Advice on a SCSI Card

[xfactordomine]

Hi Folks,

I'm building a high end box for video editing and I need a little advice on a SCSI card.. i'm not too sure which one to get, as I haven't shopped around for one in a while..
This box will be the master box in a Scyld cluster.
Here's the specs so far:

2 x AMD Athlon MP 2100
Asus 760MP mobo or the Tyan MPX
1GB DDR
3dLabs Wildcat II
4 Seagate Cheetah X15-36LP's U160
Soundblaster Live!

Debian 3.0r0

I don't really care about price.. i care about performance.. and preferrably I don't want to run all 4 hdd's on 1 chain.

So what do you guys think? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

-X

oh and P.S.: Anyone know of any known issues for running Debian 3.0r0 with the hardware listed above? Thanks again.

 

[Whitedog]

Don't they make a Dualie Mobo for Athlon MP with built in SCSI? I'd buy one of those if I were building a system like that.

I'm not sure about that board, but if it has a 64bit PCI slot, get a 29160... otherwise a 19160 is l33t. Be sure you get an LVD cable... one with 4 connectors is around 50 bux.

I'm not an expert on dualie AMD Mobo's, but I'm pretty sure there are some with 64bit PCI slots, I'd go for one of those and get the 29160. If you're going to blow that much $$ on 4 scsi drives, you may as well put them on a good board.

I currently run a 19160 and a couple 10k scsi's. It's very responsive. I'll be seeking a dual system soon enough with 64bit PCI. I'll still use my 19160 on it for a while, but eventually will buy me the 64bit card.

You may think... "Why"? but think about it.. why bother with Ultra160 when you're bottlenecked at the PCI bus at 133MB/s? And if you strip your SCSI drives, you're really not gaining much... that's why you need the 64bit card.

 

[Wolfsraider]

lsi and mylex offer decent cards and you can read up on more from 2cpu in their forums here

hope this helps
mike

 

[xfactordomine]

Thanks for the response.

I was thinking the adaptec 29160 in the first place, but wasn't sure whether or not there are better cards out there or not And yes.. i'm making sure that any mobo i get has 64-bit PCI slots. (I think all the dual AMD mobo's have 64-bit PCI slots)
Call me old-fashioned (or just plain silly) but i don't know if i entirely "trust" built-in SCSI on a mobo. Just like i've never trusted built-in anything, i.e, video, sound, etc.
Do onboard SCSI adapters perform as well as an add-on card? That's basically what i'm concerned with the most.

If they do, then maybe that's what I should be looking at. Any input guys?

Thanks,

-X

 

[MSantiago]

As long as the built-in SCSI controller uses a good chipset (Adaptec, LSI/Symbios) it should perform just like it would on a card. The big disadvantage is that if you ever decide to get a new MB, you're going to have to spend the extra money to get a SCSI card or another board with built-in SCSI.

 

[Markfw]

The Tyan Thunder http://www.tyan.com/products/html/thunderk7x.html has option on-board SCSI. Here is the blurp from that link:
Integrated SCSI (optional)
Adaptec AIC-7899W controller
Dual-channel Ultra 160 SCSI support
160MB/sec maximum data throughput per channel
Support up to 15 LVD SCSI devices per channel
Channel A and Channel B - 68-pin connectors

I think this would be your best bet. The MB is not cpheap, but you want fast and good and reliable, this is it. There are also reviews on Tomshardware, and other places.

 

[mcveigh]

IMHO apdaptec is over priced, I like tekram and lsi ( I use a tekram at home)

 

[RanDum72]

Get an Adaptec card. They are the most COMPATIBLE SCSI cards around. Although there may be faster and cheaper cards, Adaptec is like the industry standard in SCSI so compatibility and reliability is guaranteed.

 

[GoSharks]

Originally posted by: RanDum72
Adaptec is like the industry standard in SCSI so compatibility and reliability is guaranteed.

well, so is LSI Logic/Symbios...

 

[RanDum72]

well, so is LSI Logic/Symbios...

Well but who's the bigger of the two?

 

[Jmmsbnd007]

On a mobo note, grab the MPX, not the MP. I'd actually wait for the hammer... but I guess you need it now.

