RAID: Onboard vs Addon card - Overclock.net

XFreeRollerX · 08-24-08

Im gonna reformat soon but might consider getting a RAID card for my 4 drives that are in RAID 0

Heres my question though: How much performance increase would I see?

Right now I get ~160MBPS Average on my RAID 0 array with 4 drives using the nForce 780i onboard RAID controller set with 128k stripe

using a PCI/PCIe (suggestions?) what could my better theoretical bandwidth be with a good RAID card?

and is it worth spending $? I know these things are expensive

-=sT3V3=- · 08-24-08

Check out:
http://www.overclock.net/hard-drives...card-tips.html
Looks like is a little gain, but not much...

quadx · 08-24-08

Good review. I see alot of those PERC cards in the machines I run into at work. No personal experience.

I prefer Adaptec. Because RAID0 doesn't have much overhead/processing, I wouldn't expect you to gain much over your 160MB/sec that you have now. But I do expect you to get over what you're getting now, especially because you're running 4 drives.

You can stop thinking about the extra controller if you're not willing to spend the money it takes for a real hardware RAID controller. Usually $300 or more. I spent just under $400 on my Adaptec 3405. I get about 225MB/sec with 2 x 15k SAS 73GB drives with a 256KB stripe. I'm actually in the process of changing that back to 128KB, as I expect better performance.

On the otherhand, it the controller could cause problems. It's always a possiblity. My system crashes when I run SLI mode. Controller beeps and I need to do a chkdsk everytime.
You've got a nice system there, IMO, a RAID card would make it better.

XFreeRollerX · 08-24-08

Hmm after reading that and a couple other readings, RAID Cards are probably not in the best interest for a gaming desktop given the driver support (Or lack of) with certain scenarios....

Ill skip on it since there isnt much gain

**DuckieHo** · 08-25-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by quadx

Good review. I see alot of those PERC cards in the machines I run into at work. No personal experience.

I prefer Adaptec. Because RAID0 doesn't have much overhead/processing, I wouldn't expect you to gain much over your 160MB/sec that you have now. But I do expect you to get over what you're getting now, especially because you're running 4 drives.

You can stop thinking about the extra controller if you're not willing to spend the money it takes for a real hardware RAID controller. Usually $300 or more. I spent just under $400 on my Adaptec 3405. I get about 225MB/sec with 2 x 15k SAS 73GB drives with a 256KB stripe. I'm actually in the process of changing that back to 128KB, as I expect better performance.

On the otherhand, it the controller could cause problems. It's always a possiblity. My system crashes when I run SLI mode. Controller beeps and I need to do a chkdsk everytime.
You've got a nice system there, IMO, a RAID card would make it better.

Adaptec are definitely nicer... but the PERC 5/i is soooo cheap! It's a hardware RAID card for $100. The next closest card is $250+.

Quote:

Originally Posted by XFreeRollerX

Hmm after reading that and a couple other readings, RAID Cards are probably not in the best interest for a gaming desktop given the driver support (Or lack of) with certain scenarios....

Ill skip on it since there isnt much gain

If you look at the RAID0 performance, you'll notice that the performance with a hardware RAID card is near linear. With a RAID card, you should be hitting at around 200-250MB/s.

XFreeRollerX · 08-25-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckieHo

Adaptec are definitely nicer... but the PERC 5/i is soooo cheap! It's a hardware RAID card for $100. The next closest card is $250+.

If you look at the RAID0 performance, you'll notice that the performance with a hardware RAID card is near linear. With a RAID card, you should be hitting at around 200-250MB/s.

About this $100 RAID card? can you show me?

**DuckieHo** · 08-25-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by XFreeRollerX

About this $100 RAID card? can you show me?

The PERC 5/i are usually on eBay for $100 but currently there are none... you have to keep looking. Usually, there are a few. Just make sure you get the PERC 5/i and not the "PERC 5/iR".

http://shop.ebay.com/items/_W0QQ_dmp...sid=m270.l1313

XFreeRollerX · 08-25-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckieHo

The PERC 5/i are usually on eBay for $100 but currently there are none... you have to keep looking. Usually, there are a few. Just make sure you get the PERC 5/i and not the "PERC 5/iR".

http://shop.ebay.com/items/_W0QQ_dmp...sid=m270.l1313

That one you linked, is it the right one?

I might buy it but its like $170 after getting the SATA cable adapter thing and $15 shipping

lol

Well the main thing I am worried about with these items is driver support for Vista64

**DuckieHo** · 08-25-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by XFreeRollerX

That one you linked, is it the right one?

I might buy it but its like $170 after getting the SATA cable adapter thing and $15 shipping

lol

Well the main thing I am worried about with these items is driver support for Vista64

Please read my PERC 5/i thread below... everything is explained.

The SFF-8484 cable is less than $10 shipped.

Vista 64 is well-supported. I am running it now.

The only issue is motherboard compatability. It should work with NVIDIA mobos fine. The only issue that I know is that you cannot have the RAID controller and onboard RAID at the same time.

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RAID: Onboard vs Addon card

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