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SATA Raid Controller card?

M

Mr Bob

Golden Member
PLEASE READ MY POST FULLY BEFORE YOUR RESPOND

I have 4 drives (74GB raptors) and I need an sata raid controller card. Someone has mentioned that I should get a used one and save a lot of money, since these raid controllers are usually built good to last for life, so a used wouldn't be too bad.

I have the MSI Neo4 Plat MB, and want to get the performance benefit of my raptors using a raid controller, instead of the raid slots on the MB.

The raid setup is going to be 2 drives together, and mirrored, I think it is called 0+1.

Please, don't post comments and get into a discussion about raptors in the raid. I have reasons for it, and while you might not understand it from this post, I don't want to go on for 4 pages explaining it.

My cpu is the x2 4400+ if it makes a difference. I wouldn't want to pay over $300, but I guess whatever the best value is (performance/price).
 
Originally posted by: birdpup
ZipZoomFly: Raid Controller Cards
Raid Tutorial

Asus P4P800 Deluxe
Your motherboard already contains:
  • IDE Raid 0, 1, 0+1, JBOD
  • SATA Raid 0, 1

It is possible that purchasing a different motherboard with Raid 0+1 functionality may be cheaper than a raid controller.
Asus P4P800... motherboards
Click to expand...

And my first post says: "I have the MSI Neo4 Plat MB, and want to get the performance benefit of my raptors using a raid controller, instead of the raid slots on the MB. "

"LSI MegaRAID 150-4. "
- That one looks great. Would I need one with a battery though? What else do I need to look for? It will take the load off my CPU, right?
 
Originally posted by: Mr Bob
"LSI MegaRAID 150-4. "
- That one looks great. Would I need one with a battery though? What else do I need to look for? It will take the load off my CPU, right?
Click to expand...

I don't think that model offers a battery backup. Get a good UPS with a connection to the system and the proper software and it shouldn't be much of an issue.

The battery backup at newegg (here) works with the sata-6, which is in your price range. Together they're a bit more than $300USD though.
 
You won't need one with a battery backup. That is for very mission critical applications, and I don't think it would be necessary at all.
Tas.
 
Mirroring (RAID 1) and striping (RAID 0) present little load to the CPU even in software based cards. It's RAID5 that takes a lot of XOR calcs, and RAID5 would be faster and give you more space from your raptors to boot. But since your stuck on mirroring your array no matter what for whatever reasons, it's a moot point.
 
" It's RAID5 that takes a lot of XOR calcs"
- So then I don't even need a raid card. My performance wouldn't increase that much at all? Someone said that it would take like 15% load off my CPU.
 
Four WD740GDs in RAID10 will give you 138.4GB of space, but four of them in RAID5 will give you 207.6GB of space and be faster.

Also, since you got a dual core chip, any negative effect that software based cards would have on your performance should be diminished.
 
Tell you what... Try this. Check your mobo to see if it will support RAID 0+1. If it does, install everything and get it hooked up. Then check your CPU utilization. If it's hurting, then grab a SATA RAID controller and make the transition to dedicated RAID.

You can't go wrong in that approach, as it's already been established that you are doing RAID 0+1.
Tas.
 
It seems like raid 5 is going to be the best option for what I want to do.

"Also, since you got a dual core chip, any negative effect that software based cards would have on your performance should be diminished."
- What if I do a raid 5 instead? Are there any benchmarks I can check out to show how much better it is with a raid card? Google doesn't seem to be very helpfull.
 
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