New Build : Worried about heat

[Lee Saxon]

I'm concerned even with the Fortress 2 case that this is just too much crammed into one box. In particular I've heard RAID controllers run very hot.

I do photo and video editing work so the system will be run under pretty heavy load much of the time.

Is this build going to be stable without delving into complex aftermarket and liquid cooling that I am NOT interested in delving into?

Should I think about pulling out the RAID array and building a separate box for it? (a premade NAS isn't an option 'cause I'm Linux-illiterate)

PS, any other comments on the build are also welcome.

Case------------Silverstone FT02s
PUS-------------Enermax 600w
CPU-------------Intel Core i7 860
MB--------------Asus P7P55-E LX
RAM-------------G.Skill 8GB (4x2) 1600 Eco (1.35w)
Boot HDD--------Intel X25V 40GB
Scratch HDD-----Intel X25M G2 80GB
RAID Controller---Adaptec 2405
RAID 1 HDD------Seagate 1.5TB SATA
RAID 1 HDD------Seagate 1.5TB SATA
Video------------EVGA NVidia 460 1GB Superclocked
Audio------------Xonar Essence STX

 

[mfenn]

This doesn't look like a particularly intensive build to me. It should be fine, even with the 2405. I wouldn't even bother with the separate RAID controller as a 2-drive RAID1 is not a setup where you really need the performance of a full RAID controller.

 

[Lee Saxon]

Thanks for the input.

RAID controller may be overkill (definitely performance-wise, supposedly handles up to 128 drives), but I'm nervous about reliability. Few times I've tried motherboard RAID I've found it ridiculously finicky, almost constantly dropping drives, picking them back up, rebuilding.

Of course I've never used a hardware RAID, maybe they're just as unstable?

Also might have been the drives I was using, I don't know.

 

[mfenn]

Thanks for the input.

RAID controller may be overkill (definitely performance-wise, supposedly handles up to 128 drives), but I'm nervous about reliability. Few times I've tried motherboard RAID I've found it ridiculously finicky, almost constantly dropping drives, picking them back up, rebuilding.

Of course I've never used a hardware RAID, maybe they're just as unstable?

Also might have been the drives I was using, I don't know.

Both the ICH10R and the Adaptec are solid controllers. The Adaptec just has an integral processor to help with the RAID calculations. The problem is, there just aren't very many calculations in a RAID1.

The drives can have a big impact on the stability of the RAID. Controllers (especially hardware ones like the Adaptec) will drop a drive that is taking too long to respond. I don't forsee a problem with those Seagates, but if you want to be absolutely sure, you can get "RAID edition" drives.

 

[DominionSeraph]

If you're going so far as to get a separate SSD for OS and scratch, why not get the C300 for scratch? It's decently faster in random read and sequential write, and twice as fast in random write.

 

[Merad]

RAID controller may be overkill (definitely performance-wise, supposedly handles up to 128 drives), but I'm nervous about reliability. Few times I've tried motherboard RAID I've found it ridiculously finicky, almost constantly dropping drives, picking them back up, rebuilding.

I'd say you've just had bad luck. I've been using onboard RAID1 in my personal computers since 2002 and have used it in several builds for friends/family. The only problem I've ever had was with on my old nForce4 board, it would occasionally fail to recognize a drive on boot - a simple reboot always fixed that, and even it never dropped a drive after POST.

 

[Lee Saxon]

I'd say you've just had bad luck...

Yeah I'm starting to think so. Probably just drives that were too slow, man, I think they were some old ones.

I think i'm gonna take y'alls advice and skip the RAID controller...

...why not get the C300 for scratch?...

I want to...it's a big price jump for the 256GB C300 though, and I haven't seen any benchmarks on the smaller ones yet...

On the other hand, with the money I save on the RAID controller...