RAID setup for desktop

[Docnar]

Good Morning Everyone,

 

I'm looking at building a new system for video editing in Premier, game design in Unity / graphics with Photoshop.

 

Current Build:

 

Asus Prime x299 Delux. Chosen for USB ports, Thunderbolt built in, support for the new i9 processors, Optane and higher end memory and built in m.2 for boot drive.

Core i9 7900x

32gb G.Skill TrizentZ RGB DDR4 3600 (Figured it would be better to get more memory that was a little slower than 16GB of DDR4 4133, can always be upgraded later)

32GB Optane card

2TB Samsung 960 Pro for onboard use (Boot drive)

2 ROG Strix 1080TI cards, in SLI

OS will be Windows 10 Enterprise

 

My dilemma is storage. I really want to have a RAID 60 and have found the a few cards like the Areca ARC-1883IX-24 but I'm not sure if it's the right card for me. Storage media will be WD Gold HDD's either 4 or 8TB.

 

What do you all suggest? Also if this is in the wrong part of the forum, please let me know.

 

 

 

[Septimus]

4 minutes ago, Docnar said:

32GB Optane card

2TB Samsung 960 Pro for onboard use (Boot drive)

 

First off, you're misusing the Optane card. They are meant to be used basically as a cache for systems that run off of hard drives. It will yield no benefit and may even lower your system's performance when running off of something like a Samsung 960 Pro. 

[Septimus]

.

Edited July 17, 2017 by Septimus
Didn't read the entire post.

[Zyndo]

4 minutes ago, Septimus said:

I would assume you want an Intel chip because of Thunderbolt? 

and because this guy clearly has no budget constraints therefore why not go with the best thing on the market?

[Docnar]

Hi Septimus,

 

Thanks for the info on the Optane card. I'll return that bit of tech. Using Intel chips as it was a requirement from management. This isn't a personal build.

[Docnar]

Just now, Zyndo said:

and because this guy clearly has no budget constraints therefore why not go with the best thing on the market?

Hi Zyndo,

 

Correct, zero budget restraints as this is a work system. Also replacing 3 aging displays with a Samsung CHG9 eventually, once we can demo a unit in house.

[Zyndo]

Just now, Docnar said:

Snip

Sorry I cannot be much help to you.... I didn't know RAID 60 was even a thing until you mentioned it (looks like a RAID 6+0 if I'm understanding it correctly). But i'm not really the guy to be giving you advice on this sort of thing. I just wanted to chime in and nip that "Threadripper vs X299" conversation in the bud before it caught stride.

The only thing I can really contribute is that yes, 32GB of 3600MHz RAM would very likely be much more useful than 16GB of 4133MHz RAM, both because your needs likely scale well with the additional capacity rather than speed, and because 4133MHz is actually quite difficult to get running stable in a lot of instances since most motherboards do not have support for those kinds of speeds without some serious memory timings tweaking on the user end of things..... maybe even worth going 64GB just to make sure you don't run into any limitations. Of course RAM is always pretty easy to upgrade (provided you have the extra slots) so its not like you NEED to go 64GB out of the gate.

[Docnar]

1 minute ago, Zyndo said:

 

The only thing I can really contribute is that yes, 32GB of 3600MHz RAM would very likely be much more useful than 16GB of 4133MHz RAM, both because your needs likely scale well with the additional capacity rather than speed, and because 4133MHz is actually quite difficult to get running stable in a lot of instances since most motherboards do not have support for those kinds of speeds without some serious memory timings tweaking on the user end of things..... maybe even worth going 64GB just to make sure you don't run into any limitations. Of course RAM is always pretty easy to upgrade (provided you have the extra slots) so its not like you NEED to go 64GB out of the gate.

I appreciate your insights here. I was thinking the same thing but always like independent confirmation on the RAM.

 

[Jarsky]

One of these: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118230

Plus this: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAD5G5K76033

And 2 of these: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816118223

 

 

It may possibly need an Advanced Software License to enable RAID50/60 if its like the 92xx series RAID cards.

[KenjiUmino]

23 minutes ago, Docnar said:

Thanks for the info on the Optane card. I'll return that bit of tech.

maybe you can step down the HDD array to RAID 6 instead of 60 (i assume the 0 is because speed?) and have optane as a cache for the array instead wich might boost speeds back up - that way you have more and potentially cheaper options on wich RAID controllers to buy

[Jarsky]

6 minutes ago, KenjiUmino said:

maybe you can step down the HDD array to RAID 6 instead of 60 (i assume the 0 is because speed?) and have optane as a cache for the array instead wich might boost speeds back up - that way you have more and potentially cheaper options on wich RAID controllers to buy

 

Optane does not work with RAID.

[KenjiUmino]

1 minute ago, Jarsky said:

 

Optane does not work with RAID.

oh ... that sucks ... then it's even more useless than i thought

[Docnar]

Well I might go this route. Main drive WD Gold and Optane. Secondary storage drive RAID.

[JacobFW]

From my own personal experience, I would not recommend using anything more than raid 1 unless you have a dedicated storage machine.  Buy 2 high quality NAS drives 6-10TB, put them in Raid 1.  

[Docnar]

3 hours ago, JacobFW said:

From my own personal experience, I would not recommend using anything more than raid 1 unless you have a dedicated storage machine.  Buy 2 high quality NAS drives 6-10TB, put them in Raid 1.  

 

Hi Jacob,

 

Ordered a raid card suggested in this thread, and might end up doing just that with a weekly dump to a drobo.

 

Thanks everyone!

 

*Patiently sitting here awaiting the new Samsung monitor...... *