[SATLUG] fileserver SATA + RAID question

[Travis H.]

Hi I want to create a fileserver, and I planned on using a dual P3-550
box for it.
I want to use 3 drives in a RAID-5 configuration.  I was planning on
doing all the RAID stuff in software and maybe using LVM.  However,
the box doesn't have SATA on the motherboard.

Based on the SATA FAQ, it looks like Intel AHCI is the best SATA
chipset choice, but I can't find any PCI controllers which use it.  My
email to the FAQ maintainer has gone unanswered.

I have also heard the 3ware cards work pretty well, but it looks like
they're hardware RAID and fairly expensive in addition.  If I have to
pay several hundred for an SATA card, I'll reconsider using PATA
drives or a whole new dedicated file server.

What I was wondering is if anyone else had any experiences or advice with this.

By the way, Dell Dimension desktops have a really weird disk layout. 
They have this vertical drive cage in the middle, with two 1.5" high
slots and two 1" high slots, but the CD-ROMs go up top in the 5.25"
bays, so it's hard or impossible to run the IDE cable from a drive to
the CD-ROM, and even if you could they'd be in the wrong order since
the master is usually at the end of the cable.