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)