Ideal 4-drive SSD RAID-0 Array + RAID Controller?

[Baasha]

I am planning to move to the Gen. 3 SSDs soon and I want to get some advice on what the best brand/model is for having a 4-drive SSD array in RAID-0?

I am looking at getting 4 120GB SSDs to put in RAID-0 which will have the OS, games, and programs.

My MoBo does NOT have any SATA 3 ports (6GB/s) so I will need to get a really good RAID controller that has the SATA 3 ports.

Which RAID controller do you guys recommend for a 4-drive RAID-0 array?

So, in short, what is the best SSD and RAID controller out there right now for a 4-drive RAID-0 array?

Thanks.

 

[Ayah]

Maybe Crucial M4s with an Areca ARC-1880-ix-12 with 4GB cache. The 4GB cache should devastate performance for writes. Or combine them with an LSI 9265 series.

You didn't mention price but the controller shouldn't be more than 1000$ for the Areca with a 4GB cache upgrade.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Go with a Hardware Controlled Raid setup

 

[postmortemIA]

hmmm it is going to cost a lot since you will need pci-e x8 to handle all the bandwidth. I'd go with mobo RAID (even if it is SATA2) as it scales very well due to being directly attached to southbridge. you'll get up to 4xSATA2 bandwidth for sequential reads.

 

[Baasha]

hmmm it is going to cost a lot since you will need pci-e x8 to handle all the bandwidth. I'd go with mobo RAID (even if it is SATA2) as it scales very well due to being directly attached to southbridge. you'll get up to 4xSATA2 bandwidth for sequential reads.

hmm.. that's interesting... so I could just use the SATA 2 connectors and still get close to 1Gb/s throughput?

Also, what SSD do you recommend? In other words, what's the best SSD to get that's a 2.5" drive. (I'm getting 4 for RAID-0).

 

[novasatori]

I am pretty sure the BEST SSD controller right now is the LSI 9265 that just came out a couple months ago, it has the highest IOPS with SSDs

 

[imaheadcase]

I don't think the OP is serious, or he is seriously lacking common sense..

 

[corkyg]

Each added piece of hardware to the chain can result in lower reliability. A seriously good hardware RAID controller is not cheap. My choice would be to by a 512GB SSD for less than $900 and be done with it.

 

[Baasha]

Each added piece of hardware to the chain can result in lower reliability. A seriously good hardware RAID controller is not cheap. My choice would be to by a 512GB SSD for less than $900 and be done with it.

Thanks for that info Corky.

I usually just have the OS and a few programs installed on the SSDs since I have all my important data backed up on an external HDD from LaCie.

Like you've stated, the RAID controller is probably quite expensive and so I will just use the on-board ICH10R controller for RAID.

If one were to choose a 120GB or even 60GB SSD, which one would it be? The new Corsair Force GT SSDs seem to be quite fast (~555MB/s read).

 

[Old Hippie]

the RAID controller is probably quite expensive

It's @ 450 - 500 dollars.

 

[Ayah]

It's @ 450 - 500 dollars.

Only for low-mid range ones. If you want the best performance, you really want 4GB cache. That puts you in the 1000-2000$ range.