DANG@! thanx for both of your posts... i am looking forward to setting up my first RAID system.
iam glad that you posted john, this type of insight with actual experience is invaluable. i am even more confident in the conclusions russell has tirelessly helped me achiecved lol.
i hear that the 3ware kicks major arse right now because it uses some kind of switching technology that handles major i/o. its a hard choice, it will all depend on how much cash ihave. wellfirst of all the 3 ware costs 240 bucks, the promise costs 165 + 85 for RAM so they are roughly the same.
3ware has a slight edge over it in that it is a true 133 interface. promise sx4000 has 133 read with 133 write..so the 3ware might be just a tad bit faster. however, the sx4000 looks awesome with the expandable cache.
i think that i might go with the 3ware though..but its kinda tough as russell says that promise has been around a long time.
on a side note, the sx4000 has 2 yr warratny
3ware has 3 yr warranty..might make my choice a little easier lol.
oh by the way russell, i have ordered 3 200 gb Maxtor ultra 133 drives to setup in RAID 5. 
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