Question : Problem: Does anyone know of a compatible SAS controller card for the Intel DX48BT2 motherboard?

I am trying to connect 2 Seagate ST3300655SS Cheetah 300GB 15K RPM SAS Drives with my Intel DX48BT2 motherboard.

For this, I obviously need a SAS controller card (even if I don't intend to do a RAID)

I have already tried using a LSI Logic SAS3041E-R PCI Express, 3Gb/s, SAS, 4-port Controller Integrated RAID Card but the system simply did not boot when this card was connected to the board. In fact, it wouldn't even go much past the BIOS. It just sat there with a cursor on an otherwise blank screen. So I sent the card back to the good people at SCSI4ME.com

Does anyone know of a compatible SAS controller card that will work with these drives and board?

If you REALLY wanna be helpful you can check if the card you are suggesting is available at SCSI4ME as I have to get a replacement from them :D

But any suggestions are welcome. I am pretty surprised the card didn't work. I am 90% sure the card was fine. I am guessing it was an Intel issue. BTW, I am running BIOS version 1521 (3/18/2008 release) and the only reported SAS HBA card issues were supposed to be resolved as of version 1507 as per the release notes found here ---> http://downloadmirror.intel.com/15890/ENG/BT_1554_ReleaseNotes.pdf

Answer : Problem: Does anyone know of a compatible SAS controller card for the Intel DX48BT2 motherboard?

Sorry,
I'm not here that much lately and usually other experts pop-in to help.

--> What OS?

In all honesty what I'd do is build a NAS using FreeNAS and a low power board/CPU combo that can handle a Gigabit LAN connection and a RAID card.
Takes the RAID load off the 'work machine'.
Easier on work machine's power supply.
Reduces heat in work machine's case.
Moves drive noise away from the desk.

Contrary to opinions created by effective marketing gimmicks, a 3GB/sec is no advantage over slower interfaces.
Head to Disk Transfer Rate of the drives (not the Interface's speed) is the 'real' limit except during bursts.
High End 7200 RPM drives max out at around 80 MB/sec but ~60MB/sec is more typical.
Assuming a Stripping form of RAID,, 2x80 MB/sec = 160 MB/sec [Sustained Xfer rate.]

Current drives (even 10k RPM) can't even fill the bandwidth for 1.5GB/sec.
All a faster interface does is fill up the buffer faster. - Rather useless.

160 MB/sec through a Gigabit LAN is no problem at all.

An old 1GHz P3 server board with PCI-X slots is more than adequate to handle FreeNAS with RAID and Gigabit LAN. They are cheap and fairly easy to find.
They usually support dual CPU's but you only need one CPU for FreeNAS.
[Tip: Tyan and Intel brand boards of that vintage don't have the capacitor problems that many other brands did back then.]
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Dual Xeon socket 603 and 604 boards with 400 or 533 MHz FSB will also do it and are getting cheap to build but the CPUs will pull 2x to 3x the power of a ~35 watt P3.

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