Need some advice about SAS Expander Cards

[elbweb]

So I tried to order an Expander card (http://usa.chenbro.com/corporatesite/products_detail.php?sku=73) from a company that is not being very nice.

Needless to say, but build is being put on hold because of them, and I am going to cancel the order.

Heres where you guys come in. Chenbro makes two types of these cards, a normal SAS expander card (i.e. the one above) or a UEK card. As best I can tell, the UEK cards are just the other cards in a different housing.

You can see here: http://usa.chenbro.com/corporatesite/products_detail.php?sku=76

Now, does it seem reasonable to think I can order the UEK kit and be able to just remove the card from that kit and use it like the normal one? (Minus the bracket, which I can live with). Some sellers have the Card priced $100+ more then the kit, which makes no sense to me...

[solstice]

Yep, it seem like it will work. How big of database are you building?

[elbweb]

Yep, it seem like it will work. How big of database are you building?

The one in my sig. There was a falling out with the distributor, so the 'In Stock' item I ordered 2 weeks ago still isn't even shipped...

Trying to find a way to avoid dealing with them and buying some someone else.

[AceNZ]

Have you looked at the HP SAS Expander?

http://www.provantage.com/hewlett-packard-hp-468406-b21~7CMPT1YK.htm

[elbweb]

Have you looked at the HP SAS Expander?

http://www.provantage.com/hewlett-packard-hp-468406-b21~7CMPT1YK.htm

I looked at that, wasn't sure.

It was hard to find specs on it and it seems as though its not a real SAS expander (i.e. it uses the pci bus, and is actually some sort of raid card?)...

The one i got just expands the internal card, essentially treating it as an enclosure (in my raid card's web interface, it actually shows the device as an enclosure).

I ended up getting this: http://usa.chenbro.com/corporatesite/products_detail.php?sku=74

[AceNZ]

It was hard to find specs on it and it seems as though its not a real SAS expander (i.e. it uses the pci bus, and is actually some sort of raid card?)...

Yeah, HP's specs on the card suck.

It plugs into the PCIe bus, but only for power, not data. It's not a RAID card, just an expander. It accepts two 4-port SAS inputs (such as from a RAID controller) and has four 4-port SAS/SATA outputs. You can mix 3.0 and 6.0 Gbps inputs and outputs.

The one i got just expands the internal card, essentially treating it as an enclosure (in my raid card's web interface, it actually shows the device as an enclosure).

I ended up getting this: http://usa.chenbro.com/corporatesite/products_detail.php?sku=74

Looks like a cool card. I would be interested in hearing how well it works.

[elbweb]

It plugs into the PCIe bus, but only for power, not data.
This is what I would have thought, but not a lot of info on it.
It's not a RAID card, just an expander. It accepts two 4-port SAS inputs (such as from a RAID controller) and has four 4-port SAS/SATA outputs.
Even if it would have worked, I would have ended up needing two of these cards, and they don't seem worth the money to me. My case has 5 backplanes holding 4 drives each, each connecting with the SFF-8087 things...

I don't know much about this stuff, my first dive into it.

Looks like a cool card. I would be interested in hearing how well it works.

Well I'll let you know anything I can. I won't have a lot of good benchmarks, since the drives will be packed full of data from the start. Like I said, its initializing the first raid 6 array right now, about 41% into it. 11% into the raid 1 array.. will probably be done by tomorrow morning, then I'll install the OS, start moving my old data onto it, then reformat the old drives to add them to the array...

[NoFear13X]

How were your final results with that card, and what distributor did you end up getting it through? Was the pricing reasonable, and was it a distributor you'd recommend or the same one that you had initial issues with? I think I'd like to use that same card for a 16-drive maximum array I'm building. While I've built computers for some time, arrays and SAS are new to me.