INTRODUCTION 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Professionals, enthusiasts, overclockers and hardcore gamers all have but one thing in common, the need for speed and by speed i mean the best possible performance parts for their systems. Now as far back as i can remember CPUs, memory modules and graphics cards have always been the three leading hardware parts one would upgrade to get the best bang for the buck but lately with the price drops in SSDs more and more people switch to such RAID configurations with two or more units. So naturally we decided to do our part and show people what the gains are when you pair two of the latest and best selling SATA/SAS 6Gb/s PCI-Express controllers by both LSI and Areca (9265-8i/ ARC-1882i) with a total of 8 Kingston HyperX 120GB SSDs.

 

     For organizations that demand the highest level of enterprise storage performance, LSI delivers an unmatched portfolio of storage technology solutions, including flash storage processors for enterprise, cloud, and client flash solutions and solid state drives (SSDs). We are the market leader in SAS, enterprise RAID, and application acceleration. With our unique product line breadth, LSI enables the entire storage ecosystem. Datacenter, public cloud, and on-premise server environments use our unique storage market insights and “storage DNA” to increase performance while lowering total cost of ownership. We work in close collaboration with the world’s leading manufacturers to build industry-leading storage solutions that make the most of our semiconductors’ capabilities: All major server and storage OEMs use LSI storage technology. With our unique product line breadth, we enable the entire storage ecosystem, from silicon to boards to advanced software solutions.

 

   Areca Technology Corporation established in 1999, was founded by a group of engineers primarily from the most distinguished technology institute in Taiwan. Our engineer's team has over 20 years of disk array relative firmware/BIOS, software application, device drivers and ASIC technology. With a solid R&D team, Areca designs their own custom ASIC, a high-speed IDE controller, and RAID 6 engine on their controller to achieve high data throughput and availability. Areca's products provide storage products for virtually all areas of the storage market including DAS, NAS, and SAN. All PCI, SCSI, and Fibre disk array controllers support RAID levels 0, 1, 3, 5, 6, 10 or JBOD. Areca has completely committed its entire research and development effort to disk array technologies that yield fastest performance, best reliability, and lower cost points than competitive disk array solutions.

 

   Both LSI and Areca are considered to be the best manufacturers in everything related to SAS (Adaptec is also well known but unfortunately i was unable to secure an equal-specs sample) so it comes as no surprise that we wanted to test both of their latest offerings (at least they were when this comparison started) to see which one packs the best punch. SAS (just like SATA) is a data transfer protocol used with enterprise class storage devices and replaces the older SCSI bus technology (which i was using in the late 90's). Of course due to their nature and most importantly their price such products are placed a lot higher than what most people can afford but for professionals and enterprises (data centers) these solutions are a one way. However since many of you have shown interest in this comparison i guess things change rapidly with each and every price cut we see and so perhaps it will not be long before regular consumers also start using SATA/SAS 6Gb/s cards. Also the quite recent introduction of several mainboard models in the market with built in LSI controllers is certain to help the popularity of such products. Now both the LSI MegaRAID 9265-8i and the Areca ARC-1882 are two of the best mid-range SATA/SAS 6Gb/s controller cards money can buy but since in the end there can be only one let's move forward and see which offers the best performance.

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LSI MEGARAID 9265-8I

ARECA ARC-1882

 

 

LSI MEGARAID 9265-8I 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The MegaRAID 9265-8i arrived inside a similar box like their previous 9260 models at the front of which we see a product picture and several small icons referring to the main product features/usages.

 

 

A features list is placed at the right side.

 

 

The product specifications are available over at the left side.

 

 

At the rear of the box LSI explains what the MegaRAID family of controllers is and their capabilities.

 

 

The card is safely placed inside a formed piece of cardboard.

 

 

Aside the 9265-8i controller card the box also contains a low-profile PCI bracket, two mini-SAS to SATA cables, two quick installation guides and the software CD.

 

 

The MegaRAID 9265-8i requires to be installed in an PCIe 8x slot and measures 168mm in length.

 

 

The main difference between the previous 9260 family and the 9265 is the extra board placed at the rear to house the larger cache.

 

 

The dual core ROC 800MHz processor is right beneath this heatsink.

 

 

The two SFF8087 internal connectors allow you to hook up to 8 SATA/SAS drives directly and up to 128 drives by using an extra expander.

 

 

 

As you can see the PCI bracket (both of the bundled ones actually) is perforated to allow hot air to exit from the case.

 

 

We also got a Fastpath hardware key to use with the 9265-8i in order to see what performance gains one can see by paying an small premium.

 

 

Installation is very easy you just need to mount the key on the two pins placed right beneath the SFF8087 connectors. Unfortunately due to a somewhat obvious incompatibility with our main rig or the Kingston drives we used for testing we were unable to successfully test Fastpath (no matter what we did the card just wouldn't recognize all 8 drives with the key installed).

