[olug] built in RAID vs Indi RAID controlers

[Phil Brutsche]

Charles Bird wrote:

> I've been checking out new motherboards for a 3000 amd64, the prices
> are pretty nice right now. I want to do SATA 10K drives in RAID.
> Every motherboard I have looked at has sata raid built in...I have
> heard that a controller card is better performing due to the fact
> that very little cpu time is spent on it...but the question is how
> much better?

Built in "RAID"... enthusiast-level board... yeah...

There's a 90% chance (there are rare true hardware raid SATA controllers
built into motherboards) that the built-in SATA "RAID" is software RAID
courtesy a fancy driver from the controller manufacturer.

If you want an actual RAID controller you would be better off with a
3ware 8006-2.

You also need to consider that, when done in software, RAID1 and RAID0
take very little CPU time.  Given such a powerful CPU, would you really
notice the difference?

Also, consider SCSI: 36GB 10k RPM drives drives cost under $130:

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=22-116-132&depa=0
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-141-123&depa=0

and a hardware RAID SCSI card (RAID0 or RAID1 only, no RAID5) is $135:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=16-118-017&depa=0

Compare that to a 3ware 8006-2 2-port SATA RAID card ($144):

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=17-116-025&depa=0

And WD Raptor 36GB 10k RPM SATA drives ($112):

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-144-200&depa=0

Don't let the fact that the cards have 64-bit connectors scare you, they
will all work just fine in 32-bit slots.

Don't get me wrong, the WD Raptors are very nice drives, but the prices
for SCSI drives are in the same ballpark, and when you compare prices
for a nice SATA RAID controller vs a SCSI RAID controller, well...

> If its gonna get down to "depends on application" then
> I'll be using this one for audio/video production, some flight
> sim(flightgear), and umm yeah more video games I guess. Give me input
> please.

If you are going to do video production, you should seriously consider
SCSI drives.

-- 

Phil Brutsche
phil at brutsche.us