NF4 vs. Silicon Image vs. External RAID SS

[GIGANTOID]

So I've been doing some research and think I want to implement a RAID 1, 0+1 or 1+0. Now I have the MSI K8N NEo4 Platinum which has 2 RAID controllers the Nforce 4 and a Silicon Image.

Now the NV RAID supports RAID 0 or 1, 0+1 and JBOD on SATA150 and SATA2 drives and the silicon image supports RAID 0 or 1, RAID5, RAID10, and JBOD on SATA150.

I currently am running a Raptor 36gb as my OS and program drive and a Maxtor Diamond9 120 for file storage which is nearly maxed out with a DVD burner for backups (which arent done as often as they should).

My thinking is going with an external enclosure to hold the drives but am unclear as to which controller on the mobo are adequate or should I go with another controller either internal or built into an external encolsure.

The idea for the external enclosure isnt really portability but if there was ever a fire/ emergency/ what have you I can unplug the RAID and flee or if I wanted to switch to a laptop It would be useable for that but isnt a high priority in this decision.

Or perhaps there is a NAS solution already created that has a RAID setup of 500gb +I can buy together.

Any thoughts?

 

[GIGANTOID]

Bump

 

[dandragonrage]

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2489&p=6

 

[GIGANTOID]

Thats an interesting link, thanks for the point. It's really discouraging that in some real important aspects the Nforce 4 platforms or perhaps the manufacturers implementation of them is lacking in RAID and sound controllers.

If that article is referring to the ATI crossfire board, I wonder what they are doing different to get that much of a performance leap in the same silicon 3134 controller performance.

I wouldn't mind paying extra for a board with built in Audigy2 Zs sound and a really good RAID controller for 0/1/5 and 1+0/0+1 configurations. I hate buying a board with all theses built in features but finding that if I want real quality I have to buy extra add in cards.