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Re: Best SCSI controller



Omer Zak <xlacha1@wicc.weizmann.ac.il> wrote:
>  I am going to buy a new PC.  Among other things, I have to specify which 
>  SCSI controller to go into it.  It was suggested to me that Adaptec 2940 
>  PCI SCSI controller be used.
>  
>  According to the SCSI-Howto at 
>  http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/papers/mdw/HOWTO/SCSI-HOWTO.html
>  (which is v2.30, 30 August 1996), the 2940 is supported by an ALPHA driver.
>  
>  1. Today (February 1997), is there a full support for the 2940?
>  2. According to the URL:
>  http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/papers/mdw/HOWTO/SCSI-HOWTO-10.html#BuyerGuideFeatures
>     NCR53c8xx is the best buy for someone for whom high data transfer rates 
>     have high priority.
>     Should I ask for something like this rather than for the 2940?

I have three Adaptecs (2 2940W & 2940U), BusLogic 958 WU and NCR810.
BL is the performance leader, Adaptec and NCR are about same. There are other
issues you'd take into account as well:

1. NCR810 is a BIOS-less card, so if the MB BIOS doesn't have support for it,   
 
   you'll have to boot off IDE or floppy. NCR825 does have BIOS.
2. Option to boot off non-0 ID device: it was crucual  for me in one case for 
   building firewall with ZIP drive (it can be set only to ID 5 or 6). Adaptec
   does have this option (BL as well, probably).
3. Smart termination: in order to attach an external device, you must change 
   a jumper on the board in the case of NCR (so open the box); for Adaptec, you 
   do it from its BIOS setup; BL does it automatically. 

And as a general comment: I've heard a lot of stories about problems with
on-board SCSI, though I don't have any personal experience with them (for the
above reason).

Regards,

Evgeny


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