IDE Co-Processors? 27
morbid asks: "EIDE is generally considered to be inferior to SCSI because it requires more involvement from the processor slowing the system down, but would it not be possible to build an EIDE/ATA (?) controller with its own processor, freeing up the CPU and increasing system performamce while allowing the use of inexpensive drives?"
Say hello to Bus Mastering (Score:2)
Bus Master IDE FAQ [mirror.ac.uk]
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its been around for years (Score:1)
Re:cause the wheel is broken (Score:1)
SCSI & Multi-tasking OS's (Score:3)
Right now the next step in consumer high-speed drives appears to be Firewire/iLink/1394 (depending on the vendor.) USB 2.0 has just appreared in silicon but it's already slower then Firewire/iLink/1394 and not as flexible. Intel is also working on PCI/X as a next generation replacement for the now venerable PCI bus. They appear to be going to a serial-bus design with smart interconnects.
One well regarded scenario for the future of PC's has them turning into black boxes containing little more then a CPU and graphics card. Everything else would be handled through high-speed serial connections.
Re:cause the wheel is broken (Score:2)
Re:cause the wheel is broken (Score:2)
Once ATA gets fixed (trashed) we won't need to bother with it anymore... damn legacy 8^)
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Re:Say hello to Bus Mastering (Score:1)
Re:cause the wheel is broken (Score:1)
Re:Say hello to Bus Mastering (Score:2)
So, yes, bus mastering is good. My $3 network card does it too, as does (should) any non-brain-dead PCI device that involves any sort of data flow (LAN, drive controller, video, capture). It doesn't take care of everything, though.
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Re:SCSI & Multi-tasking OS's (Score:2)
......
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4x the cost? What do you smoke? (Score:2)
Western Digital18.0GB EIDE 7200 RPM OEM,1 YEAR WARRANTY $109
Doesn't look like 4-to-1 to me. I'll pay the extra $130 for SCSI, personally.
- A.P.
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"One World, one Web, one Program" - Microsoft promotional ad
Re:cause the wheel is broken (Score:2)
SCSI drives are better for other reason also (Score:1)
drive housings (Score:1)
I've got 6 short and 8 full height drives, 2 dual ppro systems, powers supplies fans & so on, in less space than a single full size tower case.
though I'm a big SCSI fan, I got to admit the single 8' SCSI cable is much more of a bitch to deal with than the IDE cables.
Re:4x the cost? What do you smoke? (Score:2)
You get what you pay for.
- A.P.
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"One World, one Web, one Program" - Microsoft promotional ad
Re:Say hello to Bus Mastering (Score:2)
SCSI encapsulation for IDE drives (Score:1)
For most hard drives it's not too bad, but the real problem comes when you have a high-speed cdrom. Think Kenwood 72x. That thing sucks away nearly 20% CPU no matter how fast the PC. Another brand name 40x drive also bogs down my other box by a good 12-15%. On the other hand, my SCSI 24x could (theoretically) run on a 286/12 without a hiccup (of course the system bus would freak out).
Are there spec incompatibilities between SCSI and IDE that would prevent this kind of gadget from existing ? It would allow high-end workstation users to add cheap unreliable storage for their pr0n on those fancy-shmancy SGI boxes.
Re:SCSI encapsulation for IDE drives: found (Score:2)
I think if you take it to RAID-0 you can array all those IDE drives to look like one HUGE SCSI drive.
Re:SCSI encapsulation for IDE drives (Score:1)
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Re:SCSI encapsulation for IDE drives (Score:1)
Re:SCSI encapsulation for IDE drives (Score:2)
Like, you want a smart IDE controller? (Score:1)
3Ware's ATA-RAID controllers do just that! (Score:3)
Forget Promise, SIIG and others. 3Ware [3ware.com]'s Escalade series [3ware.com] of products are just what you are looking for. Keys to performance with Escalade:
If you want to minimize cost and performance, 3Ware's Escalade is what you want. Their new 6000-series offers 2-8 channels of RAID-0/1/1+0 with Ultra66 support for $139/279/479 (2/4/8 channel) [thelinuxstore.com].
3Ware is also working on a 64-bit PCI board with RAID-5 support (as well as Ultra100). Be looking out for it (I know I will).
-- Bryan "TheBS" Smith
Re:3Ware's ATA-RAID controllers do just that! (Score:2)
Er, that should read "dedicated CPU drives your disks" not "dedicated CPU drives your CPU." [ DOOH! ]
Also wanted to point out that with any striping, mirroring, parity, you are "bothering" your CPU with BIOS or software RAID solutions (and the Promise solution *IS* a "BIOS" RAID solution). The 3Ware controller will off-load these routines onto it's own co-processor.
-- Bryan "TheBS" Smith
Re:3Ware's ATA-RAID controllers do just that! (Score:1)
Re:drive housings (Score:1)
Re:cause the wheel [IDE] is broke (Score:1)
My personal favorite part of SCSI is the ability of devices to work independently. On an IDE controler the bus is dominated by the slowest device on the chain. On a SCSI system, you can have SCSI-1, SCSI-2, SCSI-3 all running at their own speeds happy together.
Over all, as IDE gets faster, so will SCSI. They are two technologies and one is really not going to bury the other. IDE will have it's market with budget minded customers and SCSI will be there for the preformance applications and power users. Both these technologies will eventually reach their peak and fade out, but for now it's what we have.