[SOLVED] Does this kind of setup exist?

[OPStellar]

I'm too new to this to know whether it's doable, but I at least know the vocabulary to describe what I'm trying to find or construct:

• RAID station (idk about 0, 1, 2, 5, etc. all I know is that RAID improves speed)
  • PCI-Express 4.0 Gen4 x4 bays; spacious enough to fit an ASUS Hyper
  • External GPU (eGPU) bays; spacious enough to fit a GeForce 3090 AND a 6900 RTX
• Thunderbolt 4 (or Thunderbolt 3) out (connects to main computer frame)
• DisplayPort 1.4 (capable of 8K@30Hz)

Any suggestions? What's a reasonable price estimate for the casing, at the least? What size case should I get to fit all this?

 

[USAFRet]

What is this thing to be used for?

"RAID station (idk about 0, 1, 2, 5, etc. all I know is that RAID improves speed) "
That is wildly incorrect.

 

[OPStellar]

What is this thing to be used for?

"RAID station (idk about 0, 1, 2, 5, etc. all I know is that RAID improves speed) "
That is wildly incorrect.

Yeah, I figured that out about 10 minutes ago: RAID 2 doesn't exist.
However, RAID software DOES has the potential to improve speed compared to simply using a RAID station without the software.
At least, that's how it's been advertised? I'm trying to get into it, but I'm tired of seeing only HDD RAID storage. Almost all the SSD RAID stations I've seen use SATA, and all the other stations I've seen use HDDs. I've seen like 2 stations that utilize NVMe PCIe, but it's only for Gen3, and I want Gen4 speeds.

I'd be using it for… everything, pretty much. A station that can swap out my external storage, render videos, run games and 3D design software.
Pretty much a tower computer without no motherboard or CPU, that I can connect to my laptop to expand beyond its current potential, unleashed.

 

[DSzymborski]

RAID is pointless for 99% of consumers and frequently counter-productive. It only makes sense for very specific workloads such as storefront servers and working with very large sequential transfers when there's a separate backup plan.

It's not even good for bragging rights; nothing says novice like an unnecessary RAID.

 

[OPStellar]

RAID is pointless for 99% of consumers and frequently counter-productive. It only makes sense for very specific workloads such as storefront servers and working with very large sequential transfers when there's a separate backup plan.

What about for archiving large multimedia projects with motion graphics and intense CG?
I need to be able to backup my projects and archive several versions. Would RAID not be useful for that?

 

[DSzymborski]

What about for archiving large multimedia projects with motion graphics and intense CG?

Working with very large files and it's pretty much all you do on the PC? Maybe.

Archiving? A thousand times no. RAID is not a backup.

 

[USAFRet]

Yeah, I figured that out about 10 minutes ago: RAID 2 doesn't exist.
However, RAID software DOES has the potential to improve speed compared to simply using a RAID station without the software.
At least, that's how it's been advertised? I'm trying to get into it, but I'm tired of seeing only HDD RAID storage. Almost all the SSD RAID stations I've seen use SATA, and all the other stations I've seen use HDDs. I've seen like 2 stations that utilize NVMe PCIe, but it's only for Gen3, and I want Gen4 speeds.

I'd be using it for… everything, pretty much. A station that can swap out my external storage, render videos, run games and 3D design software.
Pretty much a tower computer without no motherboard or CPU, that I can connect to my laptop to expand beyond its current potential, unleashed.

What you seek does not and cannot exist.

What interface would this be connected to the laptop with?
Thunderbolt? A poor substitute for an actual dedicated GPU.

RAID? With SSDs? Faster?
Sorry, but no.

Either SATA III or NVMe...it may be slower than individual drives, due to the RAID overhead.

 

[OPStellar]

Working with very large files and it's pretty much all you do on the PC? Maybe.

Archiving? A thousand times no. RAID is not a backup.

I found a cloning device that can support software RAID 0 and RAID 1.
I figured that part of the advantage of RAID is that you can write to multiple disks at the same time. I wouldn't be surprised if I'm completely mistaken.

 

[USAFRet]

I found a cloning device that can support software RAID 0 and RAID 1.
I figured that part of the advantage of RAID is that you can write to multiple disks at the same time. I wouldn't be surprised if I'm completely mistaken.

I implore you.....put the whole RAID thing, of whatever type, out of your mind completely.

That enclosure you link is full of fancy buzzwords.
In real user facing performance?
I'd put my 5 year old system with a collection of individual SATA III drives next to it, and defy you to tell the difference in a blind test.

 

[OPStellar]

I implore you.....put the whole RAID thing, of whatever type, out of your mind completely.

That enclosure you link is full of fancy buzzwords.
In real user facing performance?
I'd put my 5 year old system with a collection of individual SATA III drives next to it, and defy you to tell the difference in a blind test.

When dumping two terabytes of 4K at 60fps, I'd be able to tell the difference by how long it took.
Same with exporting 30 minutes of 4K at 60fps.

 

[USAFRet]

When dumping two terabytes of 4K at 60fps, I'd be able to tell the difference by how long it took.
Same with exporting 30 minutes of 4K at 60fps.

Dumping/exporting to where?

 

[OPStellar]

The drives. Where else?
I gotta store them someplace; it ain't gonna be on my laptop's internal; that's reserved for school, work, and software that can't run externally.
And all those cache files Adobe produces ad nauseam.

 

[popatim]

No you wouldn't see any speed difference at all. Even if you raid0 four gen4 5GB/s SSD's with a total speed just under 20GB/s, your data transfers would only happen at the speed of the slowest part of the chain. You'd be limited by … your laptops ability to offload the video from it's internal drive. ie - the top speed of the drive you're reading/writing from

 

[OPStellar]

No you wouldn't see any speed difference at all. Even if you raid0 four gen4 5GB/s SSD's with a total speed just under 20GB/s, your data transfers would only happen at the speed of the slowest part of the chain. You'd be limited by … your laptops ability to offload the video from it's internal drive. ie - the top speed of the drive you're reading/writing from

Which is why I want a consistently fast SSD station.
My connection is Thunderbolt 3 (theoretical 40GB/s, I still have yet to determine what the highest it can actually achieve is).
If I can find a way, I might replace my internal hard drive if I get to understand it enough.

So far, I seek:
Thunderbolt 4/3 cable to connect the Thunderbolt 3 port in the laptop to a Thunderbolt 4/3 outlet on a device hosting internal SSD speeds (planning on Phison E18 cards, which achieve upwards of 6800MB/s– reducing to ~5000MB/s sustained sequential writing if the cache fills) so as to preserve all speeds along the way.
When exporting and rendering, After Effects and Premiere Pro and certain photorealistic 3D animation programs provide an option for hardware acceleration, but that requires an eGPU, so I would like the device to also support graphics cards as a form of external GPU.

 

[popatim]

Again, the issue is the max speeds your laptop could possibly achieve would hinder the speed of your external raid; that and that the device you seek does not exist yet.