RAID controller card VS RAID buildin controller

[Dzha2000]

Hey guys.

I have a question about RAID controllers. which way is better to go, add RAID expansion card or use RAID controller which is build in?

I tried to to some research on that topic but got even more confused. some say that build in controllers are so good this days it doesn't matter what you use, others say that RAID cards are better because they take the load of the CPU. so I guess which is true? will I see better performance going RAID card? if so, can you recommend good RAID card?

I have two Raptors which I want to RAID.

[killermiller]

Two drives raid 0 or 1 will be fine. It is when you start to have 4 drives + in a raid 5. Since the CPU has to do the calulations for parity you have some overhead. The raid controllers on the motherboard are sometimes limited to the shared bandwidth on the South bridge. Depending on your chipset is how much total bandwidth you have.

[Mr.Guvernment]

built in controllers are good, IF it is intel ICH7+ or better, otherwise no, most built in arent very good

the problem with it is if the array dies, you need to replace your entire mobo if something happens, and what happens if they dont make thaty mobo any more or you cant find it.

a raid card, often uses the same chipset in many cards to come and are sometimes compatible between the same companies.

[killermiller]

The mobo doesn't have to be the same. I think the chipset may need to be. I took one nvidia RAID and moved to another mobo but if your OS is on the array, it may cause problems.

[Dzha2000]

A bit off topic question but related.

if I have HDD 1 which is plugged in to SATA RAID 1 port and HHD 2 which is plugged in to SATA RAID 2 port. they both set in array in RAID 0. if I swap them so HDD 1 will be in SATA RAID 2 port, will that destroy array or I will be fine? I thought about trying it out, but I don't really want to destroy the array.