Sata 3 pci card for SSD on z600

[DGroves]

NO!!!,....................this link  as i previously stated is for a pci-e carrier board that supports two M.2 devices

 device number one, which for this card, can be either a M.2   "M" x4 or a "B" x2  SSD device and due to the pcie 2.0 bus on the z600 will be half the speed of systems using pcie 3.0

the second M.2 device  is for "SATA" SSD devices and uses a sata cable from the pci-e board to the motherboard sata port

as such it performs no faster than a 2.5 form factor SATA SSD which on the z600 is sata 3 not sata 6

your sec link is for  a pci-e x2 sata card which will support ONE SSD at near sata 6GBps speeds adding more drives to the card will slow both drives down as bandwidth is shared between all devices connected to this card

IF YOU WANT FASTER ssd DRIVE SPEEDS, THEN BUY A LSI 9211-8I CARD OR A 9212 CARD, it will support multiple SSD's at ful speed and will be a bit faster the 9211 card requires a specific cable to connect drive and card, but thes cables are quite cheap the 9212 card has 4 normal sata connectors, so you can use a normal sata cable to connect drive and card

[Robbie86]

Alright, I really appreciate your help. 
I have been looking around online at some cards and found this one but not sure if Dell or Hp or who ever matter all that much. I found a Dell card https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PERC-H310-8-Port-6Gb-s-SAS-Adapter-RAID-Controller-HV52W-Replaces-Perc...

Model: PERC H310

Interface Support: 6Gb/s SAS

PCI Support: PCI-Express 2.0

SAS Connectors: 2x4 Internal

Cache Memory Size: N/A

Write Back Cache: N/A

RAID Levels Supported: 0, 1, 5, 10, 50

Max. Drive Support: 16, Non-RAID: 32

RAID Support: Hardware RAID

Oh wait I think I found a good one
Fujitsu D2607 SAS/SATA RAID SAS controller=LSI 9210 9211 9240 9220 M1015
"6Gb/s SAS ports PCI Express® 2.0 x8"

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fujitsu-D2607-9211-8I-SAS-SATA-RAID-SAS-controller-LSI-9211-8I-M1015/122241...

[BambiBoomZ]

Robbie 86,

I agree with SDH that using a tried and true LSI RAID controller or HBA is preferable, but the H310 is very good.

My experience with a Dell PERC H310 was positive in a Dell Precision T5500 (2X Xeon X5680), in 2012. The T5500 is more or less the Dell equivalent of an HP z600 and results were good,. As the T5500 was running Dell OEM Windows 7, plugging the H310 in meant the dirvers were loaded and it was recognized and configured.  I never set up a RAID but I did run three SATA drives, and the Samsung 840 250GB  Passmark Disk mark changed from  2234 to 2934, a 24% improvement, but this may or may not have been at full SATAIII.  I've seen specs listing the the PERC H310 as SATAII for SATA drives and SATAIII for SAS drives. I can't confirm that one way or the other; that would be something to research conclusively. There is a Dell T5500 running an H310 on Passmark currently with a Disk mark of 7490 and as the drives behind the controller are not visible on Passmark, I assume that must be a RAID 0 of a modern SDD. I should like to know the specifications of that configuration!

However, looking at Passmark, there better results of 9297 in a z600 with an LSI MR9260-4i which is PCI2 x8.  

I always wanted to try the 9260 as that has a 512MB onboard cache.  The specification though does not list JBOD (Just Bunch of Disks) use, it's possible that those results must be in RAID. The -4i version has a single mini-SAS connector that can connect an 4X SAS connector,

New ! >

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIADP08MW6250&Description=lsi%209260%204i&cm_re=ls...

Completed listing used>

https://www.ebay.com/itm/LSI-MegaRaid-9260-4i-SAS-SATA-6Gb-s-PCI-e-2-0-x8-Raid-Controller-L3-25121-8...

Cable:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812117623&Description=mini%20SAS%20to%20SAS%2...

> which then can be used to connect both SATA and SAS drives.

