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I have a chance to get an Adaptec 2940U2W for free (benefits of being in a Network+ class that gets donated entirely too much "old" stuff). Now, I'm 99% sure I can have it. My teacher basically said I could but I needed to give him a good reason cause he doesn't just want me to have it just to "have" it ya know.

So I wanna know if it would be worth my time. Would say, an 18gig U2W drive run as fast or faster than my current two 40gig ATA/133 drives in RAID-0. Theoretically the U2W drive would run 80meg tops and my RAID array runs 133 tops, but we know this isn't true nothing reaches these actual speeds. So which do you think would be faster? Would it be beneficial for me to take the card or would it be a waste of time?

scsi.

Greg

Two parts...

Part one. Reason for the card. If he gave you the SCSI card you can the do some benchmarks and truely see the benefits of a SCSI system. (I know it's slanted but I run all SCSI)

Part two. You want it! The main reason to have that card would be tasking ability. Speed for that card compared to your U133 raid drive should be comparable but, and I say but, you can never play with an app, browse windows explorer and burn all at the same time with IDE. SCSI can handle it all.

P.S. Nexus, it's about time you got back to the dark side, we miss you!

I go with Gand, but also what's the harm in giving it a shot. If u already got something faster then take it out, and go back to what you had. If it runs quicker then keep it in. Just my 2 cents

Tell him you want to get a Plextor 40TSi and rip albums at insane speeds.

Yeah, they're still available for sale directly from Plextor...however, they will soon be discontinued.

you can never play with an app, browse windows explorer and burn all at the same time with IDE.

This is BS... I run IDE all the way around... I burn while running apps and play around with IE WE and Nero will still kick out a full cd in 2:30 and never reports a buffer underrun... With the WD SE drives and as fast as computers are now IDE has no problem keeping up when it counts... I mean really Gand1 when was the last time you had a all IDE system? from the way it sounds it was back in the celeron 300a days when you couldn't do that but now it is not a problem.

To me SCSI is nothing more than a giant waste of money. Why pay all that loot for the bragging rights to say I can load this app .2 nanoseconds faster than your IDE can... Now if you were running a web server with multiple account i'd go with SCSI but for your every day computer user SCSI is a waste...

unless u want bragging rights, pred! Remember bragging rights!!! Only reason I'd get scsi would be to run a 15 drive chain mmm......80x15=1200gb Imagine the MP3s you could fit!

I guess I'll try to get it. I know it's not the best controller out there (an U160 card would be nice ) but hey, if I find I can't use it I could probably always give it back to him or if he doesn't want it--sell it! It's like a $70 card isn't it?

yea, you wont get more then $50 though.

Greg

Atcually I do have an all IDE system as well. It's my wifes but since I built it, it's mine. True, it is not the latest and greatest so I can't truely say how well it performs to my pc, but it aint bad. I would never try to do multiple things that are too intensive on that pc. It just wont work or it will slow to a crawl if it does. But then I'm comparing to an U160 system. And as far as money spent, if you know how and who to trade with, it's not that expensive.


Oh yeah, bragging rights, phht!

I just feel SCSI is the better more reliable way to go.

I'm sure Docsilly would back me up on that!

Yeah, when I was first typing I put $50, but then I thought I remembered it going for a bit more retail (but this was a while ago). I picked it up today though

<img src=http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hipnotic_ ... 940u2w.jpg>

Also picked up 3 SCSI drives. One is a Cheetah 4LP (4.5gig 10kRPM, 7.7 seek) the other is an IBM (another 4giger) and the last is a 9gig IBM.


[edit]
The 9gig has a centronics type connector & no power molex connector so I don't think I'll be able to use it. All these came from old IBM 704 (unsure on if thats the right model) servers....they 4 socket 8 CPU's, over a gig of ram, etc. This drive looks like it was designed to be hot-swapable--is there anyway a person like I could use it? Or is it basically worthless without the right equipment.

<img src=http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hipnotic_ ... /scsi1.jpg>
<img src=http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hipnotic_ ... /scsi2.jpg>

Originally posted by CaterpillarAssassin
unless u want bragging rights, pred! Remember bragging rights!!! Only reason I'd get scsi would be to run a 15 drive chain mmm......80x15=1200gb Imagine the MP3s you could fit!

6x200GB = 1200GB

Let's do a brief cost comparison (from newegg.com)

6 IDE drives, 8MB cache, ATA133, plus controller card (Promise RAID card) = $1918
15x73GB U160 drives with Adaptec 29160 SCSI card = $6014


Wow bigass price difference there. for around the same cost of the SCSI i can get a total of 3600GB and that includes controller cards.

SCSI = I have 75 gig drive and a controller card. IDE = I have a 200 Gig WD SE and still have cash in my wallet for a Radeon 9700 Pro

You buy what you can afford. All I care about is having the the best pc I can get.

Did some scrounging but the 9700pro is worth every F'ing penny you spen on it!!!!

i'm waiting for the GF FX to come out... only cause you know ATI will slash prices on the 9500 and 9700's to undermind it then i'll buy one.. 300 for vid card is rediculous... and even if i had the money for a scsi setup i'd still run IDE... Just run 4 WD SE drives in Raid 0+1