Dell PowerEdge PERC RAID Controller Card Comparison – TechMikeNY
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TechMike’s Dell PowerEdge RAID Card (PERC) Guide – With Nomenclature Decoder Ring!

TechMike’s Dell PowerEdge RAID Card (PERC) Guide – With Nomenclature Decoder Ring!

 

Mini vs. PCIe vs. embedded?  Pass-Through/JBOD supported?  SAS Supported?  These are the frequent questions that get asked when it comes to RAID controllers in Dell servers.

We’ve put together a convenient Dell PERC RAID controller card comparison table, specifying its generational compatibility, interface, features supported, and cache, so you can have a high-level understanding of what functions a RAID controller is capable of performing. 

Nomenclature Guidelines

When looking at the description of the Dell PowerEdge PERC RAID card controller functions, here are some helpful identifiers:

  • “P” (as in PERC H710P, H730P, H740P) – the “P” stands for “Plus” and means that the RAID card has an expanded cache capacity. For example, the H730 Mini has a cache of 1GB, but the H730P has a cache of 2GB.
  • HBA (“Host Bus Adapter”) – this terminology in the controller description means that the controller is not designed to perform any RAID activity and solely serves as a pass-through for a JBOD configuration. The advantage to these controllers is if your only requirement is a JBOD – with no RAID virtual disks – they can support a larger number of drives beyond the limitations of the embedded controller. 
  • “S” (PERC S140, and S130) – any controller with an ‘S’ means ‘Software;’ or that it is an embedded, or a default integrated controller, with the server’s system board.  Additionally, this controller is limited by the type and amount of drives it can support.  For Dell 12th Gen, that means a total of 4 SATA drives ONLY (no SAS); and for 13th and 14th gen, 8 SATA [only] drives. 

CAVEAT CORNER: Some RAID controllers differentiate between the maximum number of drives they support versus the maximum number of drives they can support within a particular RAID disk.  For our purposes, we’ve simplified our “Max Drives Supported” field to reflect the total amount of physical drives supported. 

Additionally, here is a helpful Dell PowerEdge PERC RAID controller comparison chart, which lists all of their PERCs from the Series 6 family to the Series 11 family. 

 

RAID Card Compatibility? Interface (PCIe, Mini, Embedded) SATA Drives Supported? SAS Drives Supported? Pass-through/JBOD? Cache Max Drives Supported
Dell PERC H740P PCIe Raid Controller 8GB Cache Dell 14th Gen PCIe Yes Yes Yes 8GB 32
Dell PERC H740P Mini Raid Controller Dell 14th Gen Mini Yes Yes Yes 8GB 32
Dell PERC H830 PCIe Raid Controller Dell 13th & 14th Gen PCIe Yes Yes No 2GB 255
Dell PERC H730P Mini Raid Controller Dell 13th & 14th Gen Mini Yes Yes Yes 2GB 32
Dell PERC H730P PCIe Raid Controller X4TTX / 0X4TTX Dell 13th & 14th Gen PCIe Yes Yes Yes 2GB 32
Dell PERC H730 PCIe Raid Controller Dell 13th & 14th Gen PCIe Yes Yes Yes 2GB 32
Dell PERC H730 Mini Raid Controller Dell 13th & 14th Gen Mini Yes Yes Yes 1GB 32
Dell PERC H710P PCIe Raid Controller Dell 12th Gen PCIe Yes Yes No 1GB 32
Dell PERC H330 Mini Raid Controller Dell 13th & 14th Gen Mini Yes Yes Yes 0 32
Dell PERC H330 PCIe Raid Controller Dell 13th & 14th Gen PCie Yes Yes Yes 0 32
Dell PERC H810 PCIe Raid Controller Dell 12th Gen PCIe Yes Yes No 1GB 192
Dell HBA330 12Gbps SAS HBA Controller (NON-RAID) MiniCard Dell 13th & 14th Gen PCIe Yes Yes Yes 12GB 8
Dell PERC H710 PCIe Raid Controller Dell 12th Gen PCIe Yes Yes No 512MB 32
Dell H700 with 1GB Cache Raid Controller Dell 11th Gen Mini Yes Yes No 1GB 16
Dell PERC H710P Mini Raid Controller Dell 12th Gen Mini Yes Yes No 1GB 32
Dell PERC H310 PCIe Raid Controller Dell 12th Gen PCIe Yes Yes Yes 0 16
Dell PERC S140 Raid Controller Dell 14th Gen Embedded Yes No Yes (software RAID) 0 30
Dell PERC H310 Mini Raid Controller Dell 12th Gen Mini Yes Yes No 0 16
Dell PERC S130 Raid Controller Dell 12th Gen Embedded Yes No Yes (software RAID) 0 30
Dell PERC H710 Mini Raid Controller Dell 12th Gen Mini yes Yes No 512MB 32

 2 comments

  • This is very helpful & thanks a ton for sharing these details. Please update the RAID card details for 15th & 16th Generation Servers.

    Ashitha
  • Great
    Thank you

    Louis

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