SSD Raid options

[alatreille]

Hi all,

So I'm thinking about adding a series of SSD's to my main workstation.  (Windows 10, i7-6700 @ 4ghz with 32gb ram / Sabertooth z170s motherboard)

Ideally, I'd like a 2-4gb total of storage for the working drive.

I've been reading about PCIE Raid cards. 

I'm interested in any thoughts or experiences on this as a viable option.

Cheers

Andrew

[Joe Towner]

RAID is actually going to be slower.  What you want is the NVMe drives, and while you can do software RAID over them, I don't recommend it, as it'll slow things down.  NVMe drives are about $400 per terabyte, and the largest are the 2tb models.  Your board can take 1 evidently (M.2 key, instead of the ESATA port), but I'd triple check before purchasing.

The PCIe based AIC cards are more money, and not as large 'yet'.

[alatreille]

Thanks Joe.

I was thinking about something like this.
https://www.amazon.ca/HighPoint-SSD7101A-1-dedicated-32Gbps-Controller/dp/B073W71K4Z/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528147741&sr=8-1&keywords=nvme+raid&dpID=41NHlkXmQzL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

With some 960 drives installed.

Will this really be slower?

Cheers

Andrew

[Joe Towner]

It doesn't look to have a real RAID chip on it - just OS software RAID.  If you've got the spare lanes, it's a easy option to split a x16 slot into 4x x4 slots.  You may have issues where the real world performance isn't there, or is limited compared to the benchmarks.  Shy of doing 8K editing, I'm not sure you'd actually see a difference between a single and 4 NVMe drives.  You can only make PS/LR so fast.

Best,
-Joe

[nemophoto]

Most PCs have the ability to create a RAID built in without adding additional cards. Do you have a homebuilt or a "brand name" computer? Depending upon HOW you have the RAID set up, it will NOT be slower. For instance, I created an external RAID 0 SSD RAID with a USB-C enclosure I bought from Amazon and loaded it with two Crucial MX500 500GB SSDs. I benchmarked it with ATTO off one of my regular USB 3.0 ports (versus one of my two C ports). It screamed. See the screen shot.

Anyway, most computers have 6-8 PCIe SATA connections for internal drives which can be configured (usually).