Need Help with IO Controller

[aigomorla]

Need help here.

I know very little about this controller. I was waiting for a friend to respond to my emails but she kinda went MIA.

Anyhow im ready to bite the pricetag on this guy. However wanted to know some info.

Do i really need to get to additional memory module? Do i also need the backup battery?

I heard theres issue with the arcea controller and Xfire?

Also the only slot i'll have free is a 4x pci-e slot but its a 16x slot config. Will my 8x card suffer from 4x? if thats the case i may need to grab an X2 b4 i grab the ARC controller.

Thank you for your help.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

The Areca ARC-1221x SATA host adapter is an eight lane controller. The manual does not indicate if the ARC-1221x is compatible with a 4x PCIe slot. Most 8x PCIe controllers will also work in a 4x slot. By testing the ARC-1221x in an Apple Mac Pro, it was discovered that the controller will also function in a four lane PCIe configuration. However, the read performance was reduced by approximately 10% when installed in a four lane slot while testing an eight drive striped RAID set.

source

Which Areca card are you getting? Also, what is the system being used for? I have an 8-port Areca ARC-1220 card that I've had for a while now (maybe 2 years), and I've never had an issue running it without a battery module. But then again, this was a file server / gaming machine. Something in production or a full scale file server, I would like get the battery module (and they aren't that expensive at $130). Memory is also something that depends upon the use and how many ports the card has. Some of the cards that max out at 1gb, and I would be more inclined to put a battery module on. By no means is the battery module required though, and there have been some discussions that having one is pointless. For large scale RAID arrays though, I err on the side of caution.

I haven't heard anything about Xfire and Areca, but I don't use ATI at all. I'll see what I can find.