Which MCA SCSI card should I use?

[404TimeNotFound]

I've been giving my PS/2 model 80 some much needed attention lately and and have decided to swap the ESDI drives that are in it out for two SCSI drives I have. Problem is though I can't make up my mind on which of my many SCSI adapters I want to use in it :lol: so I thought I'd come to you guys to get some opinions on which one I should choose and which would provide the best overall performance.

So far I've narrowed it down to three adapters...
-An IBM 52G3380 Enhanced Corvette Turbo Card
-An IBM 85F0063 (latest revision) with 512k of cache
^ Was also wondering if the cache in this card is up-gradable or if it only accepts a total of 512k
-An IBM 85F0002 (not entirely sure about this card, wasn't able to find much about it online)

 

[chulofiasco]

-An IBM 52G3380 Enhanced Corvette Turbo Card
* This is a Differential SCSI Adapter for the RS6K, SE internal, Differential SCSI External Port (http://ohlandl.ipv7.net/IBM_SCSI/SCSI-DFW.html#D_FW)

-An IBM 85F0063 (latest revision) with 512k of cache
^ Was also wondering if the cache in this card is up-gradable or if it only accepts a total of 512k
* Can be upgraded to 2MB of cache

-An IBM 85F0002 (not entirely sure about this card, wasn't able to find much about it online)
* Non-cached SCSI-1 Controller (http://ohlandl.ipv7.net/IBM_SCSI/scsi-A.html)

 

[chulofiasco]

Looks like 85F0002 was shipping with some 8580 models...

http://www.computercraft.com/docs/mandatoryreplacement.html

 

[luckybob]

The corvette is probably the fastest scsi card for IBM MCA. I have one in my model 95. highly recommended, you might need to hack together a 68-pin scsi cable, but that is easy enough to do.

 

[chulofiasco]

The corvette is probably the fastest scsi card for IBM MCA. I have one in my model 95. highly recommended, you might need to hack together a 68-pin scsi cable, but that is easy enough to do.

Me too, I have the short Corvette, not the "Enhanced" version. It's nice. I have it connected to a SCSI2SD and some removable media drives.

I've also got the F/W Streaming RAID connected to a three drive hot-swap bay. This guy gives me more headaches than anything else, but it's kinda nifty at the same time.

 

[NeXT]

I have a Spock in my 95 with a hand built 2mb upgrade. While still the midrange card the 2mb cache becomes REALLY noticeable for small applications, moreso if you can get the code bouncing between the cache, ram and the CPU cache.
I wouldn't dare put a card that has an HVD port on it in a machine unless it clearly states it somewhere. Mixing HVD and LVD/SE WILL fry things and you WILL have a moment where you forget it is HVD, plus on a model 80 you aren't going to see a lot of that performance.

 

[chulofiasco]

I have a Spock in my 95 with a hand built 2mb upgrade. While still the midrange card the 2mb cache becomes REALLY noticeable for small applications, moreso if you can get the code bouncing between the cache, ram and the CPU cache.

I've got 1MB modules available that are compatible.

I wouldn't dare put a card that has an HVD port on it in a machine unless it clearly states it somewhere. Mixing HVD and LVD/SE WILL fry things and you WILL have a moment where you forget it is HVD, plus on a model 80 you aren't going to see a lot of that performance.

#cosign

I totally agree, the HVD is asking for trouble... I've been diagnosed with a microchannel disorder, and even my affliction hasn't driven me to a differential SCSI adapter...

I also don't think you'll see the performance in the 8580...

 

[404TimeNotFound]

I have a Spock in my 95 with a hand built 2mb upgrade. While still the midrange card the 2mb cache becomes REALLY noticeable for small applications, moreso if you can get the code bouncing between the cache, ram and the CPU cache.
I wouldn't dare put a card that has an HVD port on it in a machine unless it clearly states it somewhere. Mixing HVD and LVD/SE WILL fry things and you WILL have a moment where you forget it is HVD, plus on a model 80 you aren't going to see a lot of that performance.

Sounds like the 85F0063 is the winner then. Aside from upping the cache is there anything special I should do to get the most out of it or is upping the cache all one can really do?

I've got 1MB modules available that are compatible.

How much would you want for a few pairs? I have a couple other machines using the same adapter so I may as well upgrade all of them at once.

 

[ardent-blue]

Sounds like the 85F0063 is the winner then. Aside from upping the cache is there anything special I should do to get the most out of it or is upping the cache all one can really do?

http://ps-2.kev009.com/ohlandl/IBM_SCSI/SCSI-C_triple-osc.html

There are syntax differences between the ADFs used for the 8570 and 8580 models and later systems. At this point, it seems that the firmware is also involved. My personal effors to light up a Corvette in an 8580 resulted in failure every time.

Note that the 85F0063 has autotermination... Instead of a fuse on TERMPWR, it uses a PTC resistor.

For the 8580, the 85F0063 has the fastest IBM PS/2 SCSI adapter to MCA bus transfer of 16.6MB/s. Though SCSI-2 protocol compliant, it is a 5MHz SCSI bus.

http://john.ccac.rwth-aachen.de:8000/misc/ps2cache/

One last thing before I go-go... This SCSI adapter needs the 44/45 SCSI BIOS for the highest level of SCSI bliss... er, large drive support.


SCSI BIOS 92F2244, 1991, for PS/2 Caching SCSI controller. 27C256
http://ps-2.kev009.com/ohlandl/IBM_SCSI/92F2244.ZIP

SCSI BIOS 92F2245, 1991, for PS/2 Caching SCSI controller 27C256
http://ps-2.kev009.com/ohlandl/IBM_SCSI/92F2245.ZIP

Though I no longer futz with the 8580, I do know that it ISN'T an IML system like the 90 and 95.