Are thumpers still interesting in 2011 ? (raidz3 on x4500 @ 3.0gbps ...)

[George Sanders]

If I understand correctly, the interesting thing about a Sun x4500 (a "thumper") 
is that every one of the 48 disks has a direct path to the system board, 
allowing for full, independent throughput from every single drive.

The downside, in 2011, is that it is a SATA2 system @ 3.0gbps.

So, is this still an interesting system ?  Is it still difficult to put together 
a system with 48 independent paths to the board, like the Thumper ?

Assuming a raidZ3 configuration, does that drive independence help me more than 
being stuck at 3.0gbps hurts me ?  Or would a "modern" system with a more 
typical drive contention scheme, but running at 6.0gbps, be superior ?

Just curious ...