Looking for a SATA RAID5 PCI-E hardware controller suggestion

Ryx

Ryx

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Joined
30 Sep 2009
Posts
36
I'm looking for a hardware RAID5 capable PCI-E SATA controller to replace my Highpoint RocketRAID 2320.

The current spec of the system is as follows:

Asus P6T7 WS Supercomputer
Intel i7 950 @ 3.07 ghz
6gb of RAM
350gb Raptor – boot drive
1.5tb Seagate- network drive
8 x Seagate 1.5tb drives in a RAID 5 array via a Highpoint RocketRAID 2320
Radeon 5870
Pioneer 5090 Plasma display @ 1920 x 1080
Corsair HX450W running RAID array and a 1000w supply feeding the rest

It needs to be Win 7 64 friendly, have full hardware RAID, take at least 8 drives and be quick enough for HD movie files to be accessed across the network. The RocketRAID 2320, while claiming to be hardware RAID, is far too processor hungry - in Win 7 just running the card has CPU usage sitting at 15 - 20%, in Vista it is up around 35%. It also seems to be throttling the north bridge on my P6T7 WS Supercomputer (something I barely thought possible) and killing the performance of my newly installed Radeon 5870.

Any advice would be much appreciated - price isn't too much of an issue but I'd be reluctant to go above £800.
 

Ryx

Ryx

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OP
Joined
30 Sep 2009
Posts
36
Just a quick update incase anyone ever searches for a similar solution - I've switched to a Highpoint RocketRAID 3560 and the performance is fantastic. HD Tune is reporting transfer rates in excess of 500mb/sec while there is no CPU usage at all. This has freed up the north bridge and allowed the 5870 to excel.

The spec of the system is now:

Asus P6T7 WS Supercomputer
Intel i7 950 @ 3.07 ghz
6gb of RAM
350gb Raptor – boot drive
2tb Seagate- network drive
9 x Seagate 1.5tb drives in a RAID 5 array via a Highpoint RocketRAID 3560 (2gb of onboard RAM)
Pioneer 5090 Plasma display @ 1920 x 1080
Corsair HX450W running RAID array and a 1000w supply feeding the rest
 
Soldato
Joined
6 Jun 2008
Posts
11,616
Location
Finland
That 2320 lacks any kind onboard memory so it doing anything involving some kind buffering, like especially RAID5, would mean need to access RAM constantly...
 
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