Which RAID is faster?

[brightsmith]

Although with new chipset (Intel X79 Express Chipset) only provides two SATA 6 Gbps and four SATA 3 Gbps, fortunately chipset already supports TRIM in RAID mode. Assume by using the exact same SSD (e.g. Intel SSD 520 Series 240GB).

Which is faster?

RAID 0 of 2 x Intel SSD 520 Series (240 GB) using SATA 6 Gbps (X79)

or

RAID 0 of 4 x Intel SSD 520 Series (240 GB) using SATA 3 Gbps (x79)

Thanks for the answer.

 

[tomatthe]

RAID 0 of 2 x Intel SSD 520 Series (240 GB) using SATA 6 Gbps (X79)

4x of those on the 3 Gbps ports would easily hit the 3Gbps limit.

My thinking was the 2 drives on the Sata 3 (6gbps) ports would very likely be over the Sata 2 (3 gbps) so even if they didn't bottleneck on the Sata 3 ports, they would still be a good bit faster then the top end of the Sata 2 ports. Even one of those ssds would be limited running on a Sata 2 port imo. It's very confusing the way the OP used the speed to describe the ports rather than Sata 2 or Sata 3, but I'm pretty sure I read that right.

Wyomings comments hold very true below on the Raid 0 spec.

 

[WyomingKnott]

Please read this: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/display/kigston-hyperx-ssd-raid0_7.html#sect0

While RAID0 of SSDs can post impressive benchmarks, in real life it doesn't make much of a difference, and the introduced vulnerability is great. Plus the gradual decay from the lack of the TRIM command.

Oddly, my guess would be the opposite of what tomatthe wrote. Maybe you could benchmark it both ways and let us know the result? My reasoning is that the two probaby won't saturate the SATA III ports. If the four DO saturate their SATA II ports, then you get more total bandwidth. But, as I wrote, that is a guess. I haven't tried it.

 

[X79 Rocks]

"While RAID0 of SSDs can post impressive benchmarks, in real life it doesn't make much of a difference,"

Obviously spoken by someone who doesn't have a clue as to what he's talking about! As a person who actually HAS 2 SATA 6 Gbps SSDs in Raid 0, it blows away a single SSD. Even Photoshop opens nearly instantaneously.
Plus, Intel will soon provide TRIM support for SSD Raid. It's not an issue if you're not constantly removing/installing programs. Moving temp files & disabling page file are also helpful.
Don't listen to geeks who spout off without knowledge, you may miss out on unreal performance.

System:
CPU-Intel I7 3930K @4.2GHz Six core, 12mb L3 cache
Air Cooler- Prolimatech Inc. Megahalems Rev.B Cooler (64deg. C
max @ 100% Load, 75 deg.F ambient)
M/B- DX79SI LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Drives-Two Samsung 830 SSDs in RAID 0
Result= One Monster of a machine!

 

[WyomingKnott]

I'm overwhelmed by your charm and politeness.

 

[Traciatim]

I think a much better question is Which is more likely to destroy all of the data I have on it? In which case the answer is: Any RAID 0.

Also, for the performance, I'm with Wyoming in that the 4x drives would end up faster in the long run. Also, does it really matter if Photoshop opens is 0.5 seconds, or 0.3 seconds? At some point you're just being ridiculous. I'm not really sure where the line is . . . but I think a 4x RAID0 of SSD's just to say you can read 800MB/s off a drive is probably across that line.

 

[X79 Rocks]

WELL, i SUPPOSE IT'S OVERKILL IF ALL YOU'RE DOING IS SURFING THE WEB AND POSTING ON FORUMS, MISLEADING PEOPLE.
PHOTOSHOP WAS MERELY 1 EXAMPLE. sorry about the caps lock & sorry if I hurt Wyoming's feelings. But the net abounds with misinformation & ignorance.
Many games take time to open, not just Photoshop.... far longer to install. The gains are spectacular if you need a powerful workstation or gaming, or both.
Just backup your system, what's the big deal? Only the OS and programs belong on the C drive, and anyway...
Samsung's drives are known for their reliability, unlike the trash from the likes of OCZ, so the risk is not sooooo great as some think.
IF you have no other bottlenecks in your system, the performance is positively astonishing, period. So, I must take issue when someone comments about "the real world" when they are clearly in fantasy land.

Oh, and the X79 chipset does NOT yet support TRIM in a Raid volume, only with a 'Raid-ready' volume- ask Intel. We should see it with their RST 11.5, whenever it's released.

But, FOUR Sata 3 SSDs? WHY would one waste the money? That seems pretty silly, does it not?
Cheers!

 

[X79 Rocks]

For those still confused about TRIM support, this is direct from Intel:

"Thank you for contacting Intel® Technical Support.

The Intel® Desktop Board DX79SI supports SSDs TRIM in RAID ready mode only; it does not work if you create a RAID volume.

Basically you can change the Drive or SATA configuration under the BIOS settings from AHCI or IDE to RAID using TRIM; but you will not be able to use TRIM if you create a RAID volume using the CTRL+I RAID configuration options."


I trust this clears up the issue. Any doubters are encouraged to contact Intel.
I'm hopeful they will come through with the drivers before much longer.
Have a great weekend.