[SOLVED] RAID 0 on Dark Hero mobo good idea?

[FadiObaji]

Hi all, so i have a Dark Hero motherboard and I already have a 1TB 980 pro on the top M.2 Slot which uses the CPU lanes.

Now I'm planning on buying a second 1TB because the first one is almost full and i need more. I saw a lot of videos on YouTube about that, some say it's great and gives double the speed, and some said it's not a good idea and you can't boot from the array and what not.

I mean logically it should be great because:

1. First M.2 uses 4 CPU lanes.
2. Second M.2 users 4 Chipset lanes.
3. My GPU uses 16 CPU lanes.
4. There are no other devices connected to Chipset at all,
5. Chipset uses 4 lanes to connect to CPU.

so logically the performance would actually be approximately double the speed of just one drive.

It here any reason for me not to RAID 0 them together?

 

[rgd1101]

double the speed to do what?

 

[FadiObaji]

double the speed to do what?

That's not an answer to the question, but okay: if I can get FREE boost why wouldn't I do that?

Also I'm an enthusiast and I do overclocking a lot, i overclocked may 128GB RAM to 3800MHZ @ 16 19 19 36

 

[USAFRet]

In the consumer space, RAID 0 is rarely a good idea, no matter what platform.
With SSD's, even less of a good idea.
With NVMe SSDs, less again.

In some use cases, RAID 0 + NVMe is slower than single drives.

 

[Endre]

Hi all, so i have a Dark Hero motherboard and I already have a 1TB 980 pro on the top M.2 Slot which uses the CPU lanes.

Now I'm planning on buying a second 1TB because the first one is almost full and i need more. I saw a lot of videos on YouTube about that, some say it's great and gives double the speed, and some said it's not a good idea and you can't boot from the array and what not.

I mean logically it should be great because:

1. First M.2 uses 4 CPU lanes.
2. Second M.2 users 4 Chipset lanes.
3. My GPU uses 16 CPU lanes.
4. There are no other devices connected to Chipset at all,
5. Chipset uses 4 lanes to connect to CPU.

so logically the performance would actually be approximately double the speed of just one drive.

It here any reason for me not to RAID 0 them together?

Hello!

I do use 2 M.2 NVMe SSDs in RAID_0 on a Z390 motherboard (it’s a bootable configuration).

Using 2 SSDs in RAID_0 will give you a slight speed bust by doubling the size of the cache, and you also gain some sequential read & write speed.
But please keep in mind that RAID also introduces latencies in certain cases!

Warnings:
•If one drive fails, you lose all data stored on the RAID_0 volume.
•By removing the BIOS battery, the RAID volume becomes unusable.
•Depending on the type of motherboard that you use, your RAID volume might be, or not be, bootable (please check the manual).

 

[DSzymborski]

RAID makes little sense for the use case of 99% or so of consumers. You can get a big boost, but you basically need to have a couple conditions to really get much out of it. First, the big jumps in performance are when you're using HDDs. Do it with modern NVMe drives and you'll sometimes even be slower. And the gain is mostly in large sequential files. RAID is a good idea when you've got HDDs and you're running a server for editors to continually access and edit 4K videos or to run your storefront. It's mostly a bad idea for most day-to-day usage, whether office work or gaming. And it's not without a cost. You're basically cashing in data integrity for speed.

 

[FadiObaji]

Hello!

I do use 2 M.2 NVMe SSDs in RAID_0 on a Z390 motherboard (it’s a bootable configuration).

Using 2 SSDs in RAID_0 will give you a slight speed bust by doubling the size of the cache, and you also gain some sequential read & write speed.
But please keep in mind that RAID also introduces latencies in certain cases!

Warnings:
•If one drive fails, you lose all data stored on the RAID_0 volume.
•By removing the BIOS battery, the RAID volume becomes unusable.
•Depending on the type of motherboard that you use, your RAID volume might be, or not be, bootable (please check the manual).

Hey! thanks for the actually useful info, I did check the manual and the motherboard supports it. But you said by removing the BIOS battery the RAID array won't work? can't I just go to BIOS again and setup the array? or that would results in complete data loss??!

 

[Zerk2012]

That's not an answer to the question, but okay: if I can get FREE boost why wouldn't I do that?

Also I'm an enthusiast and I do overclocking a lot, i overclocked may 128GB RAM to 3800MHZ @ 16 19 19 36

You can skip to the 7 min mark if you wish.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffxkvf4KOt0

 

[USAFRet]

1. What do you use this system for?
2. What is your backup situation?

 

[FadiObaji]

You can skip to the 7 min mark if you wish.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffxkvf4KOt0

This guy is trying a RAID on chipset lanes! that's a horrible idea and will absolutely result in the same if not less speeds, because the Chipset connects to CPU using only 4 lanes so there's no point. He said it's a bad idea to do RAID between CPU M.2 and Chipset M.2! which is the only way you can actually get double the speed. This video is not a good example.


See this one

 

[FadiObaji]

1. What do you use this system for?
2. What is your backup situation?

I mainly do game development (Unity) so I'm a programmer / designer and also web / mobile developer. And of course gaming if I have time left.

I'm really interested in learning 3D modeling as well.

Backup: I have a 4TB + 2TB external HDDs

 

[USAFRet]

I mainly do game development (Unity) so I'm a programmer / designer and also web / mobile developer. And of course gaming if I have time left.

