better, i might consider paying more, but they are made in some Pac Rim country just like all the ohers and don't work significantly better. Also consider LSI (Symbios) and Qlogic, cost even less than Tekram. All four are well supported with drivers and by all OSes. See Hypermicro for lots of good SCSI gear and advice. Mention www.storagereview.com for free ground shipping.

.b h.

p.s. Oh yeah, the cable length freedom is only when all devices on a channel are LVD! You put SE devices on the same channel and max data rate and cable length go poof cause the channel will revert to SE operation just like your 390F...bh.

 

[andrey]

I've had Adaptec 39160 in my main computer for almost 1.5 years now and have never had an issue with it. Also, I've never had to worry about drivers in different OSes (Windows, Linux, etc..) and the performance of the card is just as it suppose to be. If I would have a choice between Adaptec and Tekram, I personally would choose Adaptec.

 

[Thor86]

If cost is an issue, then go with Tekram. No problems using there SCSI and/or RAID controllers, at least with NT/2000. But my personal vote is with Adaptec as they produce quality SCSI cards. Go with a slightly less expensive 29160 if you only have 2 x 160 SCSI drives. Any more, and you should go with a 39160 for max throughput without saturating the SCSI bandwidth.