SSDs and Raid Card for $140

[Tmt97]

Ok, so I'm upgrading my PC's storage(currently a bunch of random HDDs) and I'm looking for advice for what SSDs and raid card to get for $140? I really know nothing about raid cards so I have no clue how to pick one.

[Enderman]

well raid cards are usually hundreds or thousands of dollars...

 

for $140 you can barely even get ONE good SSD...

 

just get an 850 evo and you dont need a raid card

[Tmt97]

Just now, Enderman said:

well raid cards are usually hundreds or thousands of dollars...

 

for $140 you can barely even get ONE good SSD...

 

just get an 850 evo and you dont need a raid card

Thought I did need a raid card if I wanted to have a raid setup?

[79wjd]

1 minute ago, Tmt97 said:

Thought I did need a raid card if I wanted to have a raid setup?

What kind of RAID do you want and why? 

 

Good RAID cards are very expensive. 

[Tmt97]

Just now, djdwosk97 said:

What kind of RAID do you want and why? 

 

Good RAID cards are very expensive. 

Wanted to put two low capacity SSDs in raid 0 to put just my operating system on, and keep the rest of my storage on other drives. Figured that way i'm avoiding most of the danger of a raid 0 setup, as worst case scenario I only have to reinstall the OS if the shit hits the fan(which I really don't mind doing for the potential speed boost I'd be getting).

[GlassBomb]

You can just do a simple on-board RAID if you REALLY want raid.

 

But I generally just run a single larger SSD. For $150 (only $10 more than $140) you can get a single 850 Evo, 500GB. That's probably what I would do.

[79wjd]

1 minute ago, Tmt97 said:

Wanted to put two low capacity SSDs in raid 0 to put just my operating system on, and keep the rest of my storage on other drives. Figured that way i'm avoiding most of the danger of a raid 0 setup, as worst case scenario I only have to reinstall the OS if the shit hits the fan(which I really don't mind doing for the potential speed boost I'd be getting).

You're better off with a single larger SSD. You don't gain anything noticeable by putting an OS on a RAID 0 array. 

[Enderman]

5 minutes ago, Tmt97 said:

Thought I did need a raid card if I wanted to have a raid setup?

are you a content creator? is that why you need raid 0?

[Tmt97]

1 minute ago, GlassBomb said:

You can just do a simple on-board RAID if you REALLY want raid.

 

But I generally just run a single larger SSD. For $150 (only $10 more than $140) you can get a single 850 Evo, 500GB. That's probably what I would do.

 

1 minute ago, djdwosk97 said:

You're better off with a single larger SSD.

Single larger SSD isnt going to be as fast though is it? I really value speed way more than the amount of storage space. As long as it can hold windows, I'm good. How would onboard raid work then? 

[79wjd]

3 minutes ago, Tmt97 said:

 

Single larger SSD isnt going to be as fast though is it? I really value speed way more than the amount of storage space. As long as it can hold windows, I'm good. How would onboard raid work then? 

The reason an SSD feels fast is because it has a very low latency, not because it has fast read/write speeds. So even a shitty modern SSD will seem super fast. The reason you would want to have a RAID 0 array for SSDs is to increase the read/write speed if you're doing something I/O intensive (like rendering a 4k stream/extremely intensive CAD/etc...), in which case you MAY benefit from the higher throughput.

 

Most motherboards have support for RAID 0/1, but if anything goes wrong (power failure, slight hiccup with the relatively poor onboard raid controller, etc...) and the array is going to be trashed. 

[Tmt97]

1 minute ago, Enderman said:

are you a content creator? is that why you need raid 0?

It's more that I'm just irrationally obsessed with speed XD, kinda like some people are willing to sacrifice a lot in their build due to an obsession with getting it completely silent. I just want windows to load as fast as I can possibly get it to with a budget of $140...

[Enderman]

1 minute ago, Tmt97 said:

It's more that I'm just irrationally obsessed with speed XD, kinda like some people are willing to sacrifice a lot in their build due to an obsession with getting it completely silent. I just want windows to load as fast as I can possibly get it to with a budget of $140...

then buy an NVME ssd, dont do raid

[79wjd]

3 minutes ago, Tmt97 said:

It's more that I'm just irrationally obsessed with speed XD, kinda like some people are willing to sacrifice a lot in their build due to an obsession with getting it completely silent. I just want windows to load as fast as I can possibly get it to with a budget of $140...

Get a single SSD. end of story. 

 

A high end PCIE SSD would be better than multiple shitty SATA SSDs, but even then, you won't notice a difference. 

[GlassBomb]

4 minutes ago, Tmt97 said:

It's more that I'm just irrationally obsessed with speed XD, kinda like some people are willing to sacrifice a lot in their build due to an obsession with getting it completely silent. I just want windows to load as fast as I can possibly get it to with a budget of $140...

