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Consolidated
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Adaptec SCSI vs. LSI SCSI

Sun Sep 28, 2003 12:57 pm

I'm just looking for some advice regarding LSI SCSI cards. I'm in the market to replace my existing Adaptec AHA-2940U/UW and just assumed I would go with the Adaptec 29160. In my shopping around I saw that LSI makes SCSI controllers (something I really wasn't aware of) and has an equivalent card called the 21040.

Now I'm super happy with my existing Adaptec card and assume I would be happy with the newer Adaptec 29160, but does anybody here have any experience with LSI controllers. I'm looking for long term stability, quality drivers, things like that. Anyone have a BAD experience with a LSI controller?

Thanks in advance.
--/sean
 
Canuckle
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Sun Sep 28, 2003 1:25 pm

My understanding is that LSI is quite comparable, just that I was lead to believe that one might find Adaptec is better supported given Adaptec is regarded as the industry standard.
 
Starfalcon
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Sun Sep 28, 2003 5:59 pm

I have a tekram SCSI card that uses the LSI chip, and it has worked fine for me in the two years I have had it running in my server. LSI tends to be more reasonably priced than adaptec and have comparable features. When I picked up my card, it was over $100 cheaper than a less powerful adaptec card.
 
Consolidated
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Sun Sep 28, 2003 8:21 pm

Thanks to both Canuckle and Starfalcon for your input. I feel so *dumb* for not even knowing LSI made SCSI controllers but it looks like they are equal, if only smaller, to Adaptec. I can equally afford the LSI or Adaptec cards -- but somehow I tend to favour the "underdog". Of course the last time I bought the underdog I purchaed a 3dfx V5500 for 400$ and they went out of business two weeks later. Oh well, LSI PLEASE DON'T GO OUT OF BUSINESS!
--/sean
 
Buub
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Tue Sep 30, 2003 3:05 pm

LSI makes great stuff. Certainly first-rate quality, no worse and maybe sometimes better quality than Adaptec.
 
morphine
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Wed Oct 01, 2003 9:16 am

Try Tekram controllers. A _LOT_ cheaper than Adaptec-equivalents, and have the same speed/features. I used to order Adaptec cards for the servers I sometimes build, but I've since then switched to Tekram cards. And I've once had an LSI card handed over (pre-built system that I had to configure). Worked fast, no problems at all. Definitely a thumbs-up for me.

Adaptec seems to go in the "it's only the name" direction... :roll:, their stuff, although slightly better (and even then, only under heavy loads), costs a LOT more than the competition equivalents.
 
Consolidated
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Wed Oct 01, 2003 1:09 pm

Thanks Morphine.....you are right, Adaptec works off the fact that they are just Adaptec. When I think SCSI I have to admit I only think of Adaptec. I have never had a problem with any of their cards, but I think I'm going try a Tekram or LSI branded card for my upgrade/replacement.
--/sean
 
morphine
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Wed Oct 01, 2003 1:11 pm

Sure thing, let us know later how it went ;)
 
Buub
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Wed Oct 01, 2003 3:34 pm

You shouldn't necessarily think of LSI as "the little guy" to the Adaptec giant. LSI has been in the SCSI business for many many years as well. Their stuff is not inferior to Adaptec. It's just different.
 
mstrmold
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Sat Oct 04, 2003 9:21 pm

Ok, let me set the record straight. LSI bought Symbios Logic and incorporated thier chips into thier SCSI products. LSI Logic happens to employ far more people than Adaptec, and me working for an unmentioned group that deals with SCSI and RAID products, tend to find the LSI has more issues with compatibility than Adaptec. Our return rate is pretty high when it's a new launch product. Check out the issues with the thier U320 launch.
Little guy, or, underdog? Who, LSI? Please. When I buy an Adaptec product, yeah you pay more, but damn it, it works! LSI tends to have major sharing issues on Windows based products in terms of system IRQ's.
Tekram I have no experience with so I cannot comment. As far as Adaptec getting by on name only, WTF?!! :o How do you figure that? As you can tell this attitude that is pervasive that one person says something bad and is followed by more "oh yeah, blah blah blah said this" garbage. ARG!

OK, end rant
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JustAnEngineer
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Sat Oct 04, 2003 9:26 pm

It has been a while since I purchased anything new with a SCSI interface (I am still using an Adaptec 2940UW host adapter in my main machine). In the past, the measure of compatibility for any SCSI device was how closely it acted like an Adaptec. The company has set the standards in SCSI for a very long time.
Last edited by JustAnEngineer on Sun Oct 05, 2003 10:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
 
morphine
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Sun Oct 05, 2003 9:03 am

mstrmold wrote:
As far as Adaptec getting by on name only, WTF?!! :o How do you figure that? As you can tell this attitude that is pervasive that one person says something bad and is followed by more "oh yeah, blah blah blah said this" garbage.

Maybe, just maybe, that the competing products to Adaptec cost less and have the same performance, features, and compatibility? Yes, Adaptec may still be the king of quality et al, but the competition's pretty damn close, in fact, too close to justify the difference in price in the majority of cases.
 
Starfalcon
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Sun Oct 05, 2003 10:46 am

When I bought my tekram card 2 years ago, I bought the dual channel card for under $200. For a comparable adaptec card, it would have cost almost $150 more. I just did not see the reason to spend that much extra just for the name, wihen both had similar performance.
 
mstrmold
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Sun Oct 05, 2003 1:06 pm

Maybe that was true two years ago. I went to pricegrabber and found that the 29320 Adaptec single channel product was $197, while the LSI 20320 single channel was $233 (This is for the kit model, not OEM). Again, that might have been true 2 years ago, but I don't believe this holds true today.

As far as compatibility and performance. Where are you getting your information from? Check out Storage Review. They consistantly rate the Adaptec products both in feature sets and overall stability/compatibility at the top. So I don't know where you come up with this idea that they are damn close and more expensive. Like I said, I deal with orders in excess of 1500 a month. My experience seems to vary from yours.

-E
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Starfalcon
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Mon Oct 06, 2003 1:33 am

When I bought my card, I spent a lot of time on SR asking about what card to get. The tekram card was recomended as a good card for a great price, and was a full retail kit. The adaptec 29160 which was the comparable card was over $300 for a retail kit. Prices may have changed since then, but at the time I bought what was the best available deal, and I am still very satisfied with it today.

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