Issue with 7.0-RELEASE and Realtek RTL8168/8111 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC

[Jeremy Chadwick]

On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 01:55:30PM -0700, Jeremy Chadwick wrote:
> But in this day and age, one of the best SATA controllers for FreeBSD is
> an Areca controller.  They're somewhat expensive (comparatively), but
> the performance is apparently stunning, combined with decent FreeBSD
> drivers that utilise CAM and da(4) (yes, despite the disks being SATA).
> Every time people mention them on the lists, the response is the same:
> amazing performance, and really good driver + administrative support
> (e.g. software administrative utilities).
> 
> I do wish Areca made a less expensive controller with less features,
> intended for "tech-savvy" consumer use, in the US$125 or less price
> range.

And it appears they now do: the ARC-1200.  PCIe x1, has 2 ports, and
on-board cache.  It lacks an IOP, so the performance won't be that of
one of the more expensive cards.  Either way, quite good for 2-disk
servers:

http://www.areca.com.tw/products/2ports.htm

Cost is ~US$175.  A little steep, but the on-board cache supposedly
justifies it (IMHO, barely).  Hopefully the price will come down to
US$100-125, which would be perfect.

-- 
| Jeremy Chadwick                                jdc at parodius.com |
| Parodius Networking                       http://www.parodius.com/ |
| UNIX Systems Administrator                  Mountain View, CA, USA |
| Making life hard for others since 1977.              PGP: 4BD6C0CB |