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July 13, 2007
Bootable PCI-X 4-Port SATA PM Host Adapter
A Review of the FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 PCI-X Serial ATA Host Adapter for the Apple PowerMac
By Arthur Whalem
FirmTek has announced the SeriTek/2SE4 ($199.95) PCI-X Serial ATA host adapter for Apple PowerMac G4 and G5 computers with an available PCI slot. It is expected to ship July 15, 2007. The SeriTek/2SE4 provides boot capability with direct connect or with port multiplier enclosures. It includes built-in firmware that allows it to function without installing drivers when utilized with a Macintosh PPC computer. The SeriTek/2SE4 supports up to twenty SATA hard drives using four, 5-bay port multiplier enclosures.The card can also be used with legacy PCI-based Power PC Macintosh computers and is backward-compatible with standard 32/64-bit PCI at 33MHz and 66MHz bus speeds.
System Requirements
Mac OS X Version 10.3 and later, Windows XP and Linux.
Requires a computer with an available PCI or PCI-X slot.
Supports up to four external SATA hard drives using direct connect method.
Supports up to twenty external hard drives using four, 5-bay PM enclosures.
Will NOT work in the PowerMac G5 Dual, Quad or Mac Pro models built after October 19, 2005, as these models only support PCI-Express (PCIe) slots.
Installation
The SeriTek/2SE4 SATA PM host adapter can be installed in any PowerMac PCI or PCI-X slot. There are four external eSATA ports on the rear of the card that can connect up to four direct connect external SATA hard drives or each port can be used with a SATA PM enclosure. If users are installing the SeriTek/2SE4 in a PowerMac G5 with PCI-X, mounting the card in slot #4 (the top slot) which supports 64-bit, 133 MHz will provide the best performance. The image below displays a card being installed in slot #4.
Image courtesy of Apple
For those using the FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 card in a PowerMac G5, I would suggest reading the Apple Tech Q&A 1307 concerning the Power Mac G5 PCI and PCI-X slots. It states, "Slots 2 & 3 share a common bus. Slot 4 is on a separate bus. All cards on a common bus can only run as fast as the slowest card". If I only required one 64-bit SeriTek/2SE4 host adapter I would install it in slot four. It will run a little faster than slot 2 or 3. I have used up to three 64-bit FirmTek host adapters in a PowerMac G5 with PCI-X and they all work well together. The key is to stay with 64-bit cards in slots 2 and 3 if you want to maintain full speed.
If you examine the FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 SATA host adapter using the Mac OS X System Profiler you will find that it is displayed as a SeriTek/2SE4 card with a type of ATA. The firmware version installed is also displayed right after the name. In the example above, FirmTek firmware version 5.2.6 dated 06/06/07 is installed. The SeriTek/2SE4 does not require the user to install any drivers on the computer hard drive as the firmware installed on the card is utilized by Open Firmware during the Apple PowerMac boot process.
FeaturesThe FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 SATA host adapter utilizes the Silicon Image SiI-3124ACBHU controller chip. It provides a dedicated channel for each SATA port, supports hot swap and is compliant with both SATA 1.0 and SATA II including Native Command Queuing (NCQ) and Spread Spectrum Clocking (SSC). The SiI-3124 controller chip supports both SATA PM and direct connect SATA connections. The FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 utilizes FIS-based port multiplier aware hardware to support up to twenty hard drives when four 5-bay SATA PM enclosures are connected.
Boot Capability
FirmTek SATA host adapters have a history of providing boot capabilities and the FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 is no exception. The SeriTek/2SE4 is currently the ONLY shipping SATA port multiplier compatible host adapter that provides boot capability with a Macintosh computer. Several other SATA PM host adapters are available on the market but none of them provide boot capability.
FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 users can backup an internal master boot drive and test it by booting off of the external ports of the host adapter even if the hard drive is mounted in a SATA PM enclosure. In addition, the SeriTek/2SE4 can create a bootable striped RAID set consisting of up to twenty hard drives. Once users have experienced the flexibility of a bootable host adapter from FirmTek, it is hard to go back to a card without boot capability. Which by the way, is every other currently shipping Macintosh SATA PM host adapter on the market. Users that want the option to be able to boot a PowerMac with a fast SATA PM striped RAID set, will need a FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4.
SMART Capability
The SeriTek/2SE4 utilizes Disk Utility to setup individual hard drives or RAIDs. It supports sleep mode, hot swap and passes hard drive SMART data to Mac OS X. The ability to use SMART data to monitor hard drive temperatures and drive status is a nice feature that the standard Silicon Image SiI-3124
Mac drivers currently do NOT support. FirmTek had to build their own SiI-3124 driver to provide these features to Macintosh users. With the FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 SATA host adapter installed, PCI-X PowerMac G5 users can enjoy SATA PM connectivity, boot capability and easily monitor hard drive temperatures using Hardware Monitor.Energy Usage
According to the Kill-a-Watt electricity usage monitor, the FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 SATA host adapter hardware utilizes approximately 2 watts while idle and installed in an Apple PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0 GHz PCI-X model. This was determined by measuring the energy usage with and without the card installed while the computer was idle for at least 10 minutes. The difference between the two readings is 2 watts.
Enclosures
As the FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 SATA host adapter is an external eSATA solution users will need an enclosure for their SATA hard drives. FirmTek sells several SATA enclosures that work well with their SATA host adapters. AMUG has tested several of them and found that they provide an elegant design along with quiet operation.
SeriTek/2EN2 Dual Bay
Image courtesy of FirmTekThe FirmTek SeriTek/2EN2 ($199.95) dual-bay hot-swap external eSATA enclosure works well with the FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 SATA host adapter. This enclosure supports up to two direct connect SATA hard drives. It features a well built case made from brushed & anodized extruded aluminum. The enclosure is 4.75" wide, 2.85" high and 9.1" deep. It weighs 2 pounds 10 ounces empty. Once you install two 3.5" SATA hard drives into the SeriTek/2EN2 enclosure, it weighs approximately 5 pounds. The SeriTek/2EN2 enclosure utilizes an external power supply and includes a quiet three speed 40x40x10mm cooling fan. The small size of the SeriTek/2EN2 makes it a good choice for mobile eSATA data solutions and compact work areas.
SeriTek/2eEN4 Four Bay
Image courtesy of FirmTek
The FirmTek SeriTek/2eEN4 ($499.95) eSATA hot swap external eSATA Serial ATA enclosure features a well built case made from brushed & anodized extruded aluminum. It supports up to four direct connect SATA hard drives using four eSATA data ports on the rear of the enclosure. The enclosure is 6.25" wide, 7.25" high and 9.25" deep. It weighs 9 pounds empty. Install four 3.5" SATA hard drives into the SeriTek/2eEN4 enclosure and it will weigh approximately 16 pounds. The SeriTek/2eEN4 enclosure provides a high quality built-in server-class 150 watt universal power supply, two 60x60x10mm quiet hard drive cooling fans, plus an LED indicator and a mute-able audible alarm. The SeriTek/2eEN4 is designed to be utilized for uncompressed high-definition digital video editing, computer animation, digital photography or any use where a hot swap four bay SATA hard drive enclosure would be useful.
SeriTek/5PM Five Bay with Port Multiplier
Image courtesy of FirmTek
FirmTek has announced the SeriTek/5PM port multiplier SATA enclosure which supports up to five high performance hard drives. The price of the SeriTek/5PM will be announced soon. It is expected to ship in July, 2007. The SeriTek/5PM is the first enclosure sold by FirmTek that supports the cool features of port multiplication. A single SATA port on the FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 SATA host adapter can be used to mount up to five hard drives inside the SeriTek/5PM enclosure. This port multiplication feature allows the FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 SATA host adapter to support up to four SeriTek/5PM 5-bay SATA PM enclosures.
The FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 SATA PM host adapter will also work with other third party SATA PM enclosures. AMUG has tested the SeriTek/2SE4 with the WiebeTech SilverSATA V, the Norco DS-500, the DAT Optic Sbox-P and the Sonnet Fusion 500P. The FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 SATA host adapter works well with all of these SATA PM enclosures.
SATA PM RAID PerformanceThe FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 SATA PM host adapter was installed in slot 4 of an Apple PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0 GHz with 2GB of memory while running Mac OS X 10.4.10. Several SATA port multiplier enclosures were used with the SeriTek/2SE4 for the SATA PM tests. DiskTester 10GB read and write tests were performed using a run area test so that this article could display how the RAID performs. DiskTester is a Terminal application that measures the combined performance of a volume and the Mac OS X operating system. Using the command: ./disktester run-area-test --chunk-size 128M --test-size 10G --delta-percent 10 DriveName, puts DiskTester to work testing how the RAID will perform when empty, 10% full, 20% full and so on. The table below displays how two different five drive and ten drive striped RAID sets perform when using the FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 with a single and dual port multiplier enclosures.
5 & 10 Drive SATA Port Multiplier Striped RAID - DiskTester 10GB Test
 SeriTek/2SE4 Firmware 5.2.6 5 Seagate 320 |
SeriTek/2SE4 Firmware 5.2.6 10 Seagate 320 |
SeriTek/2SE4 Firmware 5.2.6 5 Maxline 300 |
SeriTek/2SE4 Firmware 5.2.6 10 Maxline 300 |
| Area Full | write | read | write | read | write | read | write | read |
| empty | 223 | 231 | 438 | 427 | 223 | 246 | 445 | 489 |
| 10% | 224 | 230 | 438 | 434 | 223 | 246 | 444 | 489 |
| 20% | 222 | 231 | 444 | 437 | 223 | 246 | 444 | 490 |
| 30% | 223 | 231 | 445 | 437 | 223 | 247 | 445 | 489 |
| 40% | 222 | 230 | 445 | 437 | 223 | 247 | 445 | 489 |
| 50% | 223 | 232 | 444 | 438 | 223 | 246 | 444 | 489 |
| 60% | 221 | 233 | 441 | 445 | 223 | 246 | 445 | 489 |
| 70% | 223 | 234 | 444 | 446 | 224 | 246 | 445 | 489 |
| 80% | 222 | 236 | 442 | 446 | 223 | 245 | 445 | 485 |
| 90% | 223 | 229 | 442 | 443 | 223 | 225 | 446 | 445 |
| 100% | 191 | 192 | 362 | 364 | 194 | 192 | 384 | 376 |
| Average | 220 | 228 | 435 | 432 | 221 | 239 | 439 | 474 |
| Size | 1.45TB | 2.91TB | 1.36TB | 2.73TB |
As you can see in the table above, the SeriTek/2SE4 SATA host adapter provides a little better performance when using the Maxtor Maxline III 300GB model 7V300F0 than the Seagate 320GB 7200.10 model hard drives with a five or a ten drive SATA PM striped RAID set. The ten drive port multiplier average performance is over 430MB/sec.
The next table demonstrates how a fifteen drive SATA PM striped RAID set comprised of ten Maxline III 7V300F0 drives and five Seagate 320GB 7200.10 hard drives in three SATA PM enclosures performs compared to using twenty hard drives installed in four SATA PM enclosures.
