3ware 9550SX-8LP 64-bit/133MHz PCI-X SATA II Raid Controller Card - Retail

Cheap price for what it is worth.

Poor documentation, no SATA data cables provided, only one MOLEX to 2 Sata power splitter.

Excellent performance from a TRUE hardware RAID card.

It took me forever to find a bootable Linux CD with a 2.

obscenely fast.

on small arrays (4 or less disks), it does initialization on the fly as you are using the array.

Highly rated.

Installing Debian sarge was a pain.