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Looking for RAID Controller and SSDs


UserXX

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Hello everyone,

I am looking to make the jump to SATA 3 SSDs in RAID0. I am on an X58 Vanilla (EVGA E758). I am looking for compatibility issues.

 

I want to run a LSI 9260-4i 6Gb/s RAID controller. Has or is anyone using this controller? I want to make sure I am getting a quality and compatible card.

 

I am also looking for recommendations for some reliable fast SSDs? I am looking for either 4X 60G or 2X 120G drives. I am leery of the SanForce based SSD due to all the problems with compatibility and stability

 

P.S.

Looking at a couple SSDs:

2X Corsair Performance Pro 120G - Marvell 88S-9174

4X Corsair Force Series GT 60g - SandForce SF-2200

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Im looking at the following for my SATA 3 RAID 0 setup.

 

1X HighPoint ISFF-8087 to 4 SATA Fan Out Cable

2X Corsair Performance Pro Series 128GB

1X LSI MegaRAID SATA/SAS 9260-4i

 

Any suggestions or concerns that I need to know about?

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Your set-up looks real good. I had two Corsair Force GT 240GB SSD's running on the LSI 9265-8i and they worked AWESOME! I would go with the 9265 as it has 1GB of DDR3 on-board cache. I also had an Areca 1880-8i with the same two drive's with no issues either. I did have issues with the Crucial M4's on both of these controller's, so stay clear of them as there is a firmware issue with the M4 not being able to be recognized properly. This is also documented on the Crucial forums.

 

Here is a link to some benchmarks that users have run on various RAID controllers and on-board controllers:

 

http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98607

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Thank you very much for the info. I think I may have to scratch up the extra cash to get 9265. I am seeing some pretty damn good results with that controller, plus the Dual ROCs and 1G DDR3 cache will give the drives some breathing room.

 

I’m impressed with what I have been seeing from the Corsair Performance Pro Series 128G. At the very least I will not run into the issues I had with the Sanforce 2000 series SSDs.

 

Have you used LSI’s Fast Path Software, I have seen some nice benches using the Fast Path Software, just not sure what real world results would be like.

 

P.S.

Have you ran into any overheating issues on the 9265?

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Do you have any suggestions on how to add the active cooling or will passive cooling work if I replace the TIM and have a well designed case (maybe even replace the heatsink)? I will be loading this card into the top single spaced 16X PCIe slot. I have a sound card installed in a 1X right below the top slot and 2 GTX580s below that.

 

I have very good air flow in that case with water on most major components. I have included a picture. The Red circle is the location of the PCIe 16X slot that I intend to use for the LSI 9265-8i. The green arrows show the air flow for the 4 fans located on one side of the case. The three front 120MM fans are intake through a ******** triple RAD , the last fan is an exhaust out the back.

 

I have 3 more fans on the other side, two in the back as exhaust and one in the front (intake).

 

http://techsoftsys.com/Images/comp.jpg

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I don't think that your current fans will generate enough airflow too cool the controller to a normal temperature.

You should think about putting a 40mm fan directly on the passive heatsink of the controller (if you have enough space left to your soundcard).

Or try to mount an 80mm fan behind the card (in the region of your memory cooler).

This fan does can be running at low rpm.

 

Otherwise you would have to get high rpm fans in front of your radiator to generate the airflow.

But i would prefer one of the first two options because i think high rpm fans in front of the radiator will not help much.

 

Try it and look up the temperatures with the MegaRAID Storage Manager.

 

This is what the manual tells:

For the MegaRAID SAS 9260-4i, SAS 9260-8i, SAS 9260CV-4i, SAS 9260CV-8i, and SAS

9260DE-8i RAID controllers, the operating (thermal and atmospheric) conditions are:

- Relative humidity range is 5 percent to 90 percent noncondensing (20 percent to 80 percent noncondensing for the RAID controllers)

- Airflow must be at least 200 linear feet per minute (LFPM) to avoid operating the LSISAS2108 processor above the maximum ambient temperature

- Temperature range: +10 °C to +60 °C without battery backup unit

- Temperature range: +10 °C to +45 °C with iBBU battery backup

 

For the SAS 9265-8i RAID controller, the operating (thermal and atmospheric)

conditions are:

- Relative humidity range is 5 percent to 90 percent noncondensing (20 percent to 80 percent noncondensing for the RAID controllers)

- Airflow must be at least 200 linear feet per minute (LFPM) to avoid operating the LSISAS2108 processor above the maximum ambient temperature

- Temperature range: +10 °C to +60 °C without battery backup unit

- Temperature range: +10 °C to +44.5 °C with iBBU battery backup

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I am looking into some third party coolers such as:

 

Enzotech SLF-1

 

I had a good long talk with LSI about my setup and cooling, they claim that the card will work just fine without additional cooling, in fact LSI stated that aftermarket cooling will void the warranty.

 

I asked them if they will guarantee this and they stated yes for three years under the normal manufacture warranty.

 

What do I have to lose other than time. I have a great back up system so why not give it a try.

 

If the RAID fails I have the trail of emails and TT numbers form LSI techsupport.

 

Here are my system temps at normal use:

http://techsoftsys.com/Images/IdleTemps.png

I am running a total of 7 120MM Yate Loon fans in the case.

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I’m looking for compatibility, just wondering if anyone has used the LSI 9265-8i on an EVGA X58 E758 BIOS (83).

 

I am also looking for compatibility of the Corsair Performance Pro 120G and 256G SSDs on the LSI 9265-8i.

 

These are my final questions before purchase.

 

Thank you all for the info.

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I’m looking for compatibility, just wondering if anyone has used the LSI 9265-8i on an EVGA X58 E758 BIOS (83).

 

I am also looking for compatibility of the Corsair Performance Pro 120G and 256G SSDs on the LSI 9265-8i.

 

These are my final questions before purchase.

 

Thank you all for the info.

 

Corsair Performance Pro 128G are working on mine LSI 9265-8i on a Gigabyte EX58-EXTREME.

So it should work with your setup too.

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