Will using a RAID card reduce CPU usage?

Roll · 6 Dec 2006 at 10:54

Just a quick question. I just wondered if using a SATA RAID card rather than the motherboards onboard controller will cut CPU usage?

I know that using a sound card instead of the motherboards onboard sound cuts down CPU usage slightly so I just wanted to know if it will be the same with a RAID card.

Thanks for replies

rpstewart · 6 Dec 2006 at 11:23

If you're using motherboard based RAID5 then a dedicated card will certainly reduce CPU usage if it has a dedicated processor for doing the parity calculations. If you're only doing RAID0 or RAID1 then it's unlikely that you'll see any benefit with an add-in card.

Roll · 6 Dec 2006 at 14:29

Cheers, I'll give it a go anyway and see what CPU usage HD Tach shows.

rpstewart · 6 Dec 2006 at 14:43

You do realise that if you use a PCI SATA card with a pair of quick disks in RAID0 that you may well saturate the PCI bus and get worse performance than from the motherboard controller.

Roll · 6 Dec 2006 at 15:16

Thanks, its actually for a second arrary so I think I should be OK (I'm running my primary array using the motherboard controller).