ryan80
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raid recomendations for a workstation
I am purchasing new equipment for a computer that I am building. My wife does graphic design and I do some video editing. I have purchased a i7 920, 6GB of ram(may upgrade to 12GB), and a Asus x58 deluxe motherboard. I was thinking about buying some new hard drives (currently using old IDE drives, with exception of a Raptor), when I realized that I have a bunch of extra disks laying around at work from some servers.
I have 2 36GB 15000k SAS drives and 4 73GB 15000k SAS drives. I think that I want to use these now. I am thinking of setting up a RAID 0 config with the 36GB drives, and a RAID 5 with the 73GB drives. Now the question that I have is what kind of RAID controller should I look at? The board has a 1x pci-x slot and 2 8x pci-x slots that i will not be using for graphics.
Any recommendations as to what to use? I would like to keep it as cheap as I can without killing performance.
I have 2 36GB 15000k SAS drives and 4 73GB 15000k SAS drives. I think that I want to use these now. I am thinking of setting up a RAID 0 config with the 36GB drives, and a RAID 5 with the 73GB drives. Now the question that I have is what kind of RAID controller should I look at? The board has a 1x pci-x slot and 2 8x pci-x slots that i will not be using for graphics.
Any recommendations as to what to use? I would like to keep it as cheap as I can without killing performance.
You would probbaly be best off with a TWO channel raid controller. I haven't really worked iwth this on desktops only on servers. I would check adaptec's website they are very reputable and i bet they have a configurator.
ASKER
I have never built a RAID setup from scratch. They are always set up with a backplane when we order servers. What kind of cable will I need to convert from sff-8087 to SAS? Is it something other than a cable?
ASKER
never mind about my last question
How about this one Seems like a decent low priced card. I'm pretty sure its not a hardware RAID card but a uses the computers CPU to do calculations but if you're looking for cheap then this is probably about as cheap as you'll get and still have a decent card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118084
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118084
ASKER
I am going to need a pci-e card since it will be going on a workstation mobo. I saw a place that had a adaptec 5805 for 350 so for the extra money it will probably be worth it.
well you did write pci-x in your question.
I'll look again.
I'll look again.
do you want a true sas card or just a sata card?
Because a true sas card is going to get expensive.
Because a true sas card is going to get expensive.
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I totally agree but he did say that he wanted as cheap as possible.
Something to keep in mind is tha you will have to buy a set of cables that go from mini sas to SATA or what ever you need because most of these are designed for a true SAS back plane.
Something like this dont know what you would really need but this is a guess.
3Ware carries alot of these types of cables on Newegg so just search for 3ware on newegg and sort by price.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816116090
I would recommend one of these.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816116061
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816151023&Tpk=ARC-1680-i
This is the card I have personally it is an awesome card. BTW I also have a 3ware card but I am much happier with the Areca card. The ethernet port on the back is its own network connection and allows web based configuration. One nice thing as well is no software is needed other than the driver. The Card will notify you via email and Alarm if you have a failure. And since it has its own internet conection it doesn't matter weather or not your computer is fully running or what software is installed. And you can do a RAID 6 with 4 drives and get 2 drive fault taulerance. (I have a 6TB RAID 6 so a total of 8 1TB Drives.)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816115057&Tpk=RocketRAID%202680
I wouldn't expect much from this card but it is cheap. And I have a HighPoint Card as well and I really dont like it at all.
Hope this helps.
Something like this dont know what you would really need but this is a guess.
3Ware carries alot of these types of cables on Newegg so just search for 3ware on newegg and sort by price.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816116090
I would recommend one of these.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816116061
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816151023&Tpk=ARC-1680-i
This is the card I have personally it is an awesome card. BTW I also have a 3ware card but I am much happier with the Areca card. The ethernet port on the back is its own network connection and allows web based configuration. One nice thing as well is no software is needed other than the driver. The Card will notify you via email and Alarm if you have a failure. And since it has its own internet conection it doesn't matter weather or not your computer is fully running or what software is installed. And you can do a RAID 6 with 4 drives and get 2 drive fault taulerance. (I have a 6TB RAID 6 so a total of 8 1TB Drives.)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816115057&Tpk=RocketRAID%202680
I wouldn't expect much from this card but it is cheap. And I have a HighPoint Card as well and I really dont like it at all.
Hope this helps.
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ASKER
After thinking about it, I am going to spend a little more on a better card considering the drives that I have. Anyone have any opinion on the Adaptec 5805? I saw some good reviews and have seen some reasonable prices for it.
I was also looking at the 3ware 9690sa but i have seen the adaptec for almost $100 cheaper. the areca looks nice to, but it seems to be at least $200 more.
I was also looking at the 3ware 9690sa but i have seen the adaptec for almost $100 cheaper. the areca looks nice to, but it seems to be at least $200 more.