Other LSI SAS/SATA adapters

gpw928

gpw928

My old SAS9211-8i PCIe 2.0 SAS/SATA controller has a problem that is following one of the ports.

Not sure if it's in the cabling or electronics at the moment, and I need some more hardware bits to commence trouble shooting.

These days, refurbished LSI controllers seem to be few and far between.

I see that Newegg sell Chinese sourced Avago LSI adapters like the SAS9211-8i and SAS9207-8i (needs cables) at what seem to be very reasonable prices, but they don't ship to Australia!

There's plenty of Chinese stuff on eBay. I do wonder about these...

Does anyone have experience of the options? Positive or negative?
 
I'd avoid and you can probably better newer variants now without much hassle? You also have ASM1166 and JMB585 based controllers available if you don't need SAS that might fit the bill.
 
diizzy said:
I'd avoid and you can probably better newer variants now without much hassle? You also have ASM1166 and JMB585 based controllers available if you don't need SAS that might fit the bill.
Click to expand...
Thank you for that. I found this comparison on the unraid forum, which is quite illuminating.

LSI 9207-8i still looks good for performance, plus a new set of SFF-8087 SATA cables would let me test my existing cables. [I know that I can swap the 4-way SATA breakout cables that I have, but that approach has higher risk to the tank.]
 
Choose the 9207. I looked at SIIG, Syba, HighPoint, and StarTech with Marvell chipsets and they all have some dumb limitation, "feature" that needs to be worked around, build quality problem, etc. I have never heard anything nice about JMB chips either. Never had a problem with 9207-8i with all the ports full.

Playing with fire to source Chinese knockoffs. Maybe it will be fine, maybe they take your money.
 
I can't find a refurbished original. So I have sourced an LSI 9207-8i from China.

Bought from a vendor with lots of history and positive feedback.

I'll report back after I benchmark it.
 
diizzy said:
msplsh
I would also be vary of Chinese sourced cards
Click to expand...
That's my instinct as well. There's a wealth of innuendo about the Chinese stuff, but I have seen little in the way of clear objective evidence. I do see a lot of positive feedback on eBay (which admittedly may be fraudulent). Then I see Newegg selling it. I really don't have any reason not to try.
diizzy said:
msplsh
would probably go for at least one generation newer if I were to get a new HBA but we'll see the outcome.
Click to expand...
That's also my usual approach, but:
  • the 9707-8i technology is well proven, and fit for purpose;
  • the cost is almost trivial;
  • I need extra SFF8087 cables (supplied with the 9707-8i) to trouble-shoot a misbehaving port on my existing 9211-8i; and
  • I have a big investment in spinning SATA disks that are not likely to go significantly better with the newer controllers.
 
Newegg is just passing the buck on this by acting as a marketplace, same way Amazon sells ripoff junk.

There's no "clear objective evidence" because most people don't have the capability to detect why some electronic thing goes bad. They just throw it out and curse the source. Some are more obnoxious, like the 30TB SSD that WalMart was is still selling. Nobody has time to run down every single "hm, is this thing from some foreign country legit" because they would have to buy two devices just to even start.

When products that are made in China (or wherever, really) run a "ghost shift" or just outright copy things, they are cheaper because of they either accept a lower margin or don't run any QA on them & substitute cheaper, lower quality parts. They may work fine, depending on the parts tolerances or if the device you receive would have passed QA. If the devices are branded as LSI, that's basically trademark and copyright infringement as well.

Since nobody asks questions in China, you can just shuffle around some stuff you made on a ghost shift and the person that ends up with the products to sell may or may not have legitimate LSI hardware. Maybe it's a LSI card that got sold from LSI to a reseller in China and it's cheaper because of currency differences, maybe it's a knockoff, maybe it's a "ghost shift" product. When they sell outside of China, it's not like somebody from another country is going to come get them with "the law", either. They could just fold the company and rebrand, anyway. Good luck finding them if you aren't already in China.

Just "gimme some parts" has bitten electronics manufacturers before.
 
Microsemi offers FreeBSD drivers support for they products. If someone is using them i would love to hear they experience


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I have received my Chinese origin LSI 9207-8i USB 3.0 SAS/SATA controller.

I wish I had, before ordering, considered the Art of Server, which seems to sell genuine refurbished LSI products in the USA (but they also ship new products out of China).

The STH forums have some suggestions on how to spot a fake, with a link to photos.

My card appears to pass all suggested tests for genuine I could find (including presence of LSI logo; tinned holes; heatsink shape, size, and attachment; PCB colour).

It's visually indistinguishable from this refurbished genuine Genuine LSI 9207-8i.
I'll be using the cables first to trouble-shoot my existing 9211-8i, but will eventually get it into a test frame.
 
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