SAS Expander Controllers

Technology Comparison

Price Comparison, Tower

Price Comparison, Rackmount

These are some of the most popular SAS controllers for SAS Expanders in external enclosures. Most manufacturers are using the fastest Intel processors in their top-tier SAS models. The Areca controllers (1882ix-12, 1882ix-16, 1882ix-24) are notable for having expandable cache, up to 4GB.

	LSI	Areca	Highpoint	ATTO

Controller	LSI 9286-8e	Areca 1882x	Highpoint 4322	ATTO R680
Processor	Dual 800MHz PowerPC	Dual 800MHz	1200 MHz IOP348	?
Cache RAM	1 GB	1 GB	512 MB	512 MB
RAID Levels	0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60	0, 1, 1E, 3, 5, 6, 10, 30, 50, 60	0, 1, 3, 5, 6, 10, 50	0, 1, 4, 5, 6, 10, 40, 50, 60 and DVRAID™
Internal Connect
External Connect	2xSFF-8088	2xSFF-8088	2xSFF-8088	2xSFF-8088
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x8	PCIe 2.0 x8	PCIe x8	PCIe 2.0 x8
RAM Upgrade (optional)	n/a	2 GB, 4 GB (for 1882ix models)	n/a	n/a
Other Options	LSI 9280-4i4e LSI 9280-16i4e LSI 9280-24i4e	Areca 1882ix-12 Areca 1882ix-16 Areca 1882ix-24 Areca 1882LP	n/a	ATTO R644
non-RAID HBA	LSI 9207-4i4e LSI 9207-8e LSI 9200-8e LSI 9201-16E	Areca 1320-8x

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SAS Expander Controllers

LSI

Areca

Highpoint

ATTO