From owner-freebsd-hardware  Wed Aug 28 19:54:03 1996
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To: "Brian D. McGlothlin" <bmcgloth@mail.vt.edu>
Cc: freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.org
Subject: Re: DAT or removable device? 
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Wed, 28 Aug 1996 18:35:18 EDT."
             <199608282235.SAA01356@sable.cc.vt.edu> 
Date: Wed, 28 Aug 1996 19:52:51 -0700
From: Darryl Okahata <darrylo@hpnmhjw.sr.hp.com>
Sender: owner-hardware@FreeBSD.org
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> steer someone in the right direction before they spend bucks.  From what I
> read I'm assuming Adaptec's 2940 PCI SCSI Master is a good choice.  Now, I

     Another possibility is a cheap NCR/Symbios-based SCSI card, which
gives performance comparable to an Adaptec 2940, but at *MUCH* lower
prices.  If you have a motherboard with an on-board NCR BIOS, the SCSI
controller (without BIOS) will cost around $80 (don't be misled by the
cheap price -- it really is a decent card); if you don't have an
on-board NCR BIOS, a controller with BIOS will run around $105 (Data
Technology DTC3130B, from NECX).

     I've got the DTC3130B, and it works well under FreeBSD 2.1R,
FreeBSD 2.2-snap-960801, and Windows 95.

     However, there are some downsides that come to mind:

* Finding an NCR/Symbios-based card can be difficult.  Most places don't
  carry them for one reason or another (personally, I think the profit
  margins are higher for the name-brand Adaptec, and so vendors push the
  Adaptec).

* Supposedly, the NCR/Symbios-based cards don't perform well under heavy
  loads, such as when you have three or more disks being accessed
  *simultaneously*.  This isn't an issue for most people.

* Under plain MSDOS (not an MSDOS session under Win95), the NCR ASPI
  drivers use up more memory than Adaptec's ASPI drivers.  This isn't an
  issue under a Win95 MSDOS session, as Win95 loads the ASPI drivers
  into extended memory, and doesn't use any precious low/high memory.

     -- Darryl Okahata
	Internet: darrylo@sr.hp.com

DISCLAIMER: this message is the author's personal opinion and does not
constitute the support, opinion, or policy of Hewlett-Packard, or of the
little green men that have been following him all day.