Newb needs help with a Raid 5

T

ToxicBanana

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 6, 2007
Messages
219
I was looking into getting a (4) HDD 640GB or 750GB Raid 5 setup (Samsung F1), Currently have 1.4TB in mixed drives with no raid and I am running out of space.

My computer is a Shuttle PC SP35P2-Pro, It says it supports Raid 0,1,5,10,1+0

I am interested in performance and speed, however I do no have room to put in a hardware raid controller.
My goals are 200MB/s Max and 120MB/s Minimum

CPU is a Q6600 @ 3.3ghz, 4GB (Moving to 8GB)

1) How much CPU/Performance is lost to use the raid.

2) Whats the Average max speed you would expect on this setup?

3) Is a raid of the mother board considered a software or hardware controller? (I assume its some sort of hybrid)
 
I have four of the WD 640Gb drives and have tried 3 and 4 in RAID5 with my Areca 1210 RAID card the drives screamed. Take a look at the Areca cards or 3ware. You will not be sorry. Also enable TLER with the utility beofore you raid the WD's.

Here are some results I had with my setup.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20580241@N02/2442120448/

4gb ram.. AMDx2 2.6GHZ, Vista 64,Areca 1210
 
I have a 8800GTS (92) 512MB card (double slot), I don't see why I couldn't downgrade to a 8800GT, but only if there is a significant impact on the difference in performance.
 
1 and 2) These two threads should answer your question:
http://techreport.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=52694
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=83&threadid=2172667&enterthread=y

Do note that the ICHR9R cannot add additional drives once the RAID is setup. So if I were you, I'd go for the 750GB drives.
3) Your motherboard what I call "hardware assisted software RAID". Basically the chip handles the setup and maintenance of the RAID while the CPU is used for the parity calculations.
 
Very helpful information, thank you

Looks like a Raid 0+1 is the way to go.
Raid 0+1 (4)750GB Drives = 1.5Tb, 450$, 200MB/s read
Raid 5 (4)750GB Drives = 2.25TB 450$, Very bad read/write
No Raid, (1)300Gb, (3)750GB = 2.25TB 100MB Read, 300GB, 120MB read. 600$ (Velociraptor main, 750GBX3 Storage)

So far this is what I see as my options. and it looks like a simple Raid 0+1 would work. or have a +2TB internal Raid 0 with some external storage device of the same size and just do a manual transfer to the External every week.

You said Raid 5 cannot be expanded but how about Raid 0? Say I get (2) 750GB now and expand as I need it?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top