[geeks] Anyone use this SATA controller in a PC

[Lionel Peterson]

>From: Lionel Peterson <lionel4287 at verizon.net>
>Date: 2008/03/08 Sat AM 10:15:01 CST
>To: geeks at sunhelp.org
>Subject: [geeks] Anyone use this SATA controller in a PC

>Hello all,
>
>I'm thinking of "pimping out" an old PowerEdge 4400 (dual PIII Xeon 1 GHz). I've currently got it full of 36 Gig SCSI drives, but I realized I could add one of my favorite 3x 3.5" SATA hot-swap trays in the two open 5.25" bays (under the optical drive), so I'm thinking about adding a SATA controller to this machne. Since it only has PCI slots (64 bit, both 33 and 66 MHz), I was thinking of adding one of these Promise SATA controllers and playing with ZFS and/or JBOD on a couple large SATA drives:
>
>http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816102062
>
>At about $60 it is right on the edge of justifiable, since it is 300 Mb/sec SATA "II" and low-profile, so I could use it in any other system if I decide to de-commission the PowerEdge 4400.
>
>Obviously, I'd be interested in Solaris Support if anyone knows about that as well..

Another card that looks interesting (since it is only $30 ;^) is this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132013

It has on-board RAID (including hot spare), but it is only SATA "I" (150 Mb/sec)... I wonder if it really makes a difference on a system like this (Dual PIII Xeon 1 GHz)?

I did stumble across this link over at sun.com:

http://blogs.sun.com/PlasticPixel/entry/build_your_own_multi_terabyte

Where the fellows ZFS server uses similar SiI3114 chipset SATA card:

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16815124020

(I like the ROsewill card because the two external eSATA ports add to the flexibility of the card in other applications)

Any advice apprecated...

Lionel