Intel RS3DC080 LSI3108 RAID Controller SAS 3.0 PCIe Card

The Intel RS3DC080 is a hardware RAID controller built around the LSI SAS3108 ROC, delivering SAS 3.0 connectivity at 12 Gb/s per port across eight internal channels via one or two SFF-8643 Mini-SAS HD connectors. The 1 GB of ECC DDR3 memory running at 1866 MHz serves as write-back cache, buffering incoming writes and coalescing random I/O into sequential patterns before committing to disk — a critical performance multiplier for database, virtualization, and transactional workloads. The PCIe 3.0 x8 host interface provides roughly 7.88 GB/s of bidirectional bandwidth, which is sufficient for most real-world storage configurations though technically asymmetric against the aggregate 12 GB/s available from all eight SAS 3.0 ports at wire speed. Hardware RAID acceleration handles parity calculations for RAID 5, 6, 50, and 60 without taxing the host CPU.

This controller targets mainstream server and workstation environments that need reliable hardware RAID without stepping up to higher-port-count or external-connectivity models. It fits standard PCIe x8 slots in a low-profile form factor, making it compatible with both tower servers and 1U/2U rackmount chassis. The LSI MegaRAID firmware ecosystem is well-established, with mature management tools (MegaRAID Storage Manager, StorCLI) and broad OS support across Windows Server, Linux, and VMware ESXi. For production deployments, adding the Intel maintenance-free backup unit is strongly recommended to protect the write-back cache against power loss — without it, disabling write-back mode sacrifices a significant portion of the card's write performance advantage. The RS3DC080 occupies a solid middle ground: enough ports and bandwidth for eight-drive arrays with full hardware RAID, backed by a controller architecture with years of field-proven reliability.