Raid Controller Question

Campfirecrucifix · October 8, 2014

Alright so I don't quite fully understand why a raid controller is but I'm guessing that since speed through sata that is connected directly to the mobo is limited this slows down the performance of RAID 0. Thus PCIe raid cards are the solutions since it can take advantage of all the lanes.

If what I am guessing is true then would I be better off buying a raid controller to plug my two SSD's into? (http://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-internal-hard-drive-ct480m500ssd1)

Or should I just leave it be?

I currently have a z87 sabertooth mobo which has a extra PCIe 2.0 slots that I think I can fit a raid card into.

CowsGoRoar · October 8, 2014

There won't be any difference for 2 SSD's.

Campfirecrucifix · October 8, 2014

There won't be any difference for 2 SSD's.

Can you explain that in detail?

CowsGoRoar · October 8, 2014

Can you explain that in detail?

If you plug it into the motherboard SATA ports instead of into a RAID controller, you won't notice any difference in speed. You'll be wasting money into a RAID controller.

Only when you have lots of drives in RAID, such as 6, you'll be using a raid controller.

Linus' PC has 8 SSD's which is connected to a RAID controller, it would be a lot slower if he were to connect all of them to his motherboard.

But you're going to use 2, so you won't need it.

Columbo · October 9, 2014

I have two RAID 0's running off the RAID controller built into the motherboard. IN theory I could have 6 drives but would not have any room for CD/DVD burners or a blue-ray player. 6 SATA inputs, 2 that are SATA III 6.0 and the other 4 are SATA 3.0 ports.