15 Drive vs 20 Drive SATA Port Multiplier Striped RAID Test
SeriTek/2SE4 Three PM Enclosures Seagate 320 (5) 7200.10 & Maxline 300 (10) 7V300F0 |
SeriTek/2SE4 Four PM Enclosures Seagate 320 (10) 7200.10 & Maxline 300 (10) 7V300F0 |
| Area Full | write | read | write | read |
| empty | 608 | 645 | 637 | 742 |
| 10% | 608 | 640 | 642 | 741 |
| 20% | 608 | 644 | 625 | 719 |
| 30% | 592 | 645 | 640 | 742 |
| 40% | 608 | 645 | 642 | 740 |
| 50% | 609 | 645 | 642 | 720 |
| 60% | 609 | 645 | 637 | 742 |
| 70% | 604 | 652 | 642 | 738 |
| 80% | 604 | 654 | 642 | 735 |
| 90% | 607 | 648 | 642 | 735 |
| 100% | 580 | 560 | 642 | 733 |
| Average | 603 | 638 | 639 | 735 |
| Size | 4.09TB | 5.46TB |
a PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0 GHz in slot 4 with a 15/20 drive SATA PM setup.
The next table compares the striped RAID set performance of four SATA PM enclosures with 12 hard drives versus 16 hard drives.
12 Drive vs 16 Drive SATA Port Multiplier Striped RAID Test
SeriTek/2SE4 Four PM Enclosures Seagate 320 (6) 7200.10 & Maxline 300 (6) 7V300F0 |
SeriTek/2SE4 Four PM Enclosures Seagate 320 (8) 7200.10 & Maxline 300 (8) 7V300F0 |
| Area Full | write | read | write | read |
| empty | 643 | 620 | 644 | 681 |
| 10% | 628 | 629 | 645 | 659 |
| 20% | 643 | 610 | 645 | 680 |
| 30% | 643 | 625 | 645 | 678 |
| 40% | 643 | 613 | 645 | 661 |
| 50% | 641 | 619 | 642 | 677 |
| 60% | 643 | 620 | 644 | 672 |
| 70% | 633 | 603 | 645 | 676 |
| 80% | 599 | 581 | 645 | 674 |
| 90% | 539 | 530 | 645 | 674 |
| 100% | 460 | 451 | 613 | 596 |
| Average | 610 | 591 | 642 | 666 |
| Size | 3.27TB | 4.36TB |
a PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0 GHz in slot 4 with a 12/16 drive SATA PM setup.
The SATA PM striped RAID set performance difference between using 16 and 20 hard drives is minimal. Approximately 25% more hard drives are required to obtain a 10% read performance gain. From the performance data it appears using four SATA PM enclosures with 12 or 16 hard drives can provide very nice results. If you need maximum data space, mounting twenty hard drives in four SATA PM enclosures provides the extra storage capacity.
The FirmTek 5.2.6 firmware seems to have a bandwidth limit of approximately 750MB/sec when using Seagate 7200.10 drives with a single card. Can a second SeriTek/2SE4 SATA host adapter be used with two or more SATA PM enclosures on each card for providing more speed? Results for 16 drives vs 20 drives using dual SeriTek/2SE4 host adapters is provided in the table below.
16 Drives vs 20 Drives with Dual SeriTek/2SE4 Host Adapters
 Dual SeriTek/2SE4 Four PM Enclosures Seagate 320 (8) 7200.10 & Maxline 300 (8) 7V300F0 |
Dual SeriTek/2SE4 Four PM Enclosures Seagate 320 (10) 7200.10 & Maxline 300 (10) 7V300F0 |
Dual SeriTek/2SE4 Five PM Enclosures Seagate 320 (8) 7200.10 & Maxline 300 (12) 7V300F0 |
| Area Full | write | read | write | read | write | read |
| empty | 791 | 716 | 802 | 795 | 968 | 888 |
| 10% | 792 | 723 | 802 | 777 | 963 | 865 |
| 20% | 761 | 738 | 807 | 769 | 970 | 857 |
| 30% | 762 | 740 | 788 | 803 | 967 | 868 |
| 40% | 755 | 742 | 807 | 805 | 962 | 871 |
| 50% | 794 | 744 | 807 | 778 | 971 | 890 |
| 60% | 793 | 725 | 807 | 811 | 972 | 904 |
| 70% | 785 | 755 | 807 | 803 | 972 | 910 |
| 80% | 793 | 754 | 773 | 818 | 972 | 901 |
| 90% | 724 | 699 | 806 | 792 | 904 | 846 |
| 100% | 619 | 599 | 773 | 745 | 753 | 758 |
| Average | 761 | 721 | 798 | 791 | 943 | 869 |
| Size | 4.36TB | 5.46TB | 5.46TB | |||
| MSRP | $399.90 | $399.90 | $399.90 |
With the knowledge that four hard drives per SATA PM enclosure can perform very well with 5-bay enclosures, that setup was also tested with two SeriTek/2SE4 host adapters. As you can see in the table above, the sixteen drive setup that utilized dual FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 cards was able to provide 761MB/sec. average read performance and 721MB/sec average write performance.
