RAID PCI Controllers: SIIG, Highpoint, Promise, Koutech..which one?

[chizow]

Which one would you guys recommend? Reviews and posts on them are few and far between.

Highpoint: Kinda pricy, seems like best performing. Anyone that has this card, how important are the included disks for installation? I can probably download the drivers and utilities, but is there anything on those floppies that would prevent installation as a boot disk? I can get an OEM for about 1/2 price.

Promise: Heard about problems with this controller. Performance seems mediocre.

SIIG: Very reasonable price and is the only one I can get at a B&M locally. CompUSSR has it for ~$60

Koutech: Seems like the cheapest UDMA133 controller available. @ $30 shipped.

I need a RAID card for my newly acquired Maxtor 120GB Ultras (Thanks Staples!! ), so any input would be great. My A7N8X has onboard SATA, and the adapters are expensive and hard to find. Plus a dedicated RAID card will give me flexibility in the future as most mobos are migrating to onboard SATA RAID.

Thanks,

Chiz

 

[daveqb]

bump on this

what bout SiliconImage ??
heard they are up and comers

anyone heard of Skymaster RAID cards ???

 

[mcveigh]

3ware. expensive but worth it.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: mcveigh
3ware. expensive but worth it.

Just an update, I ended up going with an Adaptec 1200A (Highpoint 370) b/c CompUSA had a nice sale on it for $50. I also ordered a Koutech I/O Magic based on the Silicon Image controller. Both seem to do well in tests, the Highpoint Rocketraid 133 seems to be the cream of the crop for software RAID cards under $100. Its still pretty pricy, but can be had for ~$70. The Silicon Image did very well (I think Digit-Life has a review) compared to the Promise Fasttrak and the RocketRaid 133, and can be had for much cheaper (~30 shipped!!).

As for the 3ware and other hardware RAID controllers, definitely not worth the price for what I need. I'm only running RAID 0, if I were running RAID 5 I would definitely look into it, maybe even RAID 0+1.

Chiz

 

[Ilmater]

Actually, the reviews I've seen (and I haven't missed many) have placed the 3ware cards at the bottom of the list every time. However, I should caveat that by saying that I look only at RAID 5 performance and the general conclusions. Adaptecs consistently have the lowest CPU utilization, so I think you picked the best one for you, especially if it's on sale.