It seems amazing  that the 9620 is still offered new. That must at least a 5 year-old design.

In summary, the PERC H310- or LSI 9240 -4i is a good choice, but if you're setting up a RAID, my suggestion would be to consider an LSI 9260-4i.

BambiBoomZ

HP z620_2 (2017) Xeon E5-1680 v2 (8C@ 4.3Ghz) / z420 liquid cooling / 64GB PC3-14900R / GTX 1070Ti (MSI Aero 8GB/ HP Z Turbo Drive 256GB M.2 + Samsung 970 EVO 500GB NVME + HGST 7K6000 4TB > Windows 7 Pro 64-bit

PS> I'm interested in adding SATAIII to a Dell Precision 390 (2007) (Xeon X3230) and will try the very lazy PERC H310 that's been sitting around for several years. I'd try a 9260-4i but the 390 has only a PCIe2 x8 slot wired as x4 and I think at x4 it may  only run 1X or 2X SATAIII drives and I'm probably going to run a single 1TB SSD- not a RAID.  

[DGroves]

unless you plan on running a raid setup you DO NOT WANT ANY LSI CARD EXCEPT FOR THE 9211 9212 / 9240 based cards

these card models can also be found from OEM's using diffrent names read the device specs and make sure it uses one of the LSI 9211/9212 or 9240 chips

the HP 9212 and LSI 9240 cards  can do RAID 0/1/10 and JBOD,.. the 9211 based cards have two diffrent firmwares you can install

raid "IR"  and HBA "IT" ......the HBA firmware simply adds more SAS/SATA ports to a system...... the "IR" firmware if from a OEM card maker may or may not do both raid/jbod   all LSI-9240 cards will do raid/JBOD

as all other LSI models are RAID only cards that for the most part do not support non raid (JBOD) configurations

the dell H310 card "IS" a SAS/SATA 6GBps card and is based on the LSI 9240 chip the card will work (at reduced speeds) in pcie 2.0 systems

the dell H310 car may require you to cover two pins (5/6) for proper operation in some systems you only need to do this if the card does not show on boot or the system will not boot when the card is installed, or you get memory errors

the H310 REQUIRES ACTIVE COOLING via a 40mm x 10mm fan attached to the H310's  small heatsink as most non dell systems will not have the required airflow over the card

both the lsi 9211/9240 cards use SFF-8087 to SAS/SATA cables, however make sure they are FORWARD type not reverse type  the LSI-9212 card is a HP variant of the 9211 but uses a normal sata connector on the card and only has 4 internal ports not 8 there is a 9212 4x4 model with 4 internal/4 external ports

the H310 comes in two diffrent firmwares (same card) workstation and server, if updating firmware and one fails try the other, and while it's possible to convert the cards firmware, that's for another article

[Robbie86]

OK I think  I understand alot more now thanks to the help. I been looking around at some 9260's and found this one:
RAID 5 6 is not supported

RAID-on-Chip Controller

LSISAS2208 Dual-Core RAID on Chip (ROC)

Cache Protection

optional MegaRAID CacheVault flash cache protection module (LSICVM01)
optional MegaRAID LSIiBBU09 intelligent battery backup module (LSIiBBU09)

RAID Management Software

MegaRAID Management Suite™
MegaRAID Storage Manager™
MegaCLI (command-line interface)
WebBIOS

Balance protection and performance for critical applications with RAID levels 0, 1, 10,,

Host Bus Type

x8 lane PCI Express® 2.0

Cache Memory

512MB 1333MHz DDRIII SDRAM

Internal Ports

8

Data Transfer Rates

Up to 6Gb/s per port

Devices Supported

Up to 128 SAS and/or SATA devices

Internal Connectors

2 Mini-SAS SFF8087 (side mount)

MTBF

1,031,514 hours

Operating Temperature

Maximum ambient: Controller Card: 60°C (55°C with optional CVM01, 45°C with optional LSIiBBU09)

Operating Systems

Extensive support includes Microsoft® Windows® Vista/2008/Server 2003/2000/XP, Linux®, Solaris™ (x86), Netware®, FreeBSD®, VMware® and more.

