Any experience with the new Intel SAS expander? [RES2SV240]

Y

young_einstein

Weaksauce
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Jun 20, 2010
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102
Hey guys,

I've just started looking around at my options for a new SAS expander, and I've noticed that Intel seem to have just come out with a new product.

http://www.intel.com/Products/Server/RAID-controllers/re-res2sv240/RES2SV240-Overview.htm

Priced around US$250-300, depending on where you shop.

I'm just curious whether anyone's had any experience with it yet, and how you think it compares to the competition in terms of features, price, etc.
 
Big advantage over the HP card is that you seem to be able to power this card via the PCI-e bus or via a standard 4 pin Molex connector.
 
Still $300 you could buy almost three normal LSI 1068E controllers for it; so using an expander is not cheaper at all just less required PCIe slots and less bandwidth - that's not such a sexy deal i think.
 
LSI1068 is kinda dated at this point.

I would rather run this with an Areca 1880 or LSI 9280.
 
sub.mesa said:
Still $300 you could buy almost three normal LSI 1068E controllers for it; so using an expander is not cheaper at all just less required PCIe slots and less bandwidth - that's not such a sexy deal i think.
Click to expand...

Now that all depends on if you have the PCIe slots, doesn't it? Plus, LSI's MSM sucks. I'm looking forward to the Areca 1320 HBA's myself.
 
I agree the LSI 1068E is getting dated, but that also means it is cheaply available. For HDDs who do not need any bandwidth beyond 300MB/s per port, this is still a kickass controller if you need a simple HBA. Even though it's dated because its only PCI-express generation 1 (250MB/s per lane) it does give you virtually all the needed bandwidth: 2000MB/s full duplex out of 2400MB/s total.

For SSDs you would want a faster controller, sure, but that also means it's likely alot more expensive.

@epimetheus: yes you're right, but i did wrote "just less required PCIe slots".

I did look at those new 1320 areca controllers. They look very clean. Areca management is usually very good. I can agree if you prefer this controller over the SuperMicro or Intel SASUC8i, it looks to be affordable as well though not many retailers yet.
 
This would be a really nice SAS expander IF they had added just ONE more SFF8087 port to this card!

The product brief on Intels website refers to EIGHT SFF8087 ports but only 6 are shown in the picture on the front of the board. Maybe there are another two on the back?!?

But then again, the same line actually mentions 24 targets, which means there are only 6 SFF8087 ports...

This would have been a perfect candidate for the new Norco 4224... Oh well...

It's actually perfect for the Norco 4020 or 4220!
 
It's a perfect match with the Areca 1880-i and the Norco 4224 case. Use one port on the 1880-i to connect 4 drives, use the second port to connect to the Intel RES2SV240 and get 20 drives off that board.
 
GMcDonnell said:
It's a perfect match with the Areca 1880-i and the Norco 4224 case. Use one port on the 1880-i to connect 4 drives, use the second port to connect to the Intel RES2SV240 and get 20 drives off that board.
Click to expand...

But you don't have a port left to daisy chain into the 2nd chassis...and even if you did the 2nd chassis is limited to 20 drives...;)
 
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