X58 board with 9 SATA Ports

[sgrinavi]

Anyone know of a x58 board that can do 2 sets of four disk raid arrays?

The only thing I have found, so far, is the GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD5 - 10 total SATA ports - cool, right? Has the usual 6 ports on the ICH10R - and 2 pairs of JMB322's - (each set of two will do a raid 0 or raid 1.

I want to set up a 4 disk RAID0 and a 4 disk RAID5 (or 10) ... plus one more for my SATA optical.

I know I can get a RAID card, but the good ones are freaking expensive

 

[PCTC2]

The SuperMicro X8ST3-F and X8STi-3F have the 6 ICH10R ports and 8 SAS ports from an LSI SAS1068E SAS controller. SAS is backwards compatible with SATA. They'll probably run you somewhere from 300-400.

 

[Blazer7]

MSI X58 Eclipse - 10 SATA ports
EVGA X58 SLI - 9 ports

IMHO you are not gonna gain much from a 4 disk RAID 0 array over a 2 disk array. At least not with those "simple" (aka cheap) onboard controllers and the risk you're taking is just not worth it.
Take it from somebody that's running 4 2 disk RAID 0 arrays.

 

[nyker96]

i don't need that many but I want the new usb 3. but this maybe useful for people doing NAS box. 10 drives is quite a feat.

 

[sgrinavi]

Originally posted by: Blazer7
MSI X58 Eclipse - 10 SATA ports
EVGA X58 SLI - 9 ports

IMHO you are not gonna gain much from a 4 disk RAID 0 array over a 2 disk array. At least not with those "simple" (aka cheap) onboard controllers and the risk you're taking is just not worth it.
Take it from somebody that's running 4 2 disk RAID 0 arrays.

Hey, thanks -- the EVGA & MSI have the same problem as the Gigabyte - the extra SATA ports are on two controllers.

My Vertex's went from 500 MB/Sec with a two disk array to 650 with three, I expect to get up to around 750 when I add the fourth 😀 My WD 640's have almost perfect scaling in RAID 0 with up to 4 drives.

 

[lopri]

I highly recommend reading specifications of whichever board you're looking. Some (or rather, many) of these board makers simply paring JMB322 chips with a JMB36x. Then give it some cheap names like "Drive Xpert", "Smart Backup", etc.

JMB322 is a port multiplier, and JMB36x is a SATA/PATA controller that works off a x1 PCIe lane. So what does it mean? It means you're essentially spliting x1 PCIe bandwidth to 4 HDDs. RAID5 or RAID10 performance on PCIe x1 (probably Gen 1) would be abysmal. There is nothing 'xpert', 'smart' about it. It's really a joke.

Some workstation class boards or server grade boards may actually offer a decent solution. Other than that, you're better off with a stand-alone card. Or just set up a main array on ICH10R and use the extra ports for backups, eSATA, optical, etc.

 

[sgrinavi]

Originally posted by: lopri
I highly recommend reading specifications of whichever board you're looking. Some (or rather, many) of these board makers simply paring JMB322 chips with a JMB36x...Other than that, you're better off with a stand-alone card. Or just set up a main array on ICH10R and use the extra ports for backups, eSATA, optical, etc.

You are right on. Thanks for the great response.

If I am going to spend the cash for the server board I might as well get a card. I have an LSI megaraid that is kinda slow, I may just set up a 3 or 4 drive RAID 5 on that and live with the 150 MB/Sec it seems to be spitting out.