Operating Voltage

+3.3V, +12V

I feel like this is the one for that price ($22) I think it's worth a shot?

OK I changed my mind. I think I'm going with this "Syba Revision 2.0 PCIe 2.0 to USB 3.0 and SATA 3 Combo Card with ASMedia Chipset" you guys for about $50 CAD + Shipping = $33.39 +$1.99US Shipping

If I'm right like what I see here on the site: https://www.sybausa.com/index.php?route=product/product&manufacturer_id=11&product_id=177&page=2&lim...

Should be a x4 PCIe slot and I should be fine???

[BambiBoomZ]

Robbie86,

There is some value in considering more generic and newer designed  cards  such as the Syba as they are more compliant- have a wider compatibility. However I've had experience with three LSI cards and all three wre not painful to stup and use.  Both the PERC H310 and HP 9212-4i HBA worked in a z420 as soon as they were plugged in as they were proprietary, being used in the systems for which they were intended.

The Syba mentioned  by chance is the exact one I had in mind if I don't have luck with the H310 in the Precision 390 as it adds USB 3.0 as well as the SATAIII. There are only two PCIE slotsin the 390, x16 and x8 wired as x4,  plus three PCI. The user comments on more than one site are quite positve- no guarantees there of course, and I'd would like to see an impartial, technical review.  My concern with the Syba is that it's putting quite a lot of load on x4 PCIe.  The lanes can be shared, but I would think that two drives and two USB devices will not be running at absolutely full speeds. Anyway, I'm thinking of running the 390 on a single 500GB or 1TB hand me down SSD anyway.  It has it's two original WD drives from 2007- 320 and 750GB. The 320 is actually a Dell supplied replacement with Windows on it that was never used- whne iI was given the system, I just plugged it in and the 2007 Dell OEM Windows sprang to life, although It needed a "few" updates,.. In some way I'm thinking of keeping it as a period piece.  The GPU is Firepro V5900 2GB which is not terrible..

Let us know hwhat happens.

BambiBoomZ

[DGroves]

the syba card is not that much faster than the sata II ports when using one SSD, when using two it's slower than the onboard ports by about 10% ( i have several x2 cards that use the marvell 9230 chips)

the usb 3.0 speed is again a shared bus and if using more than two usb 3.0 devices may slow down depending on what is attached, but overall is faster than the usb 2.0 by a noticable amount

while the syba card is a overall good value, i still recomend the LSI 9240 or 9212 cards if you are looking for the fastest SSD speeds for a low cost as both cards use the same chipset and support raid 0/1/10 along with JBOD

the dell perc H310 i have also used and besides raid 0/1/10 it also supports raid 5 along with JBOD.  but as i mentioned the raid 5 mode is very slow compared to a true raid card like the adaptec 6805 or 71605 cards (which also support raid/jbod) but are a bit more expensive 70.00 + 10.00 for cable for the 71605, but they are the fastest solution for a reasonable price at this time

if interested i can supply benchmarks of a z800 using a adaptec 6805 with 4 kingston a400 120GB ssd's as a boot drive

i can also test a z800 using the x2 based syba cards

or a z820 using a adaptec 71605 with two dell/toshiba 200GB SAS SSD'S

[Robbie86]

I'll run some test "before and after" with "Samsung Magican" and let you, and everyone know, I guess.

[DGroves]

please bench mark using the  AS-SSD program, as you can only run the magician program on samsung retail drives so benchmarking with other OEM or mfgr drives can not be done

https://www.techspot.com/downloads/6014-as-ssd-benchmark.html

[Robbie86]

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@DGroves wrote:

please bench mark using the  AS-SSD program, as you can only run the magician program on samsung retail drives so benchmarking with other OEM or mfgr drives can not be done

https://www.techspot.com/downloads/6014-as-ssd-benchmark.html

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Thank you, Will do, I'll run 3 test each.