A single SSD will still be good enough. I would have said "Go with NVMe instead of RAID", but your system doesn't support it as far as I know. I'd only really suggest RAID for those who want redundant storage.

 

Edit: And since you're just using a random bunch of harddrives, you will notice a MASSIVE different moving over to an SSD.

[Tmt97]

4 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

Get a single SSD. end of story. 

 

A high end PCIE SSD would be better than multiple shitty SATA SSDs, but even then, you won't notice a difference. 

 

4 minutes ago, Enderman said:

then buy an NVME ssd, dont do raid

Is there an NVME ssd you would suggest for a budget of $140?

6 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

The reason an SSD feels fast is because it has a very low latency, not because it has fast read/write speeds. So even a shitty modern SSD will seem super fast. The reason you would want to have a RAID 0 array for SSDs is to increase the read/write speed if you're doing something I/O intensive (like rendering a 4k stream/extremely intensive CAD/etc...), in which case you MAY benefit from the higher throughput. 

 

Most motherboards have support for RAID 0/1, but if anything goes wrong (power failure, slight hiccup with the relatively poor onboard raid controller, etc...) and the array is going to be trashed. 

If the array is trashed would that break the SSDs themselves? or would the data on them just be lost? I'm fine wiping the drives and reinstalling windows in case of a hiccup from the raid controler if thats all it takes. I'm not wanting to put my main storage on it, just windows 10, so no real danger of data loss...

Edited May 1, 2016 by Tmt97

[Enderman]

2 minutes ago, Tmt97 said:

 

Is there an NVME ssd you would suggest for a budget of $140?

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-950-PRO-Internal-MZ-V5P512BW/dp/B01639694M

its worth the extra $40

[Tmt97]

1 minute ago, Enderman said:

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-950-PRO-Internal-MZ-V5P512BW/dp/B01639694M

its worth the extra $40

Erm... welp unfortunately the extra $40 doesn't exist in my wallet so yea... Also I just realized I think I need something to adapt NVME to PCIe or something, since I don't have that port on my mobo...

[GlassBomb]

Just now, Tmt97 said:

Erm... welp unfortunately the extra $40 doesn't exist in my wallet so yea... Also I just realized I think I need something to adapt NVME to PCIe or something, since I don't have that port on my mobo...

Motherboard will also need support the NVMe standard from what I know.

[Tmt97]

3 minutes ago, GlassBomb said:

Motherboard will also need support the NVMe standard from what I know.

Even with an adapter like this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA8RU39C6054&cm_re=M.2_to_PCIe_adapter-_-9SIA8RU39C6054-_-Product

[GlassBomb]

4 minutes ago, Tmt97 said:

Even with an adapter like this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA8RU39C6054&cm_re=M.2_to_PCIe_adapter-_-9SIA8RU39C6054-_-Product

You will be able to use the drive as an additional drive, but not as a boot media AFAIK.

 

Edit: I'm afraid that I'm correct. https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/3pw7ki/nvme_in_amd_systems/

[Tmt97]

14 minutes ago, GlassBomb said:

You will be able to use the drive as an additional drive, but not as a boot media AFAIK.

 

Edit: I'm afraid that I'm correct. https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/3pw7ki/nvme_in_amd_systems/

Well that sucks... Welp, unless someone has an idea for how I can get better speeds than a single sata SSD I guess I'm back to square one: finding a cheap raid controller and two cheap SSDs.

[79wjd]

38 minutes ago, Tmt97 said:

I guess I'm back to square one: finding a cheap raid controller and two cheap SSDs.

Buy a single SSD....You literally won't notice a difference. But you avoid all the pitfalls of RAID.

[Tmt97]

Just now, djdwosk97 said:

Buy a single SSD....

Its just not fast enough  Can I boot from on-board raid maybe?

[79wjd]

Just now, Tmt97 said:

Its just not fast enough  Can I boot from on-board raid maybe?

I will bet $500 you wouldn't be able to tell a difference between an 850 Evo and two cheaper SSDs.

 

You can boot off on-board RAID, but it's an awful idea. As is going with two smaller drives.

[GlassBomb]

2 minutes ago, Tmt97 said:

Its just not fast enough  Can I boot from on-board raid maybe?

How's an SSD not fast enough? Comparing HDD vs SSD performance isn't something you can properly do. The difference is night and day.

 

The harddrive might do 'fine' when it comes to large file transfers. But the SSD will destroy the HDD in everything, spite that. And if you're not happy with the performance from a single SSD, then return it and buy two smaller ones and put them in a RAID. But this is still not something I would recommend doing.