Looking for SAS3 HBA with LSI chip (confused about price differences)

[Kristian]

I am looking for a SAS 3 HBA.

After researching a while I think a HBA based on a SAS3008 would suit my needs the most.
So I started looking for prices.

LSI 9300 8i = 285 EUR
ASUS PIKE II 3008-8i = 188 EUR
IBM ServeRAID M1215 = 163 EUR

Not completely sure if I am comparing apples with bananas here.
Some of them have the possibility to create a hardware Raid.
But my LSI 9211 8i had that ability, too.
But you could flash to IT mode and you had a plain, dumb hba.

Input welcome

 

[Aluminum]

9341 and 9361 can be flashed to IT mode for sure, also search for those and the related models like dell H330
Just beware since there is less testing compared to the 2008 cards: some OEM models might require extra work to get their firmware out of the way for the generic lsi stuff, in worst case maybe shorting pins on the card for safe mode

I found a 9341-8i for $110 awhile back, changed to IT firmware and left the option rom off

 

[PnoT]

I've picked up 2 of the 9341-8i brand new for $95/105 so they're not hard to find.

 

[Kristian]

I've picked up 2 of the 9341-8i brand new for $95/105 so they're not hard to find.

In Europe?

 

[PnoT]

In Europe?

No, they were both in the US

 

[sfbayzfs]

Good prices on those 9341s, I paid 110 for one and 150 for another. AFAIK, Asus PIKE cards are just some sort of dongle to activate an onboard LSI controller on an Asus motherboard. I know there are Supermicro and Asrock Rack motherboards out there with integrated SAS3008 controllers, including some of the latest crop of (expensive but nice) Asrock Rack Xeon-D motherboards.

 

[PnoT]

LSI 9341 for $110 DELL OEM LSI SAS9341-8i 12GB Raid Controller with Cable 0WFN6R

 

[Patriot]

Good prices on those 9341s, I paid 110 for one and 150 for another. AFAIK, Asus PIKE cards are just some sort of dongle to activate an onboard LSI controller on an Asus motherboard. I know there are Supermicro and Asrock Rack motherboards out there with integrated SAS3008 controllers, including some of the latest crop of (expensive but nice) Asrock Rack Xeon-D motherboards.

Pike II are regular pcie with ports on the card.

 

[Patriot]

 

[sfbayzfs]

Nice, that's much better than the old PIKE dongle system Asus had going, and the pricing seems pretty good for new cards too!

 

[nrtc]

Not sure if it's of interest to anyone, but there's an M1215 listed on the Italian Ebay for a starting price of 70 euro:
ServeRAID M1215 SAS/SATA Controller FRU 46C9115

The item has been relisted several times, so even at this price there doesn't seem to be any interest. Perhaps because it's listed with shipping only to Italy, but that might simply be due to the restrictions of Ebay when starting to sell stuff.

Disclaimer: I'm no in no way related to the seller and I do not know either whether he'd be willing to ship abroad.