RAID controllers?

[Supasized]

Hello,
I have a Asus Sabertooth x58 and from the numerous forums I have read, including on this site, the Marvell built in RAID controller is garbage. Recently I have tried to go to RAID 0 and sometimes the drive doesn't load and it is as if the devices connected to those SATA ports don't exist, which from what I have read is common.
So my question is: if I were to buy a PCIEx1 RAID controller does it usually have the drivers in it? Like would it automatically work if I connect my drives to it? Or would I normally had to install from disk?
Could anyone recommend one they have used in the past and why?

 

[Dereck47]

The Marvell 9128 controller has such poor performance because it has a maximum data bandwidth of PCIe x1 at 5Gb/s (500MB/s).

If you purchase a PCIe x1 RAID controller card you will get the same performance as the Marvell controller.

To answer your question, yes, all controller cards come with drivers, but you should verify before buying that the card will be compatible with your motherboard.

 

[inzone]

I would do a lot of research on the raid cards before buying one , I have heard just as much bad reviews about them as the Marvell controller. A lot of those raid cards use the Marvell chip also and the Intel ones are expensive. There is one controller I have been hearing a lot about lately and that is Asmedia. This controller chip seems to be better than the Marvell , I have a pci-e x1 sata 3 card because I wanted to add a couple more sata 3 ports to my motherboard and the card has the Asmedia chip on it and it works great , I don't have a raid setup just sata 3 connections.

 

[FireWire2]

... if I were to buy a PCIEx1 RAID controller does it usually have the drivers in it? Like would it automatically work if I connect my drives to it? Or would I normally had to install from disk?
Could anyone recommend one they have used in the past and why?

PCIex1 raid card always needs RAID drivers to be installed. Because each manufacture RAID engine is not the same, therefore each has their own raid drivers.

If you need data transfer rate up to 250MB/sec then look at the PM raid like SPM393 or SPM394. It requires no drivers. Just plug and it shows up in Disk Manager. The RAID engine combines all the HDD in RAID0,1,3,5,10... and presents to the BIOS as a SINGLE SATAII HDD

I probably use more than 80pcs of these for the last two years in various OS: MAC, FreeNAS, Windows, WHS, Openfiler...

If you need transfer rate up to 350~600MB then use PCI express x4, where 600MB+ then use PCIe 8x

 

[angeli662]

I have a Asus Rampage III black Intel 990x which is very similar to yours, I am running with a Intel® RAID Controller RT3WB080 and a expansion card running (21tbs) 8 3tbs in raid 6, 2 240gig SSD for OS IN Raid 0, SSD 120 gig raid 0 for Server R2/VMWare and 1 60 gig SSD for cashing, I have to tell you it runs absolutely flawlessly on SSD Raid 0 get up to 1200 mbs after 6 months. All setting, Monitoring and configurations can be done from the OS using Web Raid Console 2, I would also recommend getting the Fast Path I/O chip and BBU installed.
I believe most if no all Raid controllers, expansion and software from intel are really re-bagged products from LSI.
I wouldn't trust any tech support from intel they always going to tell you that their "Raid Controllers" only works with their MOBO.

 

[Supasized]

Best answer selected by supasized.