Cheap to alternatives LSI 9211-8i ?

[AllGamer]

It appears the popularity of NAS anything, FreeNAS, XPEnology, and other similar projects have generated a hot demand for LSI 9211-8i, which drives up the prices in ebay and other places.

 

The problem is not so much about the cost, but the huge abundance of FAKE counterfeit versions from china that keeps me from buying, and of the ones I can find are legit used LSI are rather expensive.

 

Funny enough I can find LSI 9240-8i real ones cheaper than LSI 9211-8i

 

Can the 9240-8i be flashed to TI mode ?

 

It'll come handy to learn of other brand and models that also work with XPEnology and not over priced due high demands

 

another relevant question.

 

Can XPEnology use JBOD from the LSI 9240-8i, then I won't need to crossflash it ?

[AllGamer]

for example, this Syba SD-PEX40104

http://www.sybausa.com/index.php?route= ... =62,38,188

 

8 Port SATA III 6G PCI-e 2.0 x1 Card

 

Marvell 88SE9215 + 88SM9705 chipset

1 -Lane PCI-Express 2.0 interface, up to 6.0Gbps

 

Connect up to 8 SATA devices at a time

Supports Native Command Queuing (NCQ)

Drive Activity Indicator Cable Included

Comes with standard and low-profile brackets

Software RAID Capable

 

 

have anyone had any success with this model?

 

I recall in some old threads in this forum people asking for driver support for syba cards

 

if this model works, then it'll be perfect, PCI-e 1x is very common and in large quantity on most motherboards.

also price is less than the LSI, and no need to deal with crossflashing

cards guaranteed original as a quick ebay search returns only legit vendors like newegg and such, and these cards from Syba is already made in china, so I doubt chinese knockoff will bother making a even lower quality version of it just for ebay

[AllGamer]

Found some old replies from sbv3000

 

which had success with older Syba 88SE9215 4 port pci-e x1 cards

 

SI-PEX40064

http://www.sybausa.com/index.php?route= ... =16,72,188

 

but the 8port i mentioned above has the additional 88SM9705 chip, I hope that doesn't cause a problem, as I'm considering to pull the trigger to place an order for that 8 port Syba card.

[berwhale]

I run a 4 port card with a Marvell 88SE9215 chipset in my box...

 

http://eud.dx.com/product/iocrest-marve ... -844282997

 

It's passed through from the vSphere host the a DSM guest using Direct IO. DSM sees all the attached drives as native (get full SMART info, etc.)

[eleazar]

How can you tell if an LSI 9211-8i is counterfeit? I just purchased 2 from ebay and want to make sure I didn't get fake ones :\

[AllGamer]

How can you tell if an LSI 9211-8i is counterfeit? I just purchased 2 from ebay and want to make sure I didn't get fake ones :\

 

The fake ones works just like the real ones from LSI, the only problem is they die very fast, from most people reviews and complains within a year, after 8 months or so, you will start to see random "RAID" errors, but if you check the actual HDD data on another machine, then they are fine.

 

That's because the lower cost chip used in the counterfeits cards overheat and dies faster than the ones used by legit LSI cards

 

i do suppose if you put a heat sink on to them, it might help prolong its life span with proper cooling.

[AllGamer]

I run a 4 port card with a Marvell 88SE9215 chipset in my box...

 

http://eud.dx.com/product/iocrest-marve ... -844282997

 

It's passed through from the vSphere host the a DSM guest using Direct IO. DSM sees all the attached drives as native (get full SMART info, etc.)

 

Thanks, good suggestion, too bad it's sold out

DX have a newer model slightly different chip, newer version of Marvell 9230, not sure if this chip is supported by XPE http://www.dx.com/p/iocrest-marvell9230 ... een-282995

 

also a Marvell 88SE9235

http://www.dx.com/p/iocrest-marvell-88s ... een-282999

 

I just noticed Syba and IOCREST uses the exactly same design and chips.

 

the only difference is packaging and their own Parts number.

Syba tends to have better packaging and includes more stuff like cables and such, than IOcrest which comes bare-bones.

 

This other model I'm also considering, but it's sold out everywhere, including the Syba version as well.

http://www.dx.com/p/iocrest-io-pce9215- ... een-384912

 

I found a couple on eBay, but I try not to buy from eBay unless all Retail places are sold out.

 

Here is another interesting model also from both Syba and IOcrest (well according to Newegg it is the same company.)

http://www.dx.com/p/iocrest-sata-iii-6g ... een-282994

 

I buy a lot from DX, at least they are reputable Chinese source, as in you know what kind of quality you can expect (poor quality not great but it works, it doesn't die on you as some eBay stuff ), and they always deliver, and... you can't beat free shipping just need to be patience and wait the long 30+ days for the product to arrive

 

Newegg is sold out as well.

[sbv3000]

About the syba 8 port cards, I've seen threads where only 4 ports work because the architecture is to 'multiply' the ports (ie putting 2*4 port sata controllers on a card with and interface chip), but the xpe drivers dont work with that)

I've had good results with xpe and the supermicro aoc-saslp-mv8 and sas2lp-mv8, which are older cards but can be picked up cheap.

[AllGamer]

About the syba 8 port cards, I've seen threads where only 4 ports work because the architecture is to 'multiply' the ports (ie putting 2*4 port sata controllers on a card with and interface chip), but the xpe drivers dont work with that)

I've had good results with xpe and the supermicro aoc-saslp-mv8 and sas2lp-mv8, which are older cards but can be picked up cheap.

 

Thank you for the warning! that saved me some headache.

The moment I saw the spec saying chip+chip i was suspecting Expansion as well.

 

I found a few sas2lp-mv8, those will do nicely, and since you already got them working, i can buy with confidence

 

Much oblige