Are you on the US refurb site?
Personally I think the couple of 2008 refurbished models that are hanging around have better performance/dollar then the 2009 ones and have less limitations. Minus that you would have to buy expensive FB-DIMMs. Other then that...
So do I, and the FB-DIMM isn't horrible either. Last I checked, it was less expensive than the DDR3 UDIMM's of the same capacity.
It's been a little bit though, and worth checking. That said, even if the memory is a few bucks more per stick, it's still a better deal overall IMO. Faster clocks, fewer other limitations, such as the ICH10R's throttled throughput, limited DIMM slots Apple installed (4 DIMM's per CPU), and of course the HDD data sent on PCB traces. Which forces a 3rd party solution (add $165USD) from MaxUpgrades to use other RAID cards besides Apple's crappy offering.
Wait, it's 65MB/s per port? I thought there was a total of ~650MB/s available to go between the NB and SB, so the drives could all go as fast as they wanted, provided the total throughput stayed under 650MB/s?
The '09 models can sustain ~660MB/s. So I don't know where this 65MB/s number is comming from. But it can still be an issue, especially if SSD's are used. The limit is reached with a single Intel SSD (250MB/s) and a 4 drive mechanical based stripe set (figuring on 100MB/s per drive) if run simultaneously (and should be expected for this to happen; it adds up to 650MB/s limit the ICH10R can provide). Rather limiting for some if another arrangement (say additional SSD's are desired, especially if RAIDed together), as the throughputs would be hampered. It would require a 3rd party solution (PCIe SATA card), which not only costs more funds, but eats a PCIe slot (and are rather precious themselves in a 4 slot system). If that card would need to boot, it's much worse in terms of cost too.
Is the Areca 1680ix better than the ATTO card?
Both are nice card makers, and they make an equivalent family in this range (1200MHz IOP SAS models). Atto's interface is a little nicer, but for equivalent cards, Atto's are more expensive (same port counts), and don't allow you to upgrade the cache (some of the Areca's do, some don't, but none of the Atto's offer this ability).
I've found the Areca's to have a better cost/performance ratio (includes additional features Atto doesn't offer as well). But if you can provide specific card models you're interested in, a more detailed comparison can be given.
