RAID: Onboard vs add on cards

[eipo]

I just read Tom's articile on RAID controllers. In it he went on and on about why add on cards are better than the ones intergrated into motherboards.
My question is wouldn't the add on controller card be limited to the speed of the PCI bus that you plug it into? I though that with an intergrated solution that you would be able to full advantage of ATA100?
I'm a wrong about this?

 

[sjonnie]

They're not better because they are faster. There are several differences though.
<pre>1. Onboard controller is often a 'lite' version supporting only RAID1 or RAID0
2. Usually not possible to flash the RAID BIOS so may limit your upgrade options and possibly impede performance
if an improved BIOS becomes available
3. A fault in your MOBO will mean your RAID array is lost.
</pre><p>Personally I would suggest you just run your OS / programs /games from an onboard RAID and put secure data on a PCI RAID card.

 

[Napoleon]

<pre>I'm off topic here, but could you edit your message to remove the (IMO
misused) pre tags or whatever from your message? I dislike horizontal
scrolling...</pre><p>____
<font color=green><i>Word for the wise: it's time to retire from your boxing career when your promoter starts placing ads on your shoesoles.</i></font color=green>

 

[eipo]

That's what I'm going for though.
I understand the better features that the add on cards give, but aren't those features counter-balanced by the fact they are running through a PCI bus?
Or is there not enough of a speed difference between the PCI and the on board controller to make a differnce?

 

[Ncogneto]

The onboard solutions are still connected to the pci bus as well.

It's not what they tell you, its what they don't tell you!

 

[lhgpoobaa]

Onboard solutions are good as you dont have to have an extra card... or you can also get a card for even more storage space.

Unforutnatly most onboard controllers are lite versions. Fortunately my onboard controller (promise highpoint on a epox 8k3a+) is the full deal so i get all the functionality.

Its all about ease of use and flexible options.

<b>LHGPooBaa + Evil Hamster Sidekick: Serving Toms Hardware community for 2 years as of the 11th of November</b>

 

[Ncogneto]

Fortunately my onboard controller (promise highpoint on a epox 8k3a+) is the full deal so i get all the functionality.

Raid 5?


It's not what they tell you, its what they don't tell you!

 

[lhgpoobaa]

Errrr Dunno. Never looked for that.

<b>All CDs will be protected and you are a filthy pirate! - <i>Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG)</i>
Serving THGC for over 2 years.</b>

 

[sjonnie]

Raid 5?

There are no onboard controllers that support RAID5 that I know of although I guess it should be possible. The closest I have seen is the Adaptec zero channel RAID where you can just by the XOR chip on a card and plug it into your SCSI MOBO. The main reason for this is cost I guess. No point paying for the RAID chip if you don't need it.

Highpoint don't put lite versions of their controllers from what I have seen whereas Promise frequently do. What that seems to mean is 0+1 isn't possible in the 'lite' version.

 

[Ncogneto]

I have seen a few a few dual motherboards with onboard SCSI that support raid 5 but never a onboard IDE. That is why I questioned it. It all comes down to a matter of personal interpretation of the word "lite" and "full". To me, "full" would imply at a bare minimum raid levels 0,1,0+1,jbod, and 5.

It's not what they tell you, its what they don't tell you!

 

[macrobeat]

I'm disappointed that THG hasn't lived up to the usual quality on this review. Despite all the claims about onboard being inferior *in performance* (speed/Disk Winmark or Sysmark)there is nothing to back it up. It would have been good if the review included some onboard RAID controllers as a comparison, in particular one good mobo with the latest HPT and one good mobo with the latest Promise.

My guess is that a simple 2 disk RAID 0 configuration, setup on a mobo with onboard Promise or HPT controller, will give you just the same performance as if you used THG's top "Editors Choice" PCI RAID controller card.

There was an excellent review some time ago in THG about hardware vs software RAID. This review today is disappointing :-(