AMD vs Windows NVMe Raid 0 (2x 1TB)

[Noah0302]

Hello guys,

 

fist of all, yes I know a single 2 TB NVMe would be better, but I still have 2 lying around, so I want to use it in my new build for Game-Storage, until I upgrade to probably a 4TB NVMe (KC3000, SN850X or something like that).

 

So I have old 2x 1TB NVMe and one 500GB NVMe drives, which I plan on using on my new AM5 build on an ASUS X670E-E Gaming Board.

• 512GB NVMe as OS Drive (Chipset Lanes)
• 1x1TB NVMe RAID 0 as Game Storage (CPU Lanes)

 

The question is, if I should create the RAID in BIOS (AMD Raid) or in Windows Storage Spaces (Stripe).

 

I googled a bit but have only found forum threads that go like:
Q: What is better AMD or Windows Raid 0?

A: Raid 0 is trash, dont use it
Q: But I still have the drives, that way I dont need to buy anything new and as its only Game-Files stored on there, it does not matter if the RAID dies. Could you help me?

A: F**k you

(Yes that is obviously overdramatized, but you get the gist)

 

Thank you for reading!

[ToboRobot]

Personally I would just have two drives and no RAID.  

Do you need the speed for launching games, or will you even notice it?  No.  Therefore it's just extra complexity and less storage.

 

[jaslion]

Keep em on their own. Raid 0 is NOT a flat performance increase and for games it doesn't matter one single bit. It will actually make installing them slower.

 

Might I actually recommend a cheaper raid card with it's own pcie splitter chip? That way you can keep the drives AND add a faster one later.

 

As for which is better. Well tbh both are kinda crappy :p. The windows one will usually let you move things to other windows installs the amd one is bound to the board.

 

The windows one will use some minor cpu useage the amd one is hardware and will use the chipset harder.

 

So basically pick whichever.

[Noah0302]

10 minutes ago, ToboRobot said:

Personally I would just have two drives and no RAID.  

Do you need the speed for launching games, or will you even notice it?  No.  Therefore it's just extra complexity and less storage.

 

Raid 0 should give me 2TB of storage as well, since its striped and not an Array with parity.

And no, its not for speed, just for having a single Partition, instead of 2 for my Game Storage.

[Noah0302]

6 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Keep em on their own. Raid 0 is NOT a flat performance increase and for games it doesn't matter one single bit. It will actually make installing them slower.

 

Might I actually recommend a cheaper raid card with it's own pcie splitter chip? That way you can keep the drives AND add a faster one later.

 

As for which is better. Well tbh both are kinda crappy :p. The windows one will usually let you move things to other windows installs the amd one is bound to the board.

 

The windows one will use some minor cpu useage the amd one is hardware and will use the chipset harder.

 

So basically pick whichever.

Yes, I know it wont to much in terms of performance, I mainly want to do it to use it as a single Volume instead of 2.

 

I dont think I need a RAID Card, since the Mainboard has 4 NVMe slots, so enough for a future upgrade!

 

 

The part with the CPU usage is interesting with Windows RAID, is there a way to monitor how much CPU my config would be using?

[jaslion]

1 minute ago, Noah0302 said:

The part with the CPU usage is interesting with Windows RAID, is there a way to monitor how much CPU my config would be using?

Not really no? It's minor and basically only really happens during writing.

[Noah0302]

1 minute ago, jaslion said:

Not really no? It's minor and basically only really happens during writing.

Thank you for the replies.

 

I think Ill just test the Windows RAID and see how it goes, if Im not happy, Ill just use them individually!

[Agall]

34 minutes ago, Noah0302 said:

Hello guys,

 

fist of all, yes I know a single 2 TB NVMe would be better, but I still have 2 lying around, so I want to use it in my new build for Game-Storage, until I upgrade to probably a 4TB NVMe (KC3000, SN850X or something like that).

 

So I have old 2x 1TB NVMe and one 500GB NVMe drives, which I plan on using on my new AM5 build on an ASUS X670E-E Gaming Board.

• 512GB NVMe as OS Drive (Chipset Lanes)
• 1x1TB NVMe RAID 0 as Game Storage (CPU Lanes)

 

The question is, if I should create the RAID in BIOS (AMD Raid) or in Windows Storage Spaces (Stripe).

 

I googled a bit but have only found forum threads that go like:
Q: What is better AMD or Windows Raid 0?

A: Raid 0 is trash, dont use it
Q: But I still have the drives, that way I dont need to buy anything new and as its only Game-Files stored on there, it does not matter if the RAID dies. Could you help me?

A: F**k you

(Yes that is obviously overdramatized, but you get the gist)

 

Thank you for reading!

I ran a 2x1TB SN850x RAID0 for a while and it just wasn't worth it overall. Theoretically you can get more read/write out of it, but I doubt that's worth it over the potentially higher latency of running a RAID0 through the chipset versus just having a PCIE 4.0 4x drive wired directly to the CPU.

 

A single PCIE 4.0/5.0 4x drive in a CPU m.2 slot should be best in slot over any RAID volume through the chipset.

 

It was nice having one 1.8TB volume over two 900GB volumes, but in reality, its just a better configuration overall in 2023.

 

Now if you're talking 2-3 drives all wired through the chipset in a RAID0/5 as a secondary drive? Then sure, just do it through software or the chipset, I'd personally prefer just making the RAID in the firmware AKA chipset.