Computex 2005 - Day 3 Tidbits
by Kristopher Kubicki on June 1, 2005 11:06 PM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
Storage
Everyone and everybody couldn’t stop talking about Raid 6 at the show this year. Raid 6, for those not familiar, is a striping technology similar to Raid 5, but considerably more resource and CPU intensive. On the upside, a Raid 6 array can lose as many as two disks before failure, and even the loss of one or two disks will force the array to begin repairing itself in the background. The only downside to this technology, because it is so CPU intensive, is that it only comes in software form. The hardware is still needed to support Raid 6, but a software driver is what actually enables the technology. The other downside is that many disks are needed for Raid 6 to really become viable. Don’t expect to run this on your desktop to increase World of Warcraft performance – this is pretty much server level technology. There were also some new SAS and Infiniband controllers on the show floor at HighPoint, and those are technologies that we will definitely keep an eye on.LSI
Besides their Raid 6 demonstrations, LSI also had a considerable amount of their suite dedicated to MegaRAID, their SAS and SATA software RAID 5 solution. While BSD operating systems have enjoyed Raid 5 software RAID via the OS for years, Linux and Windows have not been as fortunate. MegaRAID will support 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems.
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Promise
Below, you can see a shot of Promise’s Raid 8-port SATA controller with Raid 6 support and 64MB of ECC cache on board.
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gilboa - Thursday, June 2, 2005 - link
Linux *has* software RAID 6 support.I've been using it for a while now.
Just look at the kernel source under:
/usr/src/linux/drivers/md/raid6*
bigboxes - Thursday, June 2, 2005 - link
"Maybe if they put heat pipes throughout the whole desk it would offer interesting cooling."LOL
smn198 - Thursday, June 2, 2005 - link
Lian Li's weird round case could be good for a geek version of this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/4593977.stmTheir desk looks quite interesting although I think I'll spend my $2000 elsewhere. Maybe if they put heat pipes throughout the whole desk it would offer interesting cooling.
cHodAXUK - Thursday, June 2, 2005 - link
Suprise, suprise, another year passes and Lian Li still haven't produced a case that doesn't look like an aluminium version of an old 386 midi-tower.flatblastard - Thursday, June 2, 2005 - link
Correction: rd400/rd480Also, I was wondering if those motherboards have 6 or 8 channel audio. It's late and I'm too tired to walk upstairs and fire up the main rig so I can enlarge the pic big enough to read that list ;)
Man I must be gettin lazy in my old age (26), lol.....or could this be a sign it's time to replace my old browser rig?
flatblastard - Thursday, June 2, 2005 - link
Looks like HIS RD400/RS480 will be using the sb450 southbridge instead of ULi. Interesting considering the "powerhouse" image. I guess it's still too soon to pass judgment on southbridge from the near-future. I'm still keeping my eyes peeled just in case you throw in a pic of the ultra vanilla non-crossfire ati+sb450/ULi mobo if such a thing will exist. I"ve seen various pics on manufacturer web sites but nothing new in a while.Just keep feeding us and we will grow. Keep up the good work!
Calin - Thursday, June 2, 2005 - link
Tarumam,Every microelectronics producers (memory makers included) tend to overestimate the need for some product or another. Or they simply react to one opponent's increased production with increased production of their own, regardless of the perceived need.
In the end, this is good for users - it forces prices down to levels sometime lower than production costs.
I liked the watercooled case
Doormat - Thursday, June 2, 2005 - link
Windows Servers can do RAID-5 but I wouldnt recommend it since it requires the use of dynamic disks (in other words, its difficult to get your disks back if your machine dies and you have to reinstall the OS or stuff like that).There are RAID-6 cards out on the market now (Areca makes up to 16-port PCI-Ex8 SATA-II RAID-6 controller). I do see everyone migrating to RAID-6 since it would take a long while to rebuild a 8x400GB RAID-5 array, even with current HD read/write speeds. That long amount of time to rebuild the array leaves you vulerable to having another disk fail while the rebuild is taking place and you being SOL.
Raid 6 info: http://www.acnc.com/04_01_06.html
It basically uses parity in two dimensions.
Other than that, it looks like it was a very good Computex - its a shame they dont have a show like this in North America. I'd be there in a second!
Brian23 - Thursday, June 2, 2005 - link
...which brings me to my next point kids, don't do crack.Yawgm0th - Thursday, June 2, 2005 - link
I was a few seconds too late. :)