[olug] built in RAID vs Indi RAID controlers

Charles Bird thebirdman at operamail.com
Tue Aug 24 23:29:02 UTC 2004


I see what you mean. 
  I havnt checked out scsi in a while and didnt realize that they are so cheap now.
  Thanks
  


----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Brutsche <phil at brutsche.us>
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 17:47:35 -0500
To: Omaha Linux User Group <olug at olug.org>
Subject: Re: [olug] built in RAID vs Indi RAID controlers

> Charles Bird wrote:
> 
> > I've been checking out new motherboards for a 3000 amd64, the prices
> > are pretty nice right now. I want to do SATA 10K drives in RAID.
> > Every motherboard I have looked at has sata raid built in...I have
> > heard that a controller card is better performing due to the fact
> > that very little cpu time is spent on it...but the question is how
> > much better?
> 
> Built in "RAID"... enthusiast-level board... yeah...
> 
> There's a 90% chance (there are rare true hardware raid SATA controllers
> built into motherboards) that the built-in SATA "RAID" is software RAID
> courtesy a fancy driver from the controller manufacturer.
> 
> If you want an actual RAID controller you would be better off with a
> 3ware 8006-2.
> 
> You also need to consider that, when done in software, RAID1 and RAID0
> take very little CPU time.  Given such a powerful CPU, would you really
> notice the difference?
> 
> Also, consider SCSI: 36GB 10k RPM drives drives cost under $130:
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=22-116-132&depa=0
> http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-141-123&depa=0
> 
> and a hardware RAID SCSI card (RAID0 or RAID1 only, no RAID5) is $135:
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=16-118-017&depa=0
> 
> Compare that to a 3ware 8006-2 2-port SATA RAID card ($144):
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=17-116-025&depa=0
> 
> And WD Raptor 36GB 10k RPM SATA drives ($112):
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-144-200&depa=0
> 
> Don't let the fact that the cards have 64-bit connectors scare you, they
> will all work just fine in 32-bit slots.
> 
> Don't get me wrong, the WD Raptors are very nice drives, but the prices
> for SCSI drives are in the same ballpark, and when you compare prices
> for a nice SATA RAID controller vs a SCSI RAID controller, well...
> 
> > If its gonna get down to "depends on application" then
> > I'll be using this one for audio/video production, some flight
> > sim(flightgear), and umm yeah more video games I guess. Give me input
> > please.
> 
> If you are going to do video production, you should seriously consider
> SCSI drives.
> 
> -- 
> 
> Phil Brutsche
> phil at brutsche.us
> _______________________________________________
> OLUG mailing list
> OLUG at olug.org
> http://lists.olug.org/mailman/listinfo/olug

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