raid question

mk17

mk17

mk17

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I'm just about to kick off a new build (DQ6, x6800) and I intend to use 3*320GB WD in a Raid 5 configuration. I was wondering about using the mobo's raid support versus buying a dedicated raid card? I was thinking of starting off with the mobo, and if performance is not satisfactory upgrading to a Highpoint Rocket RAID 2310. Has anyone got any ideas/opinions on this? Thanks.
 
Well... Upgrading to a different controller would mean you have to break the array and set it up from scratch on the new controller.

So unless you have a lot of space to backup to - Then I would choose now.

I have a RAID5 array with 3 x 250GB Seagate's.
Using the nVRaid function on the nF4 chipset.

One thing... Write speeds are DIRE.
40Mb/s. :eek:

But - Read speeds are nearly 200Mb/s. :D

So - Read speed - No problem on the on-board controllers.
If you want any decent write speed - Buy the separate controller.
Worth it in the end.

I have a scratch drive that I dump any stuff on/work with - Use the RAID 5 array for storage.
Move what I need on it overnight.
 
The Highpoints looked fairly good a few years ago.

The typical price range of a GOOD RAID 5 card is about £400 the last time I checked.
(2~3 years ago)

So not sure on current prices - I'd check a good few different review sites before making your decision. :)
 
Right, first thing's first - buy the Seagate 320GB's. It will be SO much faster. They use perpendicular technology which is much better than all other 7200rpm drives at the moment. Second - if you want good writes, you need a controller which does onboard XOR calculations - I'm not sure if the highpoint does this, so it owuld be no better than onboard - however you'll need to contact Highpoint to find this out - I couldn't see it in their specs when I was looking to buy this card.

EDIT: Forgot we were talking about SATA :D - was mentioning SCSI.
 
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mk17 said:
Thanks Cap'n. Any recommendations, or opinions on the Highpoint Rocket RAID 2310?
Click to expand...

I'm using a 2320 card which is the 8 port version. It's a nice card, the write speed is good, significantly faster than nForce onboard RAID5 but not quite as quick as some of the Broadcomm or Areca cards. It is, however, significantly cheaper than the Broadcomm or Areca! Read speed is good, I'm seeing about 160Mb/s average from HDTach.

I did have an issue with it though when I first installed it, Windows wouldn't recognise the attached array. I was booting off a mobo attached HDD & Windows could see the card OK, turned out to be an issue with the RAID BIOS taking up too much RAM at boot. There is a work around though, in the short term pressing "End" (I think) when the RAID BIOS spalsh screen was up stopped the BIOS loading and all was well, a quick BIOS flash with a couple of special options solved it long term. Highpoint's support was very quick to respond with the correct answer.

If you decide to go with the card, let me know and I'll dig out the instructions for the fix.
 
Thanks for that, I'm thinking about the 2310 four port solution with 3*320s. However, I'm working from a Gigabyte DQ6, the only available PCIe slot is an x16. I don't have a PCI-E x4. Can I plug the 2310 into the x16 slot without frying things?


[EDIT]
A quick look on Highpoint's website shows that its also x8 and x16 compatible
[/EDIT]
 
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mk17 said:
Thanks for that, I'm thinking about the 2310 four port solution with 3*320s. However, I'm working from a Gigabyte DQ6, the only available PCIe slot is an x16. I don't have a PCI-E x4. Can I plug the 2310 into the x16 slot without frying things?
Click to expand...
Yup. All PCIe ports are backwards compatible. i.e. 8x card in 16x slot.

16x accepts all
8x accepts all bar 16x etc.
 
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