Pros: I found that Linux kernels have very good support for SATA interfaces commonly available on motherboards, but support for add-on cards is a lot less reliable. This is one of the few cards that is fully supported by the sata_mv driver (PCI id: 9005:0243) in recent versions of the Linux kernel (tested with 2.6.23-rc7). Furthermore, this card uses 4 PCIe lanes (as opposed to just one, which some other entry-level cards do). This means, it has plenty of spare bandwidth to drive four disks concurrently. For setting up RAID arrays under Linux, it is usually preferable to get software RAID controllers, configure the drives as JBOD, and then have Linux's "md" driver do the RAIDing. This gives better performance, better upgradability, and better cost than most hardware RAID controllers. And the Adaptec 2240900-R fits all the necessary requirements.

Cons: Add-on PCIe SATA controllers are still more expensive than controllers with other interfaces, and more expensive than SATA ports on the motherboard. While the cost will eventually come down even more, in the meantime it is often a worthwhile trade-off to buy a more expensive motherboard that already has the required number of SATA ports. Of course, most motherboards top out at about ten SATA ports, so add-on cards are required for anything beyond that.

Overall Review: The controller comes with SATA cables, even though it does not say so in the product description. So, no need to buy extra cables, unless you have special requirements (e.g. color, length, angled-plugs, eSATA, ...). Do note though, that due to the stacked connectors on the controller, angled plugs will not necessarily fit.

Pros: It took me a while to appreciate the performance of this card but I found that using a smaller rather than larger stripe size improved performance. Try it yourself using a benchmark program, I think you'll like it. My stats: 4 RaptorX 150Gb RAID0 in a 16x PCI slot (EVGA 780i mb) 64Mb Stripe Burst 252MB/s Ave read 167MB/s NOOoooo! 32Mb Stripe Burst 445MB/s Ave read 229MB/s 16Mb Stripe Burst 450MB/s Ave read 300MB/s HOORah Very pleased, I was thinking about going to an ARECA board, but I'm not sure the extra money would lead to that worthwhile an improvement.

Cons: Not an IOP341 card

Overall Review: Under $100 on newegg best bang/buck

Pros: Solid performance in RAID 0, easy setup through BIOS and Windows Vista x64 installation, good price for a brand-name product.

Cons: I had an issue where running the version 1.5 Win64 drivers caused system lockups whenever I used a program that monitored system stats (e.g., Riva Tuner, ASUS PC Probe, EVGA Precision). After speaking with someone at EVGA and doing a lot of troubleshooting, it all came back to an issue with the RAID card (something to do with PCI bus scanning). Downgrading to the version 1.4 drivers resolved the issue, and I haven't noticed any decrease in performance by using an older driver.

Pros: 4-channel hardware raid for under $300...and it works good.

Cons: Included SATA cables are very short. Not as fast as some of the competition, but not near as expensive, either.

Pros: Excellent RAID card for the price, much faster than motherboard based RAID.

Cons: Does not get along with ASUS PC Probe, locks PC

Pros: Hardware raid; bootable; physical drive info at POST; no glitches so far.

Cons: It could be nice to have a LED connected to this card to see drive activity on the case; the existing LED ports are not compatible with my ATX case (at first glance; maybe they are if tweaked somehow, but I couldn't figure it out).

Overall Review: Switched to this one to replace glitchy motherboard NVRAID (constantly ejected drives and had access failures; had this problem on 3 out of 3 machines with NVIDIA raid chipset for RAID0). Faster than motherboard's built-in RAID0: same 2 seagate SATAII drives run at 140 MB/Sec an no CPU load; the NVIDIA software RAID ran at 120 MB/Sec with 20% CPU load (when it could :).

Pros: Board works as advertised and adds four internal SATA ports. No compatibility problems when used with two different models of ASUS boards. Solved the problem of not having enough SATA ports on my motherboards.

Cons: Slow BIOS loading which the card checks each attached drive.

Overall Review: Only using for JBOD (not RAID).

Pros: Easy Install, Works with Vista x64, Fast Performance

Cons: Poor Driver Support on the disk... in order to install Onto one of the drives, first a floppy or CD must be made from the CD they include (You can't use the CD they give you to install windows)... Also in order to get this working under Vista x64 you must go to the adaptec website and download the signed drivers as the x64 bit drivers they include on the CD are UNSIGNED!!!

Overall Review: I'd have to say other than the little driver issue, Great card!! A bit tough fitting SATA cables with clips into the slots (a little force was required). Also this card may pose problems if you do not have a PCI Express x4 slot available (I have ONE x8 slot and am now using it for this card.) Overall Great Product! just wish the Vista drivers came on the disk and you didn't have to make a second CD or Floppy just in order to install vista.