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Server M/B worth it or not?

R

RayGr

Junior Member
Hi,
I've decided to build myself a workstation class PC.
The problem is that I want to get 2 15k Seagate Cheetach 15k.3 drives
in stripping mode for great disk speed. To do that I have 3 options:
- Software RAID0(e.g. win2k strip volume) and some cheap SCSI-3 card(or onboard chip) with normal M/B- Cheapest solution
- Hardware RAID0 with 32-bit PCI card (e.g. Adaptec 2100S) and normal M/B - Medium Solution(about $250 more expensive than Cheapest)
- Hardware RAID0 with 64-bit PCI card (e.g. Adaptec 2110S) and server M/B - Expensive solution. (about $500 more expensive than Cheapest)
The 2 disks alone will cost $500.

I would like to void buying a dual CPU board(the XEONS are Pricey) but I currently do not know of any Single CPU boards with 64-bit PCI slots.
I have no experience in setting up workstation PCs so I would like to know whether the speed improvement between the three solutions
can justify the price difference.
I mainly do software development and gaming.

Thanks
 
Tyan's Trinity GC-SL is a P4 board with optional Ultra160SCSI controller and 2 64-bit slots. However, no AGP support.

SuperMicro's P4SGR uses the 845GE chipset (so the integrated graphics are being paid for) but also supports an AGP card and has Ultra160 SCSI integrated.

Why do you need RAIDED Cheetah's? A single Cheetah will blow away most anything and be "workstation class".
 
Why do you need RAIDED Cheetah's? A single Cheetah will blow away most anything and be "workstation class".
Click to expand...

Agreed. Maxtor's 15k offering is also a worthwile contendor.

If you really have the *need* for fast streaming speeds, (which your listed applications do NOT) none of the Adaptec HBA's will provide it. As a matter of fact, the performance is often no better (sometimes worse! ouch) than a single drive!

Do you care to elaborate more on the software development aspect of your application needs?

A dual Xeon may just be the ticket.

-DAK-
 
Well, I did say that I don't know how fast this will be.
But from what I can tell from your reaction I'm probably better off with
a single 15K HDD and a normal non-64-bit PCI M/B.
I don't really need a dual system (I WAS trying to avoid one).
Thanks to you I'll spend my money of smth more useful.
The reason I want ed SCSI is reliability. Losing code is *VERY* annoying.
BTW, Does a 15k SCSI drive stack up to a 2 HDD (7200) IDE RAID-0 setup. I would guess yes.


 
Two good IDE 7200 RPM drives can keep up and sometimes even beat a Cheetah 15k.3 in transfer rates, but in terms of access speeds, which is what you'll benefit the most from unless you're doing heavy video editing or something like that, the Cheetah will utterly crush the IDE drives.
 
Yes 7200 RPM ATA RAID is no match for a single 15K (or 10K disk) for that matter.

If you're concerned with losing code, you may want to invest in a pair of 15k disks and run backups to the other disk at night. This will give you the best of both worlds.

-DAK-
 
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