SCSI controller cars...will the cheap ones work???

[steveakaflash]

Well, i posted earlier about thinking of a 7200 ibm drive to replace my 5400 fireball quantum, and am realizing that it wont be the big speed difference im looking for. My next option is a SCSI, say a 4.3 gig IBM for nearly the same price as a 10 gig IDE(I dont need lots of space, just speed , but then there is the factor of a controller card which I know nothing about. I have a BH6, and saw, on pricewatch an Adaptec controller for SCSI2 for 40 bucks. I'm assuming this isnt the right one though, as it says scsi2, but no ultra2/ On the ultra2 page, the cheapest ones are tekram, or data technology. Are these desent cards for 130 bucks? Thanks for any info, and BTW, would I notice a HUGE difference going to a 7200 rpm scsi2 ultra from my 5400 quantum fireball?

Steve

[MadMax]

SCSI2, Ultra and Ultra2 are all different SCSI protocols.

SCSI2 is waaayyy old tech. That's why it's cheap. It's also slower than new top shelf ide tech.

Tekram adapters are ok, from my limited experience with them. I prefer Adaptec.

Improvement? Well if you replace your q/ide with an ibm/lvd drive you're looking at moving from less than (approx.)16 mb/s sustained xfer to at least (approx.)40 mb/s sustained xfer (approx.)w/130+ mb/s burst xfer. You'll also be reducing your seek times by several seconds. Oh yes, overall sys speed will be immediately and noticably improved.

However....You won't find an Ulra2/lvd drive less than 9.1 gb from either IBM or Seagate. An Ultra2/lvd controller is also MUCH more expensive than $40.00 anywhere you buy it.

Do some more research about SCSI before you buy. It's easy to make a purchase mistake because the protocol terms are so similar and not many sales people know much about SCSI.

Start here: http://www.scsita.org/terms/SCSI_Overview.html

Be prepared for some heart-stopping prices. Huge speed increases come at huge prices in the SCSI arena.

[This message has been edited by MadMax (edited 07-21-99).]

[Lastus]

Of course, if you really want speed and cost is of little concern adaptec just announced the new 160Mbit/sec Ultra160 SCSI.
www.ultra160-scsi.com

Probaly won't need to wait too long for a HD with support for this protocol.

[MadMax]

http://www.quantum.com/products/hdd/...k_overview.htm

[Moe]

Yep, I just got that (Quantum Atlas 10k) drive, very nice, very fast, very expensive!

Now mind you, that even this drive, one of the fastest magnetic media drives on the market, can only push at absolute best 20-25 mb/s, the 160 would only be used if you had like 8+ of these things continuously pushing data.

If I were on a budget,I would still look at adaptec, but I would go for at least an ultra capable unit.

This is the heart of your SCSI subsystem, and you don't wanna skimp too much here.
Consider if you have say, 1 drive, 1 CD-ROM, 1 CD-R, and maybe a SCSI scanner or zip, you might be able max out the bus if you were burning a CD and heavily using the drive at the same time.

Don't be fooled by high theoretical max transfer rates, think about how much you would possibly use those speeds.

Hope it helps.

[MadMax]

Where did you come by that 20-25mb/s figure?
That's pretty slim considering that Ultra2/lvd media xfer is 20mb/s.

Even given your numbers, if you run 2 hdds, a cd-rom and a cd-burner, you're wide open to situations calling for 100 mb/s xfer! (External devices other than drives would never tax the bus.) If your bus can't handle this(only ultra2 and up will), you're bottle-necked.

I'd like to see some hard, industry numbers that define the media sustained rate for Ultra2-160/mbs.

[Moe]

Indeed, you are correct MadMax, such a config could reach 100 mb/s at burst transfer rates.
I wasn't too clear in that last post.

However, for a configuration with 1 7200 RPM drive and a CDR, i don't see how you would max it more than couple times throughout a burn.

I got the 20-25 mb/s number specifically for the Atlas 10k from Quantum's site in reference to the quoted sustained throughput numbers (which are probably inflated anyway)
www.quantum.com/products/hdd/atlas_10k/atlas_10k_features.htm

For a 7200 rpm drive I would say this number would be at least 15-25% lower. CD Burning hasn't progressed to anywhere near HD speeds yet either.

But yes, MadMax you are correct, it would be very possible to max an Ultra controller, and my point is with one HD, the chances of this happening frequently don't seem to be very high.

If as you said you were using 2 drives, that completely changes the equation.


[This message has been edited by Moe (edited 07-22-99).]

[jeana]

I'm happy with my Tekram DC-390u2w.
I've never used an Adaptec card, but it seems that everything I have (DVD-ROM, CDRW, HDD) that claims compatibility with Adaptec works fine with the Tekram card. They use the same ASPI files.

They were available at the best prices from www.hypermicro.com
when I ordered mine. I also got $5 off for mentioning a review of the card in agnhardware.com. I don't know if this offer is still available.

None of the problems I've had with setting up my new computer (and there have been quite a few!) stemmed from my Tekram card. The manuals were very good as well. Hope this helps.