Adding a 5th SATA PM enclosure with four drives per enclosure for a total of twenty hard drives mounted on two SeriTek/2SE4 cards is able to provide 943MB/sec. average read and 869MB/sec average write performance. When users compare mounting the same twenty hard drives with a single SeriTek/2SE4, they will find that the dual card SeriTek/2SE4 solution with a 5th SATA PM enclosure can provide 300MB/sec. faster average write speeds and 134MB/sec. faster average read performance.
Using twenty Maxline 300GB 7V300F0 SATA hard drives will result in better performance rates than those provided in this article. The results produced by a single FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 SATA host adapter are impressive. Using two cards when four port multipliers or more are available can increase the performance levels even higher. While most users will be satisfied with the performance that a single FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 can provide, it is nice to know that users can combine cards to expand striped RAID set performance.
Direct Connect PerformanceWhile the FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 provides SATA port multiplier support, users may also be interested in how it performs with the Apple PowerMac G5 PCI-X model using a four drive direct connect striped RAID set. This method utilizes a single SATA hard drive on each host adapter data port.
2SE4 Direct Connect 4 Drive Striped RAID - DiskTester 10GB Test
| Maxline 300 7V300F0 | Seagate 250 7200.10 | Seagate 320 7200.10 |
| Area Full | write | read | write | read | write | read |
| empty | 279 | 277 | 300 | 308 | 294 | 298 |
| 10% | 272 | 269 | 303 | 305 | 296 | 298 |
| 20% | 265 | 262 | 298 | 302 | 288 | 291 |
| 30% | 257 | 254 | 291 | 291 | 281 | 282 |
| 40% | 252 | 249 | 280 | 281 | 269 | 272 |
| 50% | 237 | 235 | 269 | 269 | 258 | 258 |
| 60% | 228 | 226 | 252 | 252 | 244 | 243 |
| 70% | 211 | 209 | 233 | 234 | 227 | 228 |
| 80% | 201 | 200 | 215 | 215 | 208 | 208 |
| 90% | 179 | 178 | 189 | 189 | 182 | 181 |
| 100% | 153 | 152 | 156 | 156 | 151 | 151 |
| Average | 230 | 228 | 253 | 255 | 245 | 246 |
| Size | 1.09TB | 930GB | 1.16TB | |||
| MSRP | $199.95 | $199.95 | $199.95 |
a PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0 GHz in slot 4 with a four drive direct connect setup.
Next, two FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 SATA host adapters were installed in slots 4/3 and used with eight SATA hard drives. The Maxtor Maxline III 7V300F0 hard drives were compared to the Seagate 320GB 7200.10 models using an eight drive direct connect striped RAID set.
