From owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Oct 17 18:05:22 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2367316A41F for ; Mon, 17 Oct 2005 18:05:22 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from brdavis@odin.ac.hmc.edu) Received: from odin.ac.hmc.edu (Odin.AC.HMC.Edu [134.173.32.75]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A474243D46 for ; Mon, 17 Oct 2005 18:05:20 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from brdavis@odin.ac.hmc.edu) Received: from odin.ac.hmc.edu (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by odin.ac.hmc.edu (8.13.0/8.13.0) with ESMTP id j9HI5JPD031264; Mon, 17 Oct 2005 11:05:20 -0700 Received: (from brdavis@localhost) by odin.ac.hmc.edu (8.13.0/8.13.0/Submit) id j9HI5JDP031263; Mon, 17 Oct 2005 11:05:19 -0700 Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2005 11:05:19 -0700 From: Brooks Davis To: "Gary D. Margiotta" Message-ID: <20051017180519.GA15097@odin.ac.hmc.edu> References: <1129279679.1317.16.camel@localhost.localdomain> <003b01c5d0a3$a6250da0$0200a8c0@bennypc> <1129283233.1315.33.camel@localhost.localdomain> <20051014091016.J71298@kerplunk.tbe.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="sdtB3X0nJg68CQEu" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20051014091016.J71298@kerplunk.tbe.net> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.1i X-Virus-Scanned: by amavisd-new X-Spam-Status: No, hits=0.0 required=8.0 tests=none autolearn=no version=2.63 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.63 (2004-01-11) on odin.ac.hmc.edu Cc: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org, Benny Goemans , Vladimir Konrad Subject: Re: sil3114 versus sil3114a X-BeenThere: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: General discussion of FreeBSD hardware List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2005 18:05:22 -0000 --sdtB3X0nJg68CQEu Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Fri, Oct 14, 2005 at 09:15:35AM -0400, Gary D. Margiotta wrote: > On Fri, 14 Oct 2005, Vladimir Konrad wrote: >=20 > >>if you are planning to use the Sil3114 in a raid, I don't recommend it.= =20 > >>I've > >>been using it a while, but FreeBSD doesn't support the raid that you=20 > >>create > >>using the bios. Thus, if you're planning to do a dual boot (ie. Windows= ), > >>it's a bad idea because you can't use the raid features then. Besides,= =20 > >>I've > >>noticed (from using it myself for half a year), that it's stability isn= 't > >>really that good. > >i am not planning using a raid in bios/harware, but raid5 using vinum. > > > >so the sil3114 raid is flaky but no raid sata channels are stable? > > > >also, are sil3114 and sil3114a both supported? (the one i am thinking of > >using is sil3114a). > > > >>What I propose is to check whether the motherboard has some other raid > >>controller (i.e. for a NForce4 motherboard, the Nvidia Raid) that is > >>supported and use that one. > > > >this is not on-board chip set but an add-on PCI card (4 port serial > >ata). basically, i need 4 serial ata ports in an older intel machine and > >could not find info on a 4 port non-raid sata card supported by FreeBSD. > >The one i found uses the sil3114a chip set. > > > >>If, on the other hand, you don't need raid features, it should work=20 > >>without > >>problems. > > > >with the sil3114a chip? > > > >vlad > > > >ps: i know that the description of the chip set is only different by the > >letter "a" but in principle the hardware could differ significantly. >=20 > The Silicon Image controllers are some of the worst out there, according= =20 > to our ATA maintainer, and I have stayed clear of them because of this.= =20 > If I were you, I would as well, as if the hardware is already marginally= =20 > supported, it can most likely only get worse. You're confusing the 3114 with the 3112. I don't recall any 3114 issues. They are entierly different beasts. The big problem here is that the 3112 is "value" hardware where apparent functionality under Windows at the lowest possible price is far more important than actually writing your bits to the disk correctly so people keep building cards around cheap, bad hardware. :( -- Brooks --=20 Any statement of the form "X is the one, true Y" is FALSE. PGP fingerprint 655D 519C 26A7 82E7 2529 9BF0 5D8E 8BE9 F238 1AD4 --sdtB3X0nJg68CQEu Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.1 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFDU+feXY6L6fI4GtQRAh/1AKDQmkYGv4jx1tpJYrVtkNoyrec/UgCg4qA8 pbKa4wxfQXmo5mjo6ABf+UI= =61dw -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --sdtB3X0nJg68CQEu--