Does lsi raid work on gigabyte x58a ud3r

[Guest]

I am building a system using an LSI MegaRAID SATA/SAS 9260-4i raid controller and I wanted to use a Gigabyte x58a ud3r motherboard. I have heard that there are issues running non video card devices in pci slots on gigabyte motherboards, so I wanted to know if anyone knows for sure if these two are incompatible or not.

 

[jaquith]

Welcome Newcomer!

First, unless you're planning on running X2 C300 SSD then the SATA3 RAID card is a little over kill. The biggest problem with the UD3R is it's on-board RAID {e.g. SSD + RAID 0/1} which is guaranteed to fail.

I have not come across "issues running non video card devices in pci slots on gigabyte" but I probably won't recommend placing the RAID card on PCIEX16_1.

Yes, the LSI MegaRAID SATA/SAS 9260-4i is compatible. Not necessary unless RAID 1/0/10 ~ Crucial's RealSSD C300.

 

[Guest]

Well, I know that it is overkill for the system I am building, I am planning on using 4 vraptor 300gb that I already own in a raid 0 array, I have never used a dedicated raid card before and I wanted something with high enough throughput so I can reuse it in a later build when ssd are a little more reasonable. The raptors cap out would around 200 MB/s on an on board raid but I have read around that 400 to 500MB/s reads and writes are possible with the setup I have in mind. I am looking at 1.2 TB of space with 400 MB/s. If I did want to spend a lot more I could go ssd, but with the drives I already own, this is a $330 overkill investment. I am now looking at an asus rampage III formula, and this is my reasoning, I have read that some one could not get this exact LSI card to work on the X58A ud9, and the ud3 is a scaled down version, so it would probably not work either. I have read that the 9240-4i works on the asus rampage III extreme, and I that even though it's a 9240-4i and I'm planning on getting a 9260-4i on the rampage III formula, the formula is a scaled down extreme, and if one LSI works they all should work.

 

[jaquith]

The WD VelociRaptor are still less than 1/2 SATA2 speed {recent benches 123/117 MB/s} cap per device of 300 MB/s. ONLY in RAID 0 (X 4) will you see those ~ speed , but still individually {123/117 MB/s} ~ as above. Per Device ≠ Total SATA2/3 Maximum Speed Limits. You can still have 5 SATA 2 @ 300 Mb/s with no loss, and only limited to the accessable PCIe lanes.

To be clear, I know RAID & PCIe, don't confuse Per Port Speed with ×16 link widths, with a transfer rate of 250 MB/s per lane. Worst, for every HDD/SSD added to the RAID 0 array it is Exponentially more unstable per HHD/SSD added to the array. In other words, if it were me and I wanted obscene speed then as I have already done RAID 0 2x C300 256 GB SSD and watch it go 4X faster; similar price 2^2 = 4 times more stable.

None the less, it's your money.

 

[Guest]

I do agree that the C300's will hands down smoke the raptors in every way. the only reason I am going with the raptors is that I got them for free and have had them sitting on a shelf for about 8 months because I don't have a desktop to put them in yet. Also I can't drop 599 on two drives each on top of building an entire system. I want the LSI 9260 so that in the future when the C300 are way less expensive, I can switch over to a few of those. To me the lsi 9260 is a good price point to try out a raid setup and still have the ability to go to sata III ssd's when it is more practical. what mother board are you using, and are there any issues with running your raid on lsi and regular sata drives off of the motherboard controller?

 

[jaquith]

The UD3R {same for the UD5} - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/276715-30-x58a-ud3r-raid-bsod-disk-boot-failure is a very bad MOBO for on-board RAID, but the ASUS P6X58D-E is fine and has been trouble free and is not expensive.

Keep in mind RAID 1/0/10 there are no stripe calculations so "most" MOBOs "should" handle them fine. In my case I run 1 - GA-X58A-UD3R, 9 ASUS P6X58D-E, EVGA 4-WAY SLI Classified XL, EVGA SR-2, Workstations & servers. Only the EVGA SR-2 is running a RAID 0 but with a RAID Card squeezed in-between the unshrouded GTX's, and then only with easy to replace data {OS, Apps, Game installs}. Meaning I will never trust a RAID 0 with viable/important data.

Further, the setup that you are referring to typically gets installed on a very high-end rig $4-$5K+, but if you have the HDDs for free I would first try the on-board SATA2; most MOBOs don't have 4+ SATA3. Again, your money so it's your way.

 

[Guest]

this is the set up I was planning, 4 raptors on the lsi raid and four samsung f3 1TB on the on board sata controller, an i7 950, 12 gb of ram, I was going to do os and apps on the raptor and use it for an encoding scratch disk, and the four samsung for storage and backup. I got the four samsungs for $57. I thought about using the onboard ICH10R to raid 0 the raptors but I heard that it caps out at ~200MB/s. I was considering the x58a ud3r because I could run all of those drives off the mobo if needed, but I heard that there is raid issues with it and lsi doesn't work with it, so I think that the rampage III formula will work having four raptors on lsi raid and the four samsungs on the mobo. the only reason I going with a non server class board is to save cash for now. I really just want a computer that can encode video as quick as possible and store lots of it for around $2000. eventually I will upgrade and I would roll the lsi into the new build with ssd's. I don't need a server class mobo, because I don't need and can't afford dual cpu's, and I don't need multiple video cards for right now because cuda doesn't work over sli. do you think that this is worth it?

 

[jaquith]

Huh?! CUDA does indeed work with SLI - where did you hear that?! http://www.slizone.com/object/sli_cuda_learn.html

Rendering is a function of $ - period. So if you make a living rendering {whatever it might be} it's all about time. That SR-2 build is $12K and is an insane rig.

David is an awesome builder.

 

[Guest]

Well I sure don't do it for a living, and I have to admit that it has been over a year since I looked at nvidia's website. My plan for this computer is to have it be fast enough to use as my main computer most of the time but be able to host video to any of my family's laptops and since my office is next to the wall my living room tv is on, I will be putting an hdmi through the wall to hook up to the tv. Basically I wan a htpc/ home server, but with a more power for daily use. not to mention that I have over 500+ dvd's that my wife keeps buying so I figure I'd rip them all.