3ware 9650SE-4LPML PCI Express Lanes: 4 SATA II Controller Card RAID Levels 0, 1, 5, 10, Single Disk, JBOD, KIT - Retail

Reviewed By: on 2/7/2007

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: This is a fast, cost-effective hardware RAID card with Linux drivers. AMCC's support is top notch.

Cons: The 9650SX card is quite new, and was not supported by my OS installer CD.

Other Thoughts: AMCC support was glad to provide me with a loadable kernel module, and instructions for inserting it into my ubuntu 6.10 installation CD so I can boot & root from the array. Their response was very fast and the first response I received was from someone who fully understood my question and had all the necessary tools to help me.

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Bought Another One!

Reviewed By: Gerhard on 5/20/2007

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Excellent support: Timely firmware and driver updates. Excellent features and utilities. Array's can be rebuilt on the fly, without taking the server / workstation off-line. The controller has all of the industrial features you would expect to see in an enterprise solution, including the ability to perform RAID 6 across TWO of these units.

Cons: When I first purchased this controller some distros of Linux were lacking support, but it appears to be getting better. It is a 4 lane controller, so you need to ensure that you have a PCIe slot that has is at least 4x. (Not a con really...)

Other Thoughts: I now own two of these controllers. Feature wise they are BETTER than most of the server hardware I purchase from Dell. For instance, I decided that I'd replace the Hitachi 7K500 drives with Samsung Spingpoint T166 drives. I did this ON THE FLY without needing to power the system down! I simply disconnected one drive at a time and rebuilt the array. Moreover, the performance was excellent even with a degrade RAID 5 array! (I'm using the Hitachi drives for something else, and the T166s are a little faster...)

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Don't buy it for Windows 7

Reviewed By: James on 11/14/2009

Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week

Pros: On Windows 7, none.

Cons: Not supported by Windows 7 officially. However, 3Ware says it "should work". They give little information about how to make it work. As far as I can tell, it doesn't work for 64 bit Windows 7 -- maybe they only meant 32 bit (but they sure didn't specify).

Other Thoughts: I'm disappointed in the level of driver support that a company like 3Ware (doesn't) offer. Yes, Windows 7 is new. But beta versions have been around for a long time. They could have made signed drivers.

And can't they post comprehensive instructions on their site for making something work, rather than saying "It should work"? I appreciate that I'm trying to do this before it's officially supported, so maybe my expectations are unrealistic, but buyer beware: Maybe it "should work" but if you want to be positive, you better buy something else.

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Works with the ANS-9010

Reviewed By: nate on 11/12/2009

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: -Don't have to boot into BIOS to configure settings.
-The ACard ANS-9010 works *very* well with this controller.

Cons: -Configuration is a little confusing, took a few hours fiddling.
-Card depends on a LOT of air movement for cooling. (I had to replace the passive heatsink with an active one for it to not overheat in my case)

Other Thoughts: pricey, but you do get what you pay for.

this RAID card is not officially listed by ACard as a supported RAID controller for the ANS-9010. The ANS-9010 works very well with the 3ware controller.

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works like a charm

Reviewed By: on 11/1/2009

Tech Level: average - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Was plug and play under Linux. Didn't have to install a driver or anything. Plugged it in, started computer and 3Ware BIOS came up allowing me to make all the adjustments I needed to make.

256MB cache freeing up your CPU.

Cons: You should factor in another 100 bucks. Either get the battery backup from 3Ware or some other form of power backup to make sure you don't loose power if you enable write caching.

Other Thoughts: The list of officially supported MBs and HDDs seems shorter than what's actually supported. Check this 1st and in case of doubt contact 3Ware to figure out if the card will work with your build.

Running a RAID 10 with this card on a Supermicro MBD-X8DAi-O server board with 4 Samsung 700GB drives.

Not really a con, but an active heatsink instead of the passive one would be nice, especially if you install the BBU. I installed a PCI slot fan adjacent to the 3Ware controller and it seems to keep things cool.

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