 

[MSantiago]

Originally posted by: RanDum72
well, so is LSI Logic/Symbios...

Well but who's the bigger of the two?

Size is irrelevant. Driver/BIOS updates for LSI/Symbios controllers (especially from Tekram) rival Adaptec's any day. And I've never seen anything that suggests Adaptec controllers are more "compatible" than others.

 

[mastertech01]

Well you stated you didnt want all the drives on the same chain, so you will need a dual LVD controller, like the 39160. If you want pure performance you could go with an ATTO Raid controller and with 4 drives run up to 175MBPS burst. But they are RAID 0 only. They also use a Symbios chipset. The Thunder K7 s2462UNG MP has dual 160 channels on it, and the MPX version also allows 64bit 66MHZ for top RAID performance. A Mylex Raid controller would be nice for that, using a Raid 5 configuration for data protection. There are so many variables you could look at in SCSI, you just need to spend a week or so and look at all the reviews and specs to make a good decision. Just be sure if you buy a motherboard with onboard SCSI that you should plan on not upgrading for a long time if you want to get your moneys worth. Otherwise invest in a Controller card. Be mindfull of how many PCI slots you have to work with as well. If you need to run SCSI CDROMs you will need another Ultra SCSI card to run them if you use both channels of the onboard controller for your hard drives. Lots to consider overall.

 

[GoSharks]

Originally posted by: RanDum72
well, so is LSI Logic/Symbios...

Well but who's the bigger of the two?

seems like somebody needs to do some research.
Adaptec finance sheet
LSI Logic finance sheet

LSI Logic IS an industry leader.

 

[xfactordomine]

Thanks for all the great info, all.

I was thinking about waiting for Hammer.. but who knows when that'll come out and then I'll still have to wait for that Linus chap to write a 64-bit kernel I know exactly what i'm getting except for this one crucial component.. and I know that the component in question will make a huge difference. It looks like i'm off to do the research thing and once again, thanks for all your help.
So far, it looks like adaptec or lsi is what i'm going to be getting. Now.. to decide which ones...
In term of performance, i'm not all too satisfied with RAID5 speed, but the ECC and parity is nice. RAID0, i'm hesitant about for obvious reasons. I was leaning towards RAID0+1, but i'm not about to get 8 Seagate X15's
If anyone has more to add, please do, as I'll be checking this quite frequently.

-X

 

[Pariah]

A bit off topic, but if you plan to use that system for video editing there is no reason to put a 3DLabs card in it. 3D rendering power is useless for video editing. Buy a dirt cheap 2d card with good IQ like a Matrox G450 or ATi card then add a video editing board like a Matrox RT.X100 or Canopus Raptor.

 

[RanDum72]

seems like somebody needs to do some research

OK, LSI is bigger than Adaptec but thats because they have a wider range of products. Adaptec has always pioneered and concentrated on SCSI and storage so I would consider Adaptec to be the LEADER in SCSI (as well as market share in SCSI adapters). LSI is more of a semi-conductor company that makes chips for a variety of products including chips for DVD players, and chips such as ARM and MIPS. Symbios is their SCSI branch (incidentally wasn't Adaptec about to buy Symbios before but was blocked because of 'anti-trust' reasons?).
In 2001, LSI had a huge net loss of almost $1 billion (Link).
In contrast, Adaptec earned $40 million (Link).

 

[sleefer]

Money no object? Mylex eXtremeRAID 2000 card is the way to go.

 

[mcveigh]

Originally posted by: sleefer
Money no object? Mylex eXtremeRAID 2000 card is the way to go.

ohhhhh, nice!

 

[xfactordomine]

Originally posted by: Pariah
A bit off topic, but if you plan to use that system for video editing there is no reason to put a 3DLabs card in it. 3D rendering power is useless for video editing. Buy a dirt cheap 2d card with good IQ like a Matrox G450 or ATi card then add a video editing board like a Matrox RT.X100 or Canopus Raptor.

Thanks, but I took a look at both of those boards you suggested and I don't think there's any Linux support for them. Know of any video editing boards with linux support?

I also looked at the Mylex card... and umm.. I WANT.. However, money is indeed an object

-X