PCIe SAS RAID card comparison

Use the table in this topic to compare the features of a PCI Express (PCIe) SAS RAID cards for IBM® i. There are also images of adapters for you to view.

Table 1. PCIe SAS RAID controller card comparison
Features	57B7	57B3	574E
Description	PCIe x1 Auxiliary Cache adapter	PCIe x8 Ext Dual-x4 3 Gb SAS adapter	PCIe x8 Ext Dual-x4 3 Gb SAS RAID adapter
Form factor	Planar Auxiliary Cache	PCIe x8	PCIe x8
Physical links	2	8 (two mini SAS 4x connectors)	8 (two mini SAS 4x connectors)
RAID levels supported		RAID 5¹, RAID 6¹, system mirroring	RAID 5, RAID 6, system mirroring
Write cache size	175 MB		380 MB
Read cache size
Cache battery pack technology	Lithium ion		Lithium ion
Cache battery concurrent maintenance	Yes	No	Yes
Cache data present LED	Yes	No	Yes
Removable cache card	No	No	Yes
Auxiliary write cache (AWC) support	Yes	No	No
Dual storage IOA configuration	No	No	Yes
Requires dual storage IOA configuration	No	No	Yes
The write performance of RAID 5 and RAID 6 might be poor on adapters that do not provide write cache. Consider using an adapter that provides write cache when using RAID 5 or RAID 6.

Adapter graphics

View the SAS RAID controllers.

Figure 1. CCIN 57B7 Planar Auxiliary Cache

Figure 2. CCIN 57B3 PCIe x8 Ext Dual-x4 3 Gb SAS adapter

Figure 3. CCIN 574E PCIe x8 Ext Dual-x4 3 Gb SAS RAID adapter

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Last updated: Wed, February 15, 2012