Raid controller card

[MikeyLikesItSI]

So apparently the ICH9R on my P5K premium really doesn't like the configuration that i have now. It did just fine with 2 hd's in raid 0. now i've got 3 hd's and 2 opticals on the sata bus, and the ICH9R is just givin all sorts of problems.

I've been experiencing very long delays before any information is accessed on the hard drives. I can get windows to install, but get nothing but errors after the fact. I really would prefer to use the onboard controller, but am considering a raid controller. What does a good controller go for (something to handle at least the 3 HD's)?

So, if i have to spend $100 on a controller card, i'd rather put it towards a new mobo that has a stable on board controller.

I'm also open for suggestions on any settings i should change on the board/bios.... i'm trying different bios releases to see how they work

[Kai_Force]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816131003

I am getting that Raid controller card this weekend to use with 3 1TB Seagates in a raid 5. Hardware raid will allways beat the pants off of software/onboard raid. I tried raid 5 on my current 680i board and it was just grossly slow. 1 HD alone cruised, but when u get 3 or more, it really overwhelms the controller i guess.


Raidcards have onboard memory and its own processor, so your drives wont use any of your cpu or memory, so its pretty sweet.

As for buying a motherboard to handle your 3 drives, im not really sure what kind of southbridge we should look at to get alot of throughput with many drives. Most likely an Intel chipset.....

[dropadrop]

Areca makes very good cards..

[middydj]

I reran HD Tach and got 495 m/b on the Seq read with the 1210. I guess from Kai's response that is good hehe?

[Kai_Force]

yah Areca 1210 is god. :santa:

[middydj]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20580241@N02/2442120448/

[shadowdr]

Where are the opticals pluged in? I think that they may need to be on the black connectors. Are they also set to cd rom in bios?
You should also be able to use the J Micron external connectors for the opticals if all else fails.