Putting Raptors in RAID - PCI Controller or New Mobo?

I have approx. $350 to put into getting 2 raptors in a RAID 0 configuration. I currently have an Epox 8RDA+ and was wondering if I should use a Promise SATA RAID PCI controller, or put another $40 into the pot and get an ASUS A7N8X Deluxe.

Is there any difference between the mobo and the PCI controller? Is one faster than the other?

Any difference at all is significant enough for me to consider.

Thanks!

Im not sure exactly about this, but depending on the type of onboard controller, it may use more CPU time and memory than a dedicated PCI controller.

ive been out of the loop for 6 months but last i checked the silicon image sata raid controller built into some nf2 mobos is pure junk!
its completly unreliable,and its slow.

look for a mobo with a built in sata raid controller from promise or highpoint.
other than that get the pci card made by those two.
better yet get a intel canterwood wobo with the built in controller from the south bridge.not an option for me as i use amd also.

this problem has made me refuse to buy several mobos due to this.the abit nf7-s i had i loved but the silicon image sata raid controller made me hate it at the same time.

i lost a 33% in performance with my raptors in raid0 in benchmarks compared to intel rigs.
btw keep your epox over the asus.i owned both and the asus was much harder to oc with.

The PCI bus is limited to 133 megabytes/second of transfer. A RAID 0 of two Raptors would saturate this at times. AFAIK, only an Intel system with the Canterwood chipset is capable of utilizing the full throughput of a RAID 0 with Raptors, since it has an integrated RAID controller that bypasses the PCI bus. Remember, onboard RAID with the nforce2 chipset still uses the PCI bus for I/O functions, in spite of the fact that the chip is soldered to the mobo.

Anyway, I say get a PCI controller if you have the space. You can keep your mobo, and get more flexibility and performance than if you used an integrated RAID chip, which would likely suck compared to a PCI card.

Somebody will correct my if I'm wrong about the Canterwood...

THIS REVIEW is a must read if you're going SATA RAID. Though we are limited by the 32b 33MHz PCI BUS 133MB/s is more than enough for the current Raptors, newer revisions of these drives will have 75MB/s in single drive config & double that when in RAID0. The ICH-5R is runner up to the PROMISE S150 TX2PLUS, both will outperform Silicon Image in RAID0 performance. The S150 TX2 seems to be the only RAID card from Promise that actually performs well.

donny_paycheck said:

The PCI bus is limited to 133 megabytes/second of transfer. A RAID 0 of two Raptors would saturate this at times...

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Just out of curiousity....
If I am running a 40gig 7200rpm 2mb IDE hdd, what would my approximate mb/second be? (I'm at work and am anxious to know)

If there is a significant difference, even if the bus is saturated it would be worth the upgrade.

AGampher said:

Just out of curiousity....
If I am running a 40gig 7200rpm 2mb IDE hdd, what would my approximate mb/second be? (I'm at work and am anxious to know)

If there is a significant difference, even if the bus is saturated it would be worth the upgrade.

Click to expand...

Probably somewhere around 35 - 40MB/SEC

nikhsub1 said:

Probably somewhere around 35 - 40MB/SEC

Click to expand...

Wow.

35 - 40 MB/SEC vs 120ish MB/SEC

So is that effectively 3x as fast (storage wise) as my current setup?

many people dog raid0 and dismiss it,especially for everyday and general uses.i dont and wont even build a rig without raid0.

id say even the "onboard" sata raid chips dont even saturate the buss.in theory it might spike that high but doesnt affect anything much.soon tho if the drives improve over raptors capabilities it may be a large issue.

i do believe the parts on the intel raid is correct also.it bypasses the pci.
this could also be solved with pci express wich isnt far off i think.66mhz bus.

agampher ill say this,i had a cheap 5400rpm drive in my main rig just before i installed dual raptors in raid0.
i swear i was not on the same rig.not only did i get the 3x more performance it opened the whole system up. once the storage speed was increased it seemed 6x faster.
of course this is dependant on the rig,mine was oced to max and all high end.the 5400 was a brick dragging it down.but that was just bought to get the rig up.