PERC 5/i RAID Card: Tips and Benchmarks - Page 392

Hi

Got a Perc 6/i and was about to buy a couple of WD15EARS

but saw

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3691

Does anybody know if its a good idea to use this with a raid card?

I received today the 512MB module. I got 2 times not booting and then there was a message after m/b posting that boot failed 2 times and that i should change some settings.
Then the same things happened (not booting 2 times, and error message).

I swapped the 512MB with the original 256MB module and on Perc's boot there was a message that a "Single Bit Error" happened probably due to a defect module and that i should change the module.

I read somewhere that if someone has a BBU, the BBU should be first removed and then wait 20 min before swapping the RAM module. I don't have a BBU yet, but i have forced the Write Back Cache.

Does this mean that i should first disable the WBC on the Perc Bios and then wait before swapping the Ram-module ?


Thank you.

I don't have a PERC 5, so won't comment on the best way to change the RAM module.

However the PERCs are REALLY picky about the memory they will work with. What module did you try? Unless it is exactly the right configuration it won't work.

It's an "IBM ECC 512mb DDR2 240PIN 1Rx8 PC2-3200R 13N1424" said to be compatible in the relevant Perc5i thread in forum of hardwareluxx.de. It is with 9 chips.

The specific item has Hynix chips like the one shown in the thread here.

Apparently on my eVGA x58 E758 I had to change the first boot item from the "Perc 5/i Adapter" to "Bootable add-in card". It seemed weird to me that I had to boot from something other than the Perc 5/i and that's what stumped me.

Also, I have forced Write Back w/o BBU for all my virtual disks but when I open up MGM 2.35 and select "set virtual disk properties" write back is the default setting but right underneath it the box "use write through for failed or missing battery" is checked. When I uncheck it and close MGM and open it again the same box is checked again. I thought it was only for newer firmware's where they made a BBU required for write back? Do I have to buy a BBU then to use write back? I am using f/w 7.0.1-0064 if that helps. Does anyone know what's the best firmware to use right now?

Also, I am using 4x WD 640GB Blues right now in RAID 5. Would I notice anything if I upgrade to a 512MB stick of RAM?

Im going to buy 5 x WD RE2-GP 750GB (RAID5, they are cheap in Argentina)

SPECS

TLER is enabled I assume:

RAID-specific time-limited error recovery (TLER) - Pioneered by WD, this feature prevents drive fallout caused by the extended hard drive error-recovery processes common to desktop drives.

The only "problem" is the rotation speed:

Rotational SpeedIntelliPower *

*A fine-tuned balance of spin speed, transfer rate, and caching algorithms designed to deliver both significant power savings and solid performance. Additionally, GreenPower drives consume less current during start up allowing more drives to spin up simultaneously resulting in faster system readiness.

So, basically, they are 5400RPMs Raid Hard Disk. In raid5, is this a real problem for simple storage fileserver?

On the other side, i have a 420w power supply, so, less power for spin up is an advantage
Edited by LuciferX - 1/19/10 at 7:24am

Those drives are a great choice for RAID - and aside from the slight amount of extra latency (which as this is not an OS drive will be unnoticeable) they will perform pretty much the same as 7200rpm drives. Once you get above 4 or so active disks you won't really notice the performance difference. I am surprised they are cheap though - can you not get non-RE drives for cheaper (or larger drives - maybe the 1TB - for the same price)? All the slightly older WD drives can have TLER enabled, which makes them RE versions as far as home users are concerned aside from the extra warranty.

With 420W you will be fine - I would enable staggered spin-up, but other than that you will have no issues (unless your cpu is a massively overclocked P4 or something...).

Hi Guys..

Has this been verified yet..? Can a Perc 5/i BBU be used in a Perc 6/i ?
(Searching trough this thread has proven to be a b*tch)

Anyone knows if Perc 6 works with this chipset?: NVIDIA MCP61S(GeForce 6100/nForce 405)

I have a biostar mother with a free pcie and the onboard video

BIOSTAR SPECS

Yes the 5/i battery and the 6/i battery are interchangeable. I tried the 5/i battery on a 6/i myself, and it worked fine. It helped me troubleshoot that my 5/i was unable to use a BBU. The batteries themselves are almost exactly the same, the 6/i batteries being a bit newer and with a different model number. Some say the 6/i batteries last a little longer, could be true (theoretically since the chemistry of the batteries would be newer since the 6/i is a newer part, it could mean the batteries themselves are newer than the 5/i ones which could have been manufactured long ago, especially if you buy the cards used) but there hasn't been any definitive proof (show me the numbers!).

The only area you may have an issue is if you try using a 5/e or 6/e battery on the 5/i or 6/i. Some people have tried using these combinations in this thread before and reported the battery was not recognized.
Edited by DJZeratul - 1/20/10 at 10:39am