I'm really interested in learning 3D modeling as well.

Backup: I have a 4TB + 2TB external HDDs

And also being a programmer (database, with huge datasets, not game), I see zero benefit in a RAID 0 + SSD.

If you were continually moving large blocks of sequential data between two like arrays, then maybe. For instance, large scale movie production...the making of Toy Story 5.
Otherwise, not.

Once we moved beyond spinning HDD, RAID 0 makes less and less sense.

And by backups, I meant continual full drive backups.
A RAID 0 can be quite fragile. Any burp or hesitation, all data can go bye bye.


Can you do it?
Sure.

Will you get bragging rights among the less than cluefuul?
Yes.

Will you see big benchmark numbers?
Probably.

Will you see any actual user facing benefit?
Doubtful.

Would I do it?
Not a chance.

 

[Zerk2012]

This guy is trying a RAID on chipset lanes! that's a horrible idea and will absolutely result in the same if not less speeds, because the Chipset connects to CPU using only 4 lanes so there's no point. He said it's a bad idea to do RAID between CPU M.2 and Chipset M.2! which is the only way you can actually get double the speed. This video is not a good example.


See this one

Actually he has single drives, chipset, and cpu lanes!

Your hardware do as you wish.

 

[FadiObaji]

And also being a programmer (database, with huge datasets, not game), I see zero benefit in a RAID 0 + SSD.

If you were continually moving large blocks of sequential data between two like arrays, then maybe. For instance, large scale movie production...the making of Toy Story 5.
Otherwise, not.

Once we moved beyond spinning HDD, RAID 0 makes less and less sense.

And by backups, I meant continual full drive backups.
A RAID 0 can be quite fragile. Any burp or hesitation, all data can go bye bye.


Can you do it?
Sure.

Will you get bragging rights among the less than cluefuul?
Yes.

Will you see big benchmark numbers?
Probably.

Will you see any actual user facing benefit?
Doubtful.

Would I do it?
Not a chance.

You're gonna change my mind I guess. LOL

 

[geofelt]

Simple answer:
raid-0 is a lousy idea.
You will NOT get any benefit and may well cause issues.

 

[DSzymborski]

Plus, there's not even any special hobbyist cred to a RAID these days. To most enthusiasts, a RAID that isn't needed is a bit like buying a pair of pre-torn jeans or showing up at the skate park with a board that has a price sticker still on it.

 

[Bob.B]

Hi all, so i have a Dark Hero motherboard and I already have a 1TB 980 pro on the top M.2 Slot which uses the CPU lanes.

Now I'm planning on buying a second 1TB because the first one is almost full and i need more. I saw a lot of videos on YouTube about that, some say it's great and gives double the speed, and some said it's not a good idea and you can't boot from the array and what not.

I mean logically it should be great because:

1. First M.2 uses 4 CPU lanes.
2. Second M.2 users 4 Chipset lanes.
3. My GPU uses 16 CPU lanes.
4. There are no other devices connected to Chipset at all,
5. Chipset uses 4 lanes to connect to CPU.

so logically the performance would actually be approximately double the speed of just one drive.

It here any reason for me not to RAID 0 them together?

Backup all your stuff just in case it turns out to be a bust.
Set it up in raid and run your stuff.
See if it's worth the effort.

Personally I would not go there but it's your call.

 

[Endre]

Hey! thanks for the actually useful info, I did check the manual and the motherboard supports it. But you said by removing the BIOS battery the RAID array won't work? can't I just go to BIOS again and setup the array? or that would results in complete data loss??!

Hello!

Unfortunately, by removing the BIOS battery, the RAID volume, which is being configured and stored by your motherboard’s firmware menu, gets forgotten.
After removing the battery, the RAID volume will become unusable. You’ll have to delete it and re-create another volume. Then, re-install the OS, copy files, etc.

Warnings:
•Make sure you have a backup of all of your important files all the time.
•Before creating a RAID volume, buy yourself a new BIOS battery to be sure it lasts a few years.

 

[FadiObaji]

Hello!

Unfortunately, by removing the BIOS battery, the RAID volume, which is being configured and stored by your motherboard’s firmware menu, gets forgotten.
After removing the battery, the RAID volume will become unusable. You’ll have to delete it and re-create another volume. Then, re-install the OS, copy files, etc.

Warnings:
•Make sure you have a backup of all of your important files all the time.
•Before creating a RAID volume, buy yourself a new BIOS battery to be sure it lasts a few years.

That's a no no right there!, I do overclocking sometimes and it sometimes crashes the BIOS so I have to reset BIOS using the reset bios button on the back of the mobo, so I think I'm not going to do RAID then. It's just not worth all the risks that comes with it I guess.

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Endre]

Oh hell no!, I do overclocking sometimes and it sometimes crashes the BIOS so I have to reset BIOS using the reset bios button on the back of the mobo, so I think I'm not going to do RAID then. It's just not worth all the risks that comes with it I guess.

Thanks for the heads up.

Hello again!

I'm not sure how the reset button works, but for instance, if you load the BIOS defaults (F7 in my case) and save the settings (F10 in my case), you don't lose the RAID volume that way.
The RAID volume is being lost when removing the BIOS battery, and possibly when updating the BIOS version!