An obscure question, but Tom's Hardware forums is obviously filled with some of most experienced people that I've ever seen post on these topics, so I appreciate your very valuable advice!
Two questions, both related to setting up on storage on ASUS P6T (std, not the Deluxe version) motherboard on the homebuilt system I'm now building:
1) How to best configure the combination of single SSD (to hold OS and most programs) plus a separate RAID of SATA's when using the ASUS P6T, CPU: i7 920, w/Windows Vista?
Now the details. I bought the Intel X25-M 80GB Solid State Drive to hold Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit and most of my programs. With the SSD I'm looking for SPEED both on starting up OS, and starting up programs and for fast local read/write: I'll edit HD video local to the SSD, and will move finished work onto the SATA RAID.
I only need 2 TB of SATA drive storage space. For fun, and for speed, I like to set up the SATA drives as a RAID. The question is where to attach the SSD to the P6T?
Here's where it gets complicated:
The P6T has:
A) 6 X SATA 3GB/s ICH10R Southbridge ports which (using Intel Matrix Storage) supports SATA RAID 0,1,5,10.
B) Plus it has the JMicron JMB322 2 X SATA 3 GB/s
Obviously the SATA RAID has to go onto the ICH10R Southbridge ports. However, multiple online forums / test reports are saying or implying the JMicron controller has issues that effectively limit the performance of SSD's. (Read http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3531&p=1)
(Yes, I bought the wrong board. I should have bought the P6T DELUXE which doesn't use the JMicron as the second SATA controller.)
NOTE: I do not want to buy a $300 RAID controller card. (Financial controller also know as "wife" says PC cost ceiling has been hit).
QUESTION: so can and should I put the Intel X25-M SSD onto the first of the six ICH10R Southbridge ports, and then put my four WD Caviar Black 1 TB drives onto the next four ICH10R Southbridge ports and configure those SATA's as RAID?
2) Second question is simply: assuming I only need 2 TB RAID storage space, should I go RAID0 + 1 (RAID 10), or should I go RAID5 (which gives me 3 TBG using the four drives)??
Why do I ask? I had thought of doing RAID5 with 3 x 1 TB SATA = 2 TB of storage space. Then I read many online test reports indicating performance bottlenecks when trying to implement RAID5 using onboard RAID controller chips. Those articles didn't specifically use the P6T, but generally concluded you need a dedicated RAID controller card (Ex.: Adaptec) to do a RAID5 that meets performance expectations. In any case, the RAID0 +1 is always faster than RAID5 on all parameters.
So I thought, "Buying a forth 1TB drive is less expensive than buying a RAID controller card. RAID0 beats RAID5 on performance, so I might as well do a four-drive RAID0+1, to yield 2TB of very fast AND mirrored drives."
Any holes in that theory?
DETAILS ON MY SYSTEM:
CPU: i7 920
OS: WIndows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
MOBO: P6T (standard not the Deluxe or the V2)
Memory: OCZ 12 GB Gold 1600 MHz DDR3
Case: Cooler Master 932 HAF
PSU: Ultra 750 Watt
Video Card: GTX260
My goal is a system that edits reads/writes HD video very fast, locally on the SSD. Then I move completed video files over to the SATA RAID, but I also would like that SATA RAID to be fast.
Two questions, both related to setting up on storage on ASUS P6T (std, not the Deluxe version) motherboard on the homebuilt system I'm now building:
1) How to best configure the combination of single SSD (to hold OS and most programs) plus a separate RAID of SATA's when using the ASUS P6T, CPU: i7 920, w/Windows Vista?
Now the details. I bought the Intel X25-M 80GB Solid State Drive to hold Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit and most of my programs. With the SSD I'm looking for SPEED both on starting up OS, and starting up programs and for fast local read/write: I'll edit HD video local to the SSD, and will move finished work onto the SATA RAID.
I only need 2 TB of SATA drive storage space. For fun, and for speed, I like to set up the SATA drives as a RAID. The question is where to attach the SSD to the P6T?
Here's where it gets complicated:
The P6T has:
A) 6 X SATA 3GB/s ICH10R Southbridge ports which (using Intel Matrix Storage) supports SATA RAID 0,1,5,10.
B) Plus it has the JMicron JMB322 2 X SATA 3 GB/s
Obviously the SATA RAID has to go onto the ICH10R Southbridge ports. However, multiple online forums / test reports are saying or implying the JMicron controller has issues that effectively limit the performance of SSD's. (Read http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3531&p=1)
(Yes, I bought the wrong board. I should have bought the P6T DELUXE which doesn't use the JMicron as the second SATA controller.)
NOTE: I do not want to buy a $300 RAID controller card. (Financial controller also know as "wife" says PC cost ceiling has been hit).
QUESTION: so can and should I put the Intel X25-M SSD onto the first of the six ICH10R Southbridge ports, and then put my four WD Caviar Black 1 TB drives onto the next four ICH10R Southbridge ports and configure those SATA's as RAID?
2) Second question is simply: assuming I only need 2 TB RAID storage space, should I go RAID0 + 1 (RAID 10), or should I go RAID5 (which gives me 3 TBG using the four drives)??
Why do I ask? I had thought of doing RAID5 with 3 x 1 TB SATA = 2 TB of storage space. Then I read many online test reports indicating performance bottlenecks when trying to implement RAID5 using onboard RAID controller chips. Those articles didn't specifically use the P6T, but generally concluded you need a dedicated RAID controller card (Ex.: Adaptec) to do a RAID5 that meets performance expectations. In any case, the RAID0 +1 is always faster than RAID5 on all parameters.
So I thought, "Buying a forth 1TB drive is less expensive than buying a RAID controller card. RAID0 beats RAID5 on performance, so I might as well do a four-drive RAID0+1, to yield 2TB of very fast AND mirrored drives."
Any holes in that theory?
DETAILS ON MY SYSTEM:
CPU: i7 920
OS: WIndows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
MOBO: P6T (standard not the Deluxe or the V2)
Memory: OCZ 12 GB Gold 1600 MHz DDR3
Case: Cooler Master 932 HAF
PSU: Ultra 750 Watt
Video Card: GTX260
My goal is a system that edits reads/writes HD video very fast, locally on the SSD. Then I move completed video files over to the SATA RAID, but I also would like that SATA RAID to be fast.