Any recommendations for RAID Controller?

[CarolinaKSU]

Well, I have been poking around with my RAID0 setup lately and was considering getting a hardware controller for my two 750gb Samsung F1's. I have an EVGA 680i board that is great and all, but as everyone knows onboard software RAID controllers arent really RAID afterall and especially on 680i boards, it can be a little buggy at times. Also, NCQ doesn't even work with my 680i board, i get write errors on large files :(

So, can anyone recommend a decent hardware controller that wont break the bank?

[AsRock]

I used to have a Adaptec 2940UA going back some years ago though as it was paired with some SCSI Q Fireballs lol. It was dam good for then but dam expensive. Maybe they sell a good SATA II controller.

The Adaptec did me good for years and there support back then was top notch, All though there's probably a cheaper ones around these days.

Have a bad feeling though it be way to expensive to go the Adaptec way so hopefully some one knows of another company that is as good or better even.

[TIGR]

I prefer Areca 1220+ controllers for my high-end SATA RAID builds, but that's probably overkill for you. What is your price range?

[CarolinaKSU]

I prefer Areca 1220+ controllers for my high-end SATA RAID builds, but that's probably overkill for you. What is your price range?

$50-100? I honestly dont really hear much of people buying hardware RAID controllers since most people are content with their onboard software raid. I would rather get something to take pressure off of my CPU and have a true raid that isn't buggy and I dont think running out and buying a new mobo will solve those problems lol

[AsRock]

$50-100? I honestly dont really hear much of people buying hardware RAID controllers since most people are content with their onboard software raid. I would rather get something to take pressure off of my CPU and have a true raid that isn't buggy and I dont think running out and buying a new mobo will solve those problems lol

My onboard raid has been just fine no issue's at all. Sure not the best and all but i know i would buy a kick ass mobo with a good raid controller before spending $300++++ on a raid card.

[CarolinaKSU]

well I came across this one, it gets good reviews on newegg at least, but a bit pricey.

areca ARC-1200 PCI Express SATA Controller Card RAID 0/1 JBOD - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816151031

edit: and here is a cheaper one, but on a PCI slot, not PCIe

SUPERMICRO AOC-SAT2-MV8 64-bit PCI-X133MHz SATA Controller Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815121009

any thoughts on these?

[AsRock]

well I came across this one, it gets good reviews on newegg at least, but a bit pricey.

areca ARC-1200 PCI Express SATA Controller Card RAID 0/1 JBOD - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816151031


Yeah was looking at that one and thought what if you want to add another HDD ?..

[CarolinaKSU]

Yeah was looking at that one and thought what if you want to add another HDD ?..

Yeah I thought that too, but once you get into the multi-port cards the price goes up through the roof!

[TIGR]

That ARC-1200 will give you great performance. AsRock's point about future expandability is why I like to use ARC-1220+ controllers (plus their cache). But it's a big step up in price. I unfortunately don't know much about the Supermicro unit.

I should mention my personal preference for low-cost RAID is Intel Matrix RAID integrated into ICH*R south bridge motherboards. ICH10R especially impresses me and it's what I use for my own system, which in a four-drive RAID 0 configuration (with Hitachi 1TB Ultrastars) gives 329MB/sec average read throughput and 8.8ms access time. Its stability and usability have been stupendous, and I like being able to use two different types of RAID arrays on the same drives.

But you already have your motherboard, so I think the ARC-1200 would be a good choice. Maybe someone else can chime in on the Supermicro.

Hope it helps! :)

[KBD]

edit: and here is a cheaper one, but on a PCI slot, not PCIe

SUPERMICRO AOC-SAT2-MV8 64-bit PCI-X133MHz SATA Controller Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815121009

any thoughts on these?

i dont think this one will work for you. its PCI-X, not PCI, i doubt you mobo has the right port. I'd consider Areca, good brand name, relatively inexpensive, good reviews. But do some more looking around before making the final decision.

[CarolinaKSU]

i dont think this one will work for you. its PCI-X, not PCI, i doubt you mobo has the right port. I'd consider Areca, good brand name, relatively inexpensive, good reviews. But do some more looking around before making the final decision.

Ah, I didn't even notice that.. So this would only work on a server motherboard im assuming?

[TIGR]

Pretty much.

[DanTheBanjoman]

i dont think this one will work for you. its PCI-X, not PCI, i doubt you mobo has the right port.

Most PCI-X cards work fine in PCI slots, though since todays disks can do 50-60MB/s easily the PCI bus is a huge bottleneck.

[btarunr]

Since those are just two drives you're using I don't feel it's worth investing 100s of $$ on a native-processing RAID card, you would much rather expand the RAID 0 with one or more drives and retain the SB RAID controller. The cards that seem "affordable" (those ones with just a bare Promise/Silicon Logic/Marvell chip) don't really come with native processing RAID controllers, they would still pose CPU overhead as your SB-embedded controller, not worth it either.

If you still need a recommendation (that should genuinely boost performance), here's my pick: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816115026 That's a "Hardware controller" (read: Native processing) that doesn't (quite) break the bank.

[Scrizz]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816115050

that looks cool

[KBD]

Most PCI-X cards work fine in PCI slots, though since todays disks can do 50-60MB/s easily the PCI bus is a huge bottleneck.

thanks for clearing that up Dan. i wasnt sure about that myself, thats why i said "i think". I was looking at this PCI-X card and a PCI card to see if the interface that attaches to the mobo is the same, it was a little different so thats what led me to beleive that it wouldnt work. PCI interface is def a bottleneck thats why i was thinking that getting a card like that Areca is a better choice.