Legit Storage Reviews
LSI MegaRAID SATA and SAS 9260-8i RAID Card Review
| Manufacturer: | LSI |
| Product: | LSI MegaRAID 9260-8i |
| Date: | Tue, Jan 19, 2010 - 12:00 AM |
| Written By: | Chris Morrell - |
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Conclusion
Above I have included a compilation of all the graphs so you can do easy comparisons. I have also included a ZIP file with the raw excel files which include queue depths up to 256 in addition to even more file size tests.
It is hard to draw a conclusion from the 48 graphs I've shown as that doesn't even scratch the surface of this card. Ideally I'd have run each test with a variety of stripe and cluster sizes to show performance scaling but that would have created an excessive amount of data. If you are interested in a specific stripe/cluster or file/queue test I would be willing to perform additional tests; feel free to contact me via my Legit Reviews email address.
I figure some general observations should be made. First, the Areca 1220 is out of its league with low performance in the majority of the tests. With a street price of ~$430, a lack of SAS support and only SATA 3gbps support there isn't much going for the Areca 1220. Second, ICH10R is surprisingly quick in small file transfers. For what is effectively a free RAID controller integrated into most mid-range and high-end motherboards, ICH10R is a great controller albeit with throughput limitations around 750MB/s. This isn't a huge limitation as random read/write performance is typically more critical, but it is a limitation to be considered. That leaves the Adaptec 5805, which is the closest competition to the LSI 9260-8i in price, performance, warranty (3 years for both cards) and features. A quick comparison would show that the 9260-8i is equal to the 5805 in everything except that the 5805 only supports SAS/SATA 3gbps versus 6gbps support on the 9260-8i. Priced at ~$490 the two cards are also equal with regards to price leaving only performance as a differentiating factor.
Besides the small file random read/write the LSI 9260-8i surpassed the Adaptec 5805 in nearly all the SSD tests while the two cards were roughly equal in the HDD tests. What really helps the LSI 9260-8i is the SAS/SATA 6Gbps support enabling maximum performance on upcoming storage drives. This will be quite important with SATA 6Gbps SSDs easily pushing 500MB/s in sequential reads. It is a close call between the two cards but consideration must also be taken regarding firmware maturity. The Adaptec 5805 has been on the market for a while but the LSI 9260-8i is still relatively immature. There is a possibility that the small file random read/write performance could be bolstered, making the Adaptec 5805 effectively obsolete. I'm going to end this by saying it is too early to make a judgment call on the LSI 9260-8i but it is already looking like a great buy. I will hopefully be revisiting this card in the near future when SAS/SATA 6 Gbps drives become more plentiful.
Legit Bottom Line: The LSI 9260-8i brings SAS/SATA 6Gbps support with high-throughput capabilities for upcoming SSDs and HDDs.
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Page 1 - RAID Cards and You
Page 2 - LSI MegaRAID SAS 9260-8i Page 3 - Test Setup Page 4 - RAID0 4kb Results Page 5 - RAID0 64kb Results Page 6 - RAID0 1024kb Results Page 7 - RAID5 4kb Results Page 8 - RAID5 64kb Results Page 9 - RAID5 1024kb Results Page 10 - Conclusion |
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