How does RAID affect latency?

[LtBlue14]

clearly in a negative way, no? how much can you "feel" the latency effect? i don't want fast transfers but a slow feeling setup. thx

[hafa]

There are many factors which can affect the latency of an array:

-type of array; 0 or 0&1 would have less than 5 in most setups
-controller; the speed, capacity and cache memory thereof
-latency of the drives themselves
-CPU, MB and other supporting hardware's capacities/specs

Obviously, the higher end (>$) controllers and drives will have a snappier "feel" than the lower end ones. As usual, you'll need to decide whcih is the best balance of transfer rate, low latency and cost for you.