Perc 3 Overview; Perc 3 Features - Dell PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller 3 User Manual

NOTE: The information
in this document applies
to PERC 3/QC, PERC
3/DC, PERC 3/DCL and
PERC 3/SC.
24
Ov e r v ie w

PERC 3 Overview

The Dell™ PowerEdge™ Expandable RAID Controller 3 (PERC 3) PCI
card is a high-performance, intelligent peripheral component interconnect
(PCI)-to-SCSI host adapter with RAID control capabilities. PERC 3
provides system availability, high performance, and fault-tolerant disk
subsystem management. PERC 3 is an ideal RAID solution for the internal
storage of Dell's workgroup, departmental, and enterprise systems. PERC 3
offers a cost-effective way to implement RAID in a server.
The PERC 3/QC low voltage differential (LVD) PCI RAID card provides
four SCSI channels. The PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL LVD PCI RAID
card provides two SCSI channels. The PERC 3/SC LVD PCI RAID card
provides one SCSI channel.
With LVD, you can use cables up to 25 meters long. Throughput on each
SCSI channel can be as high as 160 MB/s. PERC 3 supports both an LVD
SCSI bus and a single-ended SCSI bus.
PERC 3 64-bit LVD is a high-performance, intelligent PCI-to-SCSI host
adapter with RAID control capabilities. PERC 3 64-bit LVD requires no
special motherboard PCI expansion slot.

PERC 3 Features

The PERC 3 features include:
• Wide Ultra3 LVD SCSI performance of up to 160 MB/s
• PERC 3/QC and PERC 3/DC support 128 MB of synchronous
dynamic random access memory (SDRAM.)
• The PERC 3/DCL supports 64 MB of SDRAM.
• The PERC 3/SC supports 32 MB of SDRAM.
• 64-bit PCI host interface (only on PERC 3/QC and PERC 3/DC)
• The PERC 3/QC, PERC 3/DC and PERC 3/DCL have an on-board
i960RN processor to improve controller performance and offload host
Central Processing Unit (CPU.)
• The PERC 3/SC has a on-board i960RM processor to improve
controller performance and offload host CPU.