3Ware 9690SA-8i with BBU - Revisted (PICS)

[jmdixon85]

This is off another website. Their talking about a GFX card stuck at 1x.

The 975 may have the same problem

Apparently this problem has occurred with other motherboards and chipsets going back to the 965. I'm sure you probably already found this out but I'll mention it anyway...the system might exhibit this behaviour if the PCI Express Frequency is left at AUTO in the BIOS. You may have to change it from AUTO to a set value. The default value is 100MHz but I've read one forum that a guy had to set his to 110MHz to get rid of the problem.

 

[Joeteck]

This is off another website. Their talking about a GFX card stuck at 1x.

The 975 may have the same problem

Apparently this problem has occurred with other motherboards and chipsets going back to the 965. I'm sure you probably already found this out but I'll mention it anyway...the system might exhibit this behaviour if the PCI Express Frequency is left at AUTO in the BIOS. You may have to change it from AUTO to a set value. The default value is 100MHz but I've read one forum that a guy had to set his to 110MHz to get rid of the problem.

I have it set @ 115 with no change...

 

[jmdixon85]

Can you try the card on a newer board? The problem of cards being stuck at 1 x was supposed to be fixed on intel X38 boards and newer. Or maybe try it on a nForce board? I know it won't solve your problem but it would prove that the card itself is working ok. Witch i'm almost sure it will be.

 

[Joeteck]

Can you try the card on a newer board? The problem of cards being stuck at 1 x was supposed to be fixed on intel X38 boards and newer. Or maybe try it on a nForce board? I know it won't solve your problem but it would prove that the card itself is working ok. Witch i'm almost sure it will be.

No I don't have any Nforce boards... or anything newer... Besides, you can't make that assumption. Its a guess.

 

[jmdixon85]

Yeah its a guess that the card is ok. But with what I've read about GFX card's also being stuck at 1x and the problem going back through older chipsets (Witch I've seen for myself on older Intel chipsets) I would be willling to place a bet on the card working on a newer board.

 

[Joeteck]

Yeah its a guess that the card is ok. But with what I've read about GFX card's also being stuck at 1x and the problem going back through older chipsets (Witch I've seen for myself on older Intel chipsets) I would be willling to place a bet on the card working on a newer board.

Whats the wager?

 

[jmdixon85]

Whats the wager?

Lol, a

 

[SLORider]

Whats the wager?

My 9690SA is plugged into the 2nd PCI-e slot of an Intel DX58SO motherboard. I am seeing similar performance. Any way of PROVING what multiplier the card slot is actually running would be very nice. I hate guessing.

THANKS to you, Joeteck, for investigating the BBU claim with your $$$.

As you read in my other thread, I am reverting to ICH10R RAID 0 & 1. It has been shown to provide 500-600 MB/s throughput for 2-drive arrays. Unless someone can prove the PCI-e slot multiplier is the bottleneck, it appears the 3ware 9690 just cannot provide throughput.

Aren't the 15K SAS drives great, though! Savvios? I'm using them in my Intel server and I can tell you the Intel SRCSAS18E RAID works great with both SAS and SATA drives. I didn't cut any corners building my server which is almost 100% Intel (read: big bucks). Whatever your thoughts on THAT happen to be, I never have to listen to the RAID card mfg. pointing fingers at the MB mfg.!

I'm keeping my eye's on your posts and will experiment with my 9690 a bit more.

 

[Joeteck]

My 9690SA is plugged into the 2nd PCI-e slot of an Intel DX58SO motherboard. I am seeing similar performance. Any way of PROVING what multiplier the card slot is actually running would be very nice. I hate guessing.

THANKS to you, Joeteck, for investigating the BBU claim with your $$$.

As you read in my other thread, I am reverting to ICH10R RAID 0 & 1. It has been shown to provide 500-600 MB/s throughput for 2-drive arrays. Unless someone can prove the PCI-e slot multiplier is the bottleneck, it appears the 3ware 9690 just cannot provide throughput.

Aren't the 15K SAS drives great, though! Savvios? I'm using them in my Intel server and I can tell you the Intel SRCSAS18E RAID works great with both SAS and SATA drives. I didn't cut any corners building my server which is almost 100% Intel (read: big bucks). Whatever your thoughts on THAT happen to be, I never have to listen to the RAID card mfg. pointing fingers at the MB mfg.!

I'm keeping my eye's on your posts and will experiment with my 9690 a bit more.

I thought when designing a RAID device it should work with everything that is out there. Having a incompatibility issues with what chipset you have or what PCI-e slot you use or what firmware your hard drives have is total bull crap and is unacceptable! Especially for a flagship product such as this. I think more planning should have been done to make the product work better. This cost is definity not justified!

