Which controller should I put my optical on?

[deadlysyn]

I just got a SATA optical drive today, in an attempt to get rid of the big ugly ribbon cable going from the optical to the mobo. As we all know, they can be a pain to hide if they aren't long enough to run behind the mobo tray or try your hand at cablegami.

Anyway, to get to the point, my mobo is the Gigabyte EP45-UD3LR. It has the Intel ICH10R RAID controller, and some JMicron controller. I have my HDD's on the Intel controller, since I was thinking about setting up a RAID at one point, and I have heard the Intel controller was better for RAID. Chances are I won't actually be running a RAID for a while, since I don't really have the money for enough drives for RAID 5. Would I be better off setting this optical drive up on the Intel or JMicron controller? It has been a while since I have actually done something like this, and the last board I remember doing it on was some Nvidia based Asus board well over a year ago, with only 2 SATA ports on the board.

[ajrettke]

I don't think you'll ever really notice a difference, but for now I'd throw it on the Intel since I beleive it's more reliable. Once you setup a RAID array or start to have a lot of throughput through the Intel, then I'd switch it over to the JMicron.

[Airbornederekc]

try your hand at cablegami.


Cable management has truly become an art nowadays.


And i would put it on the Intel untill you need more sata ports. if you don't need 2 controllers enabled why would you want to waste resources on it. Granted who really runs out of resources anyways.

[deadlysyn]

I don't think you'll ever really notice a difference, but for now I'd throw it on the Intel since I beleive it's more reliable. Once you setup a RAID array or start to have a lot of throughput through the Intel, then I'd switch it over to the JMicron.

Cable management has truly become an art nowadays.


And i would put it on the Intel untill you need more sata ports. if you don't need 2 controllers enabled why would you want to waste resources on it. Granted who really runs out of resources anyways.

Good points. I have decided that I will just put it on the Intel controller, and if I decide I want to go with a RAID later on, I will most likely go with a hardware RAID. I seem to remember reading that the performance was better that way, and much more reliable. I can't remember the last time I had heard anything good about the JMicron controllers, so chances are it will just stay disabled.

Cable management seems to be an art form these days, where so many people spend so much time routing the cables on the back of the mobo tray. I never really saw that much point in acting so obsessive compulsive about it, since I don't have a window on that side of my case, but to each their own. Cablegami, on the other hand, seems to be a lost art form, since we have been switching everything to SATA.