Question Various RAIDs performance versus a single drive

[a Michael]

I am curious as to how a single drive, say a 10k SAS2 drive performs in comparison to a 3 drive RAID 5 and a 4 drive RAID6. I am only concerned with these RAID levels; I understand the idea of RAID 50 and 60. I am looking to purchase some 10k SAS2 drives for my LSI 9260i8 and want to build a RAID for my storage drives but along the way I want to try a few configurations. I understand the basic benefits and drawbacks to all of these RAID levels but performance is always mentioned in a round-about generic way. For reference sake, let us use the HGST HUC101212CSS600 as this is a 1.2TB drive that I am really leaning towards. Is the RAID 6 performance that much worse than a RAID 5. And oh yes, I am aware of the severe pitfalls of RAID 5. But the performance of a RAID 6 is often mentioned somewhat fuzzily. Thanks for any light that you can shed. Oh, my capacity needs are modest at the moment; it is performance I am curious about and some day I will get to a RAID 50 or 60 (which seems quite desirable).
Thanks for any illumination that you can provide.

 

[continuum]

Ars Technica juuuuust did an article on this. I'm not the biggest fan of said article, but it more or less covers your questions....

Understanding RAID: How performance scales from one disk to eight

Ever wondered how performance scales with number of disks? Read on, friend.

arstechnica.com

Is your goal just to have fun, or is there an actual performance point/capacity target (or both?) that you need to hit?

 

[a Michael]

Thank you for your reply. It appears to be an interesting article and I shall read it soon.
The answer as to my interests is: Yes I do want to trip with RAID setups on my way to a decent performing (much better than single disk for sure) while having some decent data integrity without wasting too much space. This is probably everyone's goal, huh?
I am thinking of getting 4 drives (plus one for a replacement) and starting with a simple 2 drive RAID and then converting it to another and then another RAID where possible (other than wiping and re-starting clean) to get an idea how this all really plays out. And then I shall see from there if I need or desire to go further, as I am attracted to the idea of a RAID 60 and there is also the RAID 10. I also know I have to try a RAID 5 just to see; as when I entered into this idea that is the RAID that had always appealed to me. I think I know better now but I just have got to see how it performs and acts.
I know that, just like installing an OS, a clean install is preferable and that is what I have done for most of my computer life (25 plus years). But part of the appeal is also the slothly migration and the slothly rebuild. Hey, Windows 3.1 and those 7 floppies! Ah, that tantalizing anticipation fueled by that weird insistent floppy noise (hey, beats a 56k modem). Or re-installing any modern Windows and those 200 plus updates. Geez!
Thanks again for your help, I appreciate it; and I will post my reactions soon.