SSDs + Raid0 + Trim?

[Josiahrulez]

Ok, so this next pay, I'm getting 4 256Gb SSDs and putting them in Raid0. So i can finally fit my OS and Steam folder on an SSD. But will it work with trim?

I know that the 7 series motherboards support trim with raided SSDs, but what about 6 Series? (I have an Asrock Z68 Gen3 Extreme7). Are there any PCIe Raid controllers that support trim on SSDs in Raid? (Intel have they're own range of raid controllers?) or if i just used my motherboard without trim, how long would it take to start to notice the degraded performance?

Would there be any benefit to performance using a dedicated RAID controller vs 7 Series motherboard? I may upgrade my motherboard or just purchase a 6gbs/sas raid controller.


Also SSDs, i was thinking about the Crucial M4 or Samsung 830, but alot of newer drives are becoming available? I currently use the Crucial M4 and have been thoroughly impressed. The Samsung 830 and Crucial M4 have been out for a while though, will there be a newer version of those SSDs out soon?

I'm after reliability and speed, so i don't want to use a sandforce based drive. There's been a few new SSD reveiws on anandtech lately and they all look good, so I'm completely open to ideas on which SSDs i should use.

The budget is $1200 (AUD) maximum for 4x 256Gb SSDs.

My Current System
CPU - i7 2600k OCed to 4.8Ghz
CPU Cooler - Corsair H100
Motherboard - Asrock Z68 Gen3 Extreme7
Memory - G.Skill 2x 4Gb 1600Mhz
GPU - 3X AMD 7970 (1x HIS Reference, 2x Gigabyte OC)
PSU - Corsair AX750
SSD - Crucial M4 128Gb
Storage/Steam HDD - Seagate Momentus 750Gb
Case - Corsair 650D

 

[StarTech]

Why not 2 x 512GB 830s ? It would simplify your life and I doubt you will notice any performance differences. The 830s Magician should take care of any TRIM considerations.

 

[Fernando 1]

Are there any PCIe Raid controllers that support trim on SSDs in Raid?

No, such PCIe RAID Controllers are not available. Look >here<.

 

[Josiahrulez]

Why not 2 x 512GB 830s ? It would simplify your life and I doubt you will notice any performance differences. The 830s Magician should take care of any TRIM considerations.

Where I'm buying them from the Crucial M4s are $497 and the Samsung 830s are $641. But the samsung 830s perform better then the crucial m4s, so I'm not too sure which one i should get.

Will Samsungs magician software work with the drives through raid0?

 

[Coup27]

Will Samsungs magician software work with the drives through raid0?

No. I can confirm this having recently ran 2x 830's in RAID0. I can also confirm that it was no faster than a single drive.

 

[StarTech]

It did not occur to me that the periodic cleanup Magician does would not get trough the array configuration. What a shame.

 

[sequoia464]

No. I can confirm this having recently ran 2x 830's in RAID0. I can also confirm that it was no faster than a single drive.

The only situation that I saw any tangible real life difference was with a couple of 40GB Intel X25V's (actually the Kingston version) - the writes were particularly slow on those drives.