If you noticed SLORider, my HD tach benchmark is very strange. All hard drive tests have a declining slope. Mine does not, as it is clearly stuck @ 1x speeds or SATA 1 spec. So that would be a clear indication of being stuck @ 1x PCI-e speeds. There is no reason why I would need to buy a board that is compatable with a RAID card. It should work with everything. Anyway, I agree with you SLORider! I'm sticking with my Intel Matrix RAID setup. During the whole 9690SA benchmarking, I was planning on going 6 250gig drives in RAID 0, but now I'll be doing it for my new Gigabyte board which I was going to buy if the 9690 would have worked. However, this gigabyte board may actually work with this RAID card.. Since it has two dedicated 4x slots, which would work if you don't go beyond the 1000MB/s spec...

So whats the vertict? Don't buy it, beause its a crap shoot on compatablity.

 

[Automata]

There is no way for them to test compatibility with future products...

I understand that they should have tested after it came out and fixed it if possible, but it might not be the card's fault.

 

[Joeteck]

There is no way for them to test compatibility with future products...

I understand that they should have tested after it came out and fixed it if possible, but it might not be the card's fault.

Oh, yes it is....

Just started to read the manual again, and noticed this little blurb..

Note: Some low-cost motherboards have a single PCI Express
slot which is reserved for a video card. These slots cannot
accommodate a 3ware 9690SA RAID controller or other PCI-E
device.

So PCI-e video slots can't be used.... So it needs a dedicated 8x PCI-e slot (98 pins) to function...

Wow, it is the cards fault.... how many boards have this??

 

[Automata]

If it is PCI-e, any PCI-e slot *should* be able to use it. They are saying, if you use a video card in a single slot board that this card won't work.

 

[Joeteck]

If it is PCI-e, any PCI-e slot *should* be able to use it. They are saying, if you use a video card in a single slot board that this card won't work.

That's not how I read it... Its saying it can't be used in that slot...


SLORider, check this out:

The Battery Backup Unit (BBU) is an optional add-on consisting of a control module and a battery pack.
When used with the 3ware 9690SA RAID controller, the BBU control module is mounted on the RAID controller and the battery pack is installed on a remote battery board.
The BBU’s purpose is to supply power to the controller’s memory module in the event of a system power loss. This allows the controller to safely use write-caching for optimal performance without exposing data to potential loss in the event of a system power failure. When fully charged, the battery preserves the contents of the controller cache memory for a limited period of time (up to 72 hours). When power is restored, cached data is written to disks.

 

[Automata]

That's not how I read it... Its saying it can't be used in that slot...

I understand what you mean, but it doesn't make sense. A PCI-e slot is a PCI-e slot.

 

[Joeteck]

I understand what you mean, but it doesn't make sense. A PCI-e slot is a PCI-e slot.

Ok, here we go. hope this answers everyone's questions.... I just finished an online tech session. This card really REALLY SUCKS!

We are sorry; all AMCC 3ware Technical Support Engineers are busy assisting others. One of them will be with you shortly. Thank you for your patience.
Sam entered support chat session
Sam Hi
You hello
Sam you can use an riser card basically they are 8 x cards
You Can I put it in a 4x slot? will it function?
Sam you can use an riser card
You Riser card?
Sam yes it ll adjust the card to be accomodated on 4 x but there ll be performance issues
Sam i would appreciate if you can use the 8 x pci-e slot
You If I only use 4 drives, would there be an issue?
You I tried... I don't get higher than 140MB/s
You Can this card be used in a PCI-e x16 video slot?
Sam no it won't work with the video card slot
Sam you should use an different slot
You So boards that have SLI or TRI SLI, these slots will not work?
You Boards that have more than one PCI-e 16x Video slots
You It should be a separate PCI-e slot all together, not related to video?
You hello?
Sam yes
You Did you read my last question?
Sam you are correct it should have entirely different slot
You So no video slots are compatible?
Sam yes they are not compatible
You ok, thank you!
You That will explain everything!
You Thanks for your time!
Sam pleasure
Sam have a good day
Sam bye

 

[Automata]

I only have one thing to say: "lolwut?"

They are reading from screens and giving canned answers.

I run my Areca 1220 in a "Video card slot" and it has no performance issues...there is nothing special about them.

 

[Joeteck]

I only have one thing to say: "lolwut?"

They are reading from screens and giving canned answers.

I run my Areca 1220 in a "Video card slot" and it has no performance issues...there is nothing special about them.

Regardless.. It matches what the manual says and with the results myself and SLOrider are having, which makes more sense...

The Areca 1220 clearly does not have this compatablity problem...

 

[Automata]

I only have to say: "blergle"


*shrugs*


Blergle means I'm out of ideas and we are just mashing our heads against a wall.

 

[Joeteck]

I only have to say: "blergle"


*shrugs*


Blergle means I'm out of ideas and we are just mashing our heads against a wall.

Blergle
Utterance used in answer to questions when one is in the confused mental state experienced immediately after waking, or when too tired or otherwise mentally incapacitated to deal with any complex thought process. Can also be used when simply not understanding a complex question or not knowing an answer to a complex question. Originally intended for IRC or IM use, but can be used vocally.

lol

Thanks.. I have an idea.... Sell it.

 

[Automata]

Sometimes the easiest answer is the best one