 

 

 

ARECA ARC-1882I 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately the Areca ARC-1882i arrived inside an OEM box containing the card itself, an low profile PCI bracket, two mini-SAS to SATA cables (single connectors), two screws, a quick installation guide and the software CD.

 

 

The ARC-1882i is also an 8x PCIe controller and measures 169mm in length.

 

 

Unlike the 9265-8i ontop of the dual core ROC 800MHz processor of the ARC-1882i we see both a heatsink and a small (20mm) DC fan (active cooling).

 

 

Areca chose to place the SFF8087 connectors sideways and personally i like that more than the vertical configuration used by LSI since these are easier to reach.

 

 

The ARC-1882i also has a PCI lock feature to prevent accidental removal.

 

 

Aside the perforated PCI bracket at the front of the ARC-1882i we also see an Ethernet port from which you can access the card remotely.

 

 

Both cards are almost identical in size so we decided to place them right next to each other so you can all see for yourselves.

 

 

 

 

GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE (GUI)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both Areca and LSI offer firmware and software updates on very regular intervals so prior to using either card we strongly recommend heading over to the official support pages first.

 

 

Each card has special Windows software through which you can adjust several performance/security related settings (mostly) and obviously setup your RAID arrays.

 

 

 

TEST BED 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TESTING METHODOLOGY
 

 

   Although the purpose of this review is to compare two SATA/SAS 6Gb/s controllers still we will be doing that with the help of 8 Kingston HyperX 120GB SATA III SSDs so we will be using a similar testing procedure with the one we test both 2.5" and 3.5" drives. So once again we will be using our standard selection of benchmark suites such as the famous HD Tach RW (Long Bench 32mb Zones), HD Tune Pro (read/write -when possible- speeds), Sisoftware Sandra Pro (Read/Write -also when possible- speeds), AIDA64 (Linear Read/Random Read), Crystal Disk Mark x64 (100MB/1000MB read/write speeds) and finally the quite outdated yet highly reliable ATTO 2.46 (Max Read/Max Write speeds). On top of those we also used the latest version of ASSSD and IOMETER (4k random writes). Each test was repeated for a total of 6 times and after that the average (not peak) performance numbers were recorded into our charts. As always every test was performed in a fresh installation of Microsoft Windows 7 Service Pack 1 with every update installed up to August 22nd 2012.

 

 

TEST RESULTS - AIDA 64 / ATTO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK X64

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - ASSSD / IOMETER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Comparing two of the best mid-range SATA/SAS 6Gb/s cards currently in the market was enough for us to know right from the start that the performance difference between them would not be vast and after running a total of 52 tests with 8 different programs it's quite clear that we were right. Of course out of those 52 tests the LSI MegaRAID 9265-8i came ontop in 30 while the Areca ARC-1882 managed to surpass the LSI solution in the other 22 and so in terms of performance the 9265-8i is obviously faster than its Areca counterpart. Also although we were unable to successfully enable Fastpath with our configuration we need to point out that it does boosts the I/O performance of MegaRAID compatible cards up to 3 times over (unless you are unlucky like us). Still we can't deny that Areca has designed and manufactured a very powerful and efficient SATA/SAS 6Gb/s card which may not be quite as fast as this particular one by LSI but still it's light years ahead compared to regular and other low/mid-range ones.

 

   For those who are looking to purchase a mid-range SATA/SAS 6Gb/s controller mostly based on the best price/performance ratio there's really no clear winner here since the ARC-1882 by Areca currently retails at around USD680 inside the USA and 550Euros inside the EU while on the other hand the LSI MegaRAID 9265-8i retails for around USD670 inside the USA and 620Euros inside the EU. Had Areca followed a more aggressive pricing policy their card could easily come on top with a very good price/performance ratio however as things stand LSI has the lead and so their MegaRAID 9265-8i SATA+SAS Controller Card is not only the fastest of our comparison but also comes closer to the best price/performance ratio and that's why it walks with our Platinum Award. 

LSI MEGARAID 9265-8i

PROS

- PCIe 8x
- Top Of The Line Performance
- Dual SFF8087 Internal Connectors (8 ports)
- Up To 128 Drives (Via Expander)
- Low Profile
- SATA+SAS 6Gb/s
- RAID 0/1/5/6/10/50/60
- Support For Cascade Pro and Fastpath Software

 

CONS

- Price (For Some)

 

ARECA ARC-1882I

PROS

- PCIe 8x
- Performance
- Dual SFF8087 Internal Connectors (8 ports)
- Low Profile
- Active Cooling
- SATA+SAS 6Gb/s
- RAID 0/1/1E/3/5/6/10/30/50/60

 

CONS

- Price (For Some)