RAID nub looking for some advice

[Koncrete]

rig in sig,

I have a couple of 120gb SSD's I won and I want to put them in a raid 0 for 240gb of space to replace my old ass raptor I bought in 2006 (badass drive that has NEVER failed me on 3 different continents even after being packed in a duffelbag..)

cheapest route to go...

Different MBD with built in raid controller or just a raid controller?

I am not concerned with dataloss on my C:\ I am just looking to try SSD out...

I would just use one but my C:\ install is currently 114gb and I don't see me getting any smaller... (I keep a few games installed)

 

[drescherjm]

You could use 1 drive for the OS and 1 drive for your applications and use hard links to mount folders from 1 drive to the other or use libraries to combine them.

 

[Koncrete]

Somehow (I could very well be wrong) that just seems like it would be slower then having them in raid 0... But that would definitely be cheaper lol I may try that tomorrow after I pick up another sata cable

 

[drescherjm]

that just seems like it would be slower then having them in raid 0

Raid of SSDs does not necessarily improve performance for desktop loads. The reason is RAID0 improves large file performance and not really small file or IOPS. The thing is applications tend to read and write in small chunks and not GBs at a time.

Also remember that to do RAID0 correct with an SSD you need to spend $400+ US (look up LSI + fastpath) for a raid controller that is designed to work with SSDs. A cheap $30 fakeraid card will most likely reduce your application performance.

 

[Koncrete]

/jimcarrey

allllrighty then

/jimcarrey

Looks like I will be playing around with your suggestion, any chance you have a link for that so I can read up on it before I try and make it work?

 

[Old Hippie]

You have an Intel ICH9 chipset which will be just fine.

I use RAID0 and think it's worth the money but you're smart to try it out and make your own decision.

You will want to activate AHCI mode whether or not you use RAID and update all your drivers.

Have fun and good luck!

 

[Aesma]

ICH9 is not ICH9R. It doesn't have RAID and I don't think it has AHCI either.

 

[mwroobel]

Everything you ever wanted to know about the ICH9 family of controller hubs. The quick difference is what Aesma said above.

 

[manny1222]

You could use 1 drive for the OS and 1 drive for your applications and use hard links to mount folders from 1 drive to the other or use libraries to combine them.

Used this guide on this link to setup my secondary HDD for files, to not clutter my SSD boot drive.
http://www.overclock.net/t/664738/how-to-setup-ssd-boot-drive-with-secondary-hard-disc-optimization
One of the suggestions added to the guide also tells how to make programs default install on a seperate drive, other than the boot drive

 

[E^vol]

What about Trim support in RAID?

 

[mwroobel]

What about Trim support in RAID?

The latest is that TRIM is supported in RAID0 on Intel 7 series Motherboards (except, as far as I know right now the X79 is still not supported, but functionality is supposedly coming in the next RST release(if this has changed in the past few days, please someone chime in and confirm)).

 

[Koncrete]

I am going to try 1 SSD and see how large my install is, if I start running low on space I will try redircting my programs/games to the second... This will give me an excuse to do a fresh install anyways... I haven't done a fresh install in over a year so it's about due...

Hopefully I will be moving to a newer MBD though, I am probably going 1155 next, any recomendations for a MBD with decent hardware raid support?

 

[Old Hippie]

ICH9 is not ICH9R. It doesn't have RAID and I don't think it has AHCI either.

Woops!