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#! rnews 3098 bsd Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!msunews!news.gmi.edu!news2.mw.highway1.com!news.mw.highway1.com!news.eecs.umich.edu!news.mathworks.com!worldnet.att.net!newsadm From: "J.C. Archambeau" <n-xiv@worldnet.att.net> Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: Hardware recomendation Date: 29 May 1997 17:57:27 GMT Organization: AT&T WorldNet Services Lines: 58 Message-ID: <01bc6c5a$6a4cb640$b5cc93cf@worldnet.worldnet.att.net> References: <01bc6c1c$746b3b80$03a591ce@ras-tsmphs-w95> NNTP-Posting-Host: 207.147.204.181 X-Newsreader: Microsoft Internet News 4.70.1155 Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:41848 Patrick Sonnek <psonnek@soncom.com> wrote: : I have the following SCSI configuration : : HD: (aic0:0:0): "QUANTUM FIREBALL_TM2110S 300X" type0 fixed SCSI 2 This is one problem. : TD: (aic0:4:0): "CONNER CTT8000-S 1.17" type 1 removable SCSI 2 : : The Controller is currently a Adaptec 1522 This is the other problem. : Disk access is not as fast as I would like, I would like to know, what : would be the best controller to use, to get the maximum throughput from the : devices (primarily the HD) that I have. The computer is a Compaq Prosario, : P75, and has EISA and PCI slots. That's because you're using a PIO ISA SCSI adapter. Another problem is that you're using a Quantum Fireball TM which is one of the slowest ultra SCSI drives on the market because it only runs at 4500 RPM and has a poor performing SCSI interface. Going with a busmastering EISA or PCI adapter will help performance significantly though. You're in a unique position with having an EISA/PCI bus PC since you have a good selection of FreeBSD supported SCSI adapters. Any EISA adapter from Adaptec or Buslogic should work. If you opt for a Buslogic adapter, avoid the boards with the S suffix if you happen to come across one. They are the older production boards and have some serious problems with current production hardware. Tekram has an EISA SCSI adapter as well, but I do not know if it is FreeBSD supported. If you opt for an EISA SCSI adapter, the best you can get is fast wide SCSI-2 because of the transfer rate limitations of the EISA bus. You can find EISA SCSI adapters on the used market occassionally. If you are going to buy new or need ultra (fast-20) SCSI support, you might as well go PCI. New PCI cards are about half to a third of the price of new EISA cards. If you opt for a PCI card, anything from Adaptec, Buslogic or NCR/Symbios will work. If you get a Symbios based card, avoid the 810 boards since they do not have an onboard BIOS to boot from SCSI. If you opt for a Buslogic card, avoid the Flashpoints as there is no FreeBSD driver at this time nor do I know if anyone on the core or development team has taken on the task of writing a Flashpoint driver. This has one major drawback being that the Flashpoints are less expensive than the Multimasters. Diamond has their Fireport 40 which to my understanding is NCR/Symbios 875 based which should work. JCA -- n-xiv@worldnet.att.net