Dual 2SE4 Direct Connect 8 Drive Striped RAID - DiskTester 10GB Test
| Maxline 300 7V300F0 | Seagate 320 7200.10 |
| Area Full | write | read | write | read |
| empty | 558 | 548 | 571 | 594 |
| 10% | 547 | 536 | 585 | 589 |
| 20% | 530 | 519 | 558 | 579 |
| 30% | 517 | 506 | 555 | 560 |
| 40% | 504 | 495 | 544 | 543 |
| 50% | 472 | 466 | 521 | 521 |
| 60% | 459 | 452 | 478 | 486 |
| 70% | 423 | 417 | 455 | 545 |
| 80% | 400 | 394 | 415 | 414 |
| 90% | 360 | 355 | 359 | 362 |
| 100% | 307 | 303 | 300 | 297 |
| Average | 462 | 454 | 485 | 491 |
| Size | 2.18TB | 2.33TB | ||
| MSRP | $399.90 | $399.90 |
used with a PowerMac G5 in slots 4/3 with an eight drive direct connect setup.
The results demonstrate that the FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 can provide a little faster average speed with a four bay direct connect enclosure than a single 5-bay SATA PM setup. However, dual SATA PM enclosures with a single SeriTek/2SE4 card can easily beat a four drive direct connect setup. In addition, a single SeriTek/2SE4 card with 15 SATA PM drives can easily beat an eight drive dual card direct connect setup. Personally, I think that SATA PM is the way to go with large striped RAID sets as it only requires one SATA data cable per enclosure and many more SATA hard drives can be accommodated.
The FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 SATA host adapters used for this review utilize firmware 5.2.6. The FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 SATA host adapter is the first SATA PM host adapter for PCI-X interfaces that provides boot capability. In addition, SMART data is supported so that Mac OS X can report the condition of the hard drives using Disk Utility and Hardware Monitor can display the temperatures of hard drives.The SeriTek/2SE4 SATA host adapter has its own firmware installed on the card. As a result, Macintosh users will not need to install a driver. Just install the SeriTek/2SE4, reboot and add hard drives to this bootable SATA PM host adapter. There is no other Macintosh host adapter available that provides bootable SATA PM capability for PowerMac G4 and G5 users.
Pros
Mounts up to four external direct connect SATA hard drives.
Mounts up to twenty external hard drives using SATA PM enclosures.
Great performance capabilities.
Passes SMART data to Mac OS X.
Provides boot capability.
FIS-based Port Multiplier-aware hardware.
Spread Spectrum Clocking (SSC) support.
Supports OS X version 10.3 or later and Windows XP.
Allows data transfer to all four ports simultaneously.
Multitasks disk transfers which increases CPU efficiency.
Supports PowerMac G4 PCI and G5 PCI-X bus.
48-bit LBA support for drive sizes larger than 137GB.
Mounts single drives or a RAID configuration.
Supports deep sleep and hot swap.
Multiple SeriTek/2SE4 cards can be used for even faster performance.
Cons
Using 3 or more SATA PM enclosures may require additional boot time.
5.2.6 Firmware is not fully compatible with SiI-4726 based PM enclosures.
Does not work with PCI-Express slots.
Does not work with PowerMac G5 PCI models (4 memory slots).
Not compatible with WD MyBook or FreeAgent Pro enclosures.
FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 gets 5 AMUGs out of 5!
It is rare to find a SATA host adapter that combines so many features into one card. In the past, PowerMac G5 PCI-X users that wanted a 4-port SATA PM card only had two choices. They could purchase a PCI-X card that uses the standard Silicon Image SiI-3124 Mac driver for $75-$125, or they could purchase the Sonnet Tempo X4P for $299. The Sonnet Tempo X4P provides SMART support and great performance while the generic SiI-3124 cards provide no SMART support.
The FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 changes the playing field by providing SMART support and boot capability. No other SATA PM compatible PCI-X host adapter supports booting on a single hard drive or across a fast striped RAID set. PowerMac G4 and G5 users that desire a quality, feature rich, bootable PCI-X SATA PM host adapter will find the FirmTek SeriTek/2SE4 is an excellent choice.
Company Information:FirmTek, LLC
29300 Kohoutek Way #120
Union City CA 94587 USA
Phone: 510.675.9800
http://www.firmtek.com
Copyright 2007
Arizona Macintosh Users Group, Inc. (AMUG).
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