Help me choose a U320 SCSI card

[Wombat]

Hey guys,
Need get a bunch of U320 SCSI cards for work. PCI, and preferably the 64-bit kind that fits into a 32bit slot if it has to.

It seems like the prices range from $200-$600. What are the differences? My boss is really tight on money, so I'll have to justify the extra cost if we choose one card over another (and we're buying like a dozen cards, so the difference is a little more noticable).

Thanks!

[KvHagedorn]

I have always used Adaptec, whether built in to the motherboard or alone, then I looked at the LSI cards, and the Adaptec ones looked like toys.. haven't used one yet, but it's getting tempting. This is the one I want:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=16-118-013&depa=0

There are different versions of these for 64/66 and PCI-X, so be careful to get the right one for your motherboard.

not many places carry the PCI-X cards..

http://www.lsilogic.com/products/ultra320_scsi_megaraid_storage_adapters/320x128.html

[agallag]

Are you looking for plain SCSI, or SCSI with RAID? Makes a huge difference in price. If you want RAID, make sure it has all the important features, like all the RAID levels you're looking for, battery backed cache, hot spare, hot swap, etc. LSI is probably the best in aftermarket cards in this category.

If you just need a basic SCSI controller, a simple adaptec is most likely adequate.

[UtwigMU]

Differences are:
Single channel, dual channel ...

Unless you plan on running more than 2-3 drives per card get single channel.

160 vs 320 - 320 is the way to go now as price difference is not high.

The cards are also differentiated with legacy support.

For instance Adapted 29320 has internal ultra narrow port for opticals and ZIP drives.

External narrow ports (scanner, external burners) are rare now.

If you need external narrow ports, Adaptec 2904 (fast narrow), Adaptec 2940 Ultra (narrow) or something similar from Tekram can be had for cheap.

The best SCSI burner is Plextor 40/12/40S, there are Pioneer and Toshiba DVD-ROMs, but IMO we can forget SCSI DVD burners.

If you need 2-3 drives per workstation and an optical drive, I'd get something like Adaptec 29320A-R.

If you need raid, stay away from the so called Host Raid and get real RAID card. Like others have said LSI is good.

[Wombat]

We don't need RAID. We're using these cards to send data to externally connected storage libraries. We already have a bunch of U160 cards, they're not fast enough

[BuddMan]

I'm not sure what specific card you should get, but HyperMicro is a great place to go to find what you're looking for. Is where I got my SCSI card and HD.

EDIT: Hmmm, looks like they recently changed a bit and expanded their inventory, but they still have a wide selection of SCSI devices.

[UtwigMU]

I'd drop an e-mail to Adaptec (I once asked them a few presales things about Duoconnect, 64 PCI slots compatibility and SCSI cards with legacy ports), describe my needs and ask them to suggest something that will fit.

They respond next day.

[Wombat]

Just got off the phone with Adaptec. They don't support Sparc.

I never realized that before.

[Wombat]

Looks like I'll go for LSI 21320's. They're $185 at newegg, though out of stock. Dual channel, with a full 68-pin external connector.

The 20320 would work (single channel, $161), but it has a VHDCI connector.

[UtwigMU]

http://www.lsilogic.com/downloads/downloads.do?product=2095&download_type=driver

This from LSI appears to support SPARC.

[Kooldino]

Interesting. I'll have to keep this info in the back of my mind.

OT: WTF is OpenUnix?