Server cards

[ratdude747]

Scored a couple server cards today for $5 a pop:

1. 3ware HW raid 4 port SATA card:



the RAM module is a 128mb 4 chip unit... DDR?

2. Broadcom gigabit card:



esp. the first card, are these cards worth anything?

I don't have a use for them at the moment but at that price, i figured that if anything, they had resale value.

[mariushm]

Re: Server cards

The first card... since it's from around 2003, it's probably just SATA1, so 1.5 gbps. It probably also won't support more than 250GB drives or something like that. Not sure.

The other card... you got lucky with that one. Hardware offloaded gigabit, should still be faster and use less CPU than most onboard network cards (maybe some onboard pci express x1 Intel chips are better). I guess it really depends if they kept the drivers updated.

Oh... it might even run in regular PCI slot, with the rest of the connector in the air... I know the Intel cards used to work like that but I guess it depends on the implementation. Try to find the manual for the card and see what it says.

ps.


http://www.broadcom.com/products/BCM5703

http://www.techexcess.net/bcm5703-br...r-adapter.aspx

PCI-X
Gigabit Server Adapter
Bus: 32-/64-bit, 33/66 MHz PCI; 64-bit, 33/66/100/133 MHz PCI-X
IEEE 802.3 compliant Media Access Controller
PCI and PCI-X bus interfaces
on-chip buffer memory
integrated physical layer transceiver in a single device.
full/half-duplex capability at all speeds,
10/100/1000 copper PHY
Support the following 802.3 functions is featured in the MAC: VLAN tagging, layer 2 priority encoding, link aggregation, and full-duplex flow control
- Microsoft Windows - Linux - Open UNIX 8 - NetWare

Compatibility
Dell PowerEdge 1600SC
Dell PowerEdge 4600

So yeah, it will work in PCI slot just fine.

[ratdude747]

Re: Server cards

more on the SATA card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16816116025

it is one of those. also, the card said copyright 2004 on it (a 2005 model I bet)

edit- found a .pdf on the RAID card.

[mariushm]

Re: Server cards

also, the card said copyright 2004 on it (a 2005 model I bet)

The 3ware chip in the center of the card in your picture says (c) 2003 on it. Anyway, it's sort of a semi-hardware card in reality... see those 2 marvell chips at the end by the sata ports? they're kind of low end hardware sata controllers ... then you have the 3ware chip doing raid 0/1/jbod and buffers writes to ram and so on.
It's not worth the trouble anymore...

[ratdude747]

Re: Server cards

The 3ware chip in the center of the card in your picture says (c) 2003 on it. Anyway, it's sort of a semi-hardware card in reality... see those 2 marvell chips at the end by the sata ports? they're kind of low end hardware sata controllers ... then you have the 3ware chip doing raid 0/1/jbod and buffers writes to ram and so on.
It's not worth the trouble anymore...

isn't that the defintion of a hardware raid card? all the raid work is done by the card not the CPU?

not to mention that it is made by 3ware and virtually compatible with any OS...

I remember topcat had a 6 port card he swore by... I figured for $5, this card wouldn't be that far off...

[Topcat]

Re: Server cards

the 3ware card is a nice one for an older one. It doesn't have the BBU, it seems to be before the BBU's time.... The memory is embedded on their newer cards, I haven't seen one with a module in a long time, like back in the SCSI days long time.... If you use it, make sure write caching is disabled or you'll have really bad data corruption if the system crashes or you lose power.

[ratdude747]

Re: Server cards

the 3ware card is a nice one for an older one. It doesn't have the BBU, it seems to be before the BBU's time.... The memory is embedded on their newer cards, I haven't seen one with a module in a long time, like back in the SCSI days long time.... If you use it, make sure write caching is disabled or you'll have really bad data corruption if the system crashes or you lose power.

see the PDF... there was a BBU option for this series of card; my card is pictured with a BBU installed.

[Topcat]

Re: Server cards

see the PDF... there was a BBU option for this series of card; my card is pictured with a BBU installed.

Nice, check fleabay for one. You won't regret it, I'm sure it can be had for cheap. These are wonderful cards!

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Server cards

The RAID cad is a 9500S-4LP or a 9500SU-4LP
(I have a dozen or so.)
The U means RoHS.
.
They are excellent RAID cards.
That's what I suggested you buy a while ago.
.
It's full hardware RAID and (if it will physically fit) it works fine in a standard 32-bit PCI slot.
The part that hangs out in space is only used in 64-bit mode and won't affect 32-bit operation.
[I'm currently using some in Abit IP35-E boards.]
It's the last 3Ware PCI-X card that is dual voltage.
[That's why I have so many]
The next series was 9550 which are 3.3v only so those don't work in standard PCI slots.
.
Using the BBU requires a daughter card in addition to a battery.
The batteries alone are cheap.
The BBU daughter cards usually run around $100 or so lately. [Way more than the RAID card...]
The BBU isn't really needed unless you're in the habit of having brown-outs or black-outs -and- you don't have a UPS.
.

[ratdude747]

Re: Server cards

Since I have no gigabit switches or the like or extra SATA HDDs, the cards will sit for now... If I thoght I could get something decent for them I'd consider selling them...

[Topcat]

Re: Server cards

^
If you're going to part with that RAID card, I'll take it