Never used RAID before, little question...

a1ias

a1ias

a1ias

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As the title says, I've never used a RAID config before and was wondering the following...

I am upgrading my system with the following detail:

Dual Core E6750
Abit IP35-E(xpress) MoBo
4gb Corasair XMS2 Memory
OCUK 8800 GTX 768mb GFX Card

I am using my existing 74gb Raptor, but I have another one available.

As the MoBo does not support RAID, I'd like to know if it is worth going to the hassle/expense of returning the board and exchanging it for one that does, so that I can take advantage of RAIDing the 2 Raptor drives on my system, or is it simply the case that I would not see a noticeable enough improvement worth going to all that trouble for (rig is used primarily for gaming btw)?

If you believe that it is worth it, what RAID config would you advise?

Many thanks in advance

a1ias
 
It's not so much having a backup facility that I'm concerned with, from a lesson learned long ago, I already regularly back up critical files/documents etc.

I'm thining of RAID for more of a gaming performance increase; it may be that I'm barking up the wrong tree and it just isn't worth the hassle of exchanging the board or adding an independent raid controller?
 
a1ias said:
....I'm thining of RAID for more of a gaming performance increase...
Click to expand...

If it is just looking for a performance gain in gaming it is certainly not worth it (in my opinion anyway).

Where you really see a worthwhile performance gain with RAID0 is when you are working with large files (eg. video files) or unzipping large files, apart from that you are best sticking with your single Raptor. :)
 
Bear in mind space limitations too.

I have 3x74gb Raptors in RAID0 - my onboard RAID controller limits me to 100mb/s whereas I should be well over 150. That's not really the issue for me though.

My original Raptor was used for my OS and games/applications with my storage/backups on three seperate IDE drives. Then I found myself running out of space - so decided to up it by using RAID0. Now I have 200+ gig of space which will take a hell of a lot of filling.
 
I think it would be good if you have the extra moolah to change to a new motherboard.

If you have the cash, I would recommend that you set both your Raptors in Raid 0, and get another 500GB hdd for storage of your important data. Don't ever keep your data in the Raid 0 array. Only use the Raid 0 array for your OS and applications.
 
If you had the cash to change for another motherboard, then you may almost as well buy a hardware RAID controller card; a 2-port PCI card is near £35 and in the long run it's probably the better option. No need to worry about matching on-board controllers if you changed motherboards in the future.
 
Thanks for the responses guys. I've decided to stick with the board I've got and a single Raptor for my OS/Apps.

If I decide in the near future to have a go at RAIDing the drives I'll probably go with WolfR1der's suggestion of the controller card, never actually considered this as an option.

At least this takes away the urgency of deciding whether to change the board now and delay the system build.

Again....thanks.


a1ias
 
If you've got back ups and got two drives the same, then you may aswell. In somethings you notice it in others you don't. Some swear by raid0 and some prefer other options. Might just be the big numbers on a HDtune chart that keeps be hooked on it, but I feel like i notice a difference, and I don't think I could go back to a single 7200 drive now unless their transfer rates increased more than 3 fold
 
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