I'm looking for a PCIe HBA that has at least 3 SFF-8643 connects so I can connect at least 12 drives. The drives will be passed through so no need for any RAID ROM capabilities.
Depends on your OS & Speed (6g/12g) requirements.
Least expensive:
6Gb/s
Adaptec ASR-71605 is a 6G. Can be had for < $100. It's a RAID card but JBOD/RAID mode can be set in card bios. Has 4 x 8643 ports but vertical facing and can be tricky with 2U chassis. Driver support for FreeBSD / FreeNAS is questionable
LSI 9201-16i. It has 4x 8087 ports but the 8087 -8643 cables do exist and not that expensive ~$10-15 range
Much more expensive
12 Gb/s:
Adaptec:
HBA 1000-16i
- Someone else please chime in. I have not played with these
LSI:
LSI9300-16i: Has 2 3008 chips; full-size card so need 3U+ chassis or Riser config. Diver support is much broader.
- I have one listed in my FS thread. But another member has already messaged me this morning.
LSI9305-16i (24i) - No experience and has a different ROC i think LSI SAS3224 or something like that
The latest and greatest 94xx series.
SAS 9305-16i Host Bus Adapter
SAS 9300-16i Host Bus Adapter
SAS 9305-24i Host Bus Adapter
all 12gb/s, all sff-8643 connectors.
Hmmm, I didn't realize it uses less power. That plus the flexibility to use in a smaller chassis might make it worth it. ThanksIf you don't mind paying the extra for it (although when I bought mine it was the same price), I think the 9305-16i is worth the extra cash compared to the 9300 as it's a) low profile and b) uses significantly less power.
The 9305 is build using new silicon. It is a new chipset, only marginally related to the original 9300 series chips. It is, in theory, same to higher performance and lower power. Plus it natively supports up to 24 lanes per chip, where the 9300 was pretty much limited to 8 lanes and the 16 lane part was really two chips etched on the same die and tied together with a PCIe switch - and the really rare 24 port cards were really a 9300-8i + an LSI expander chip bolted together.
All that said - the 9305 ought to be the more expensive chip.
But in the server marketplace 'newer' is not always better. A lot of purchasing gets done based on what is proven and tested. So the 9300 series boards still have most of the market space. It's also not clear what driver bugs may exist for the new boards, etc. As the new boards get through various peoples qualification testing the market for 9300-8i/16i boards will shrink and prices will come down. The 9305 series boards should stay about where they are for now as they are basically selling at the manufacturers reccomended range.
Persaonally, I would really prefer the 9305 boards right now. 33% lower power for 16 ports - and 24 port version is selling for only about $100 more. If you have a 24 drive chassis getting the 9305-24i would be a much better approach than getting a 9300-8i + expander or 3x 9300 cards.
Great info!As per PigLover's post here that I came across when I was in the market for a 16-port HBA:
Oh hmmm, didn't realize those Norcos were less than 20", those are an option. Well, to be honest I haven't figured out my whole build yet just exploring some options. I do like the idea of separating all my 3.5" discs into a JBOD so I can keep my main server and a few 2.5" drives in a smaller chassis. Would the HBA not work for connecting my main server chassis to a JBOD enclosure?Shortest depth JBOD I know for >=12 discs is the InWin RJ212-04 and RJ316-04 and they're 20.5" (53cm) deep (and I assume you also need at least a couple of inches extra for cables). Getting one that titchy is going to be a very short order... but then how does a JBOD square with having an internal HBA?
Edit: Norco DS-12xH are marked as only 19" deep; http://www.norcotek.com/product-cat.../hot-swap-storage-case/12-bays-hot-swap-case/