RAID5 file server build advice

[XS Janus]

I must say I would really like to see more controllers that do their parity calculations on CPU, as the solutions you mentioned do.
What I also dont understand is why dont they make use of the RAM cause that would make all the difference if implemented the right way.
I find it funny when you see how expensive all this RAID hardware is and how buggy it can be. Yet all this issues remain pretty silent.
Just think. data crashes on you... you complain... slow responses, horror, slow/no solutions. On the other hand you have gfx cards just as expensive and when there is a small bug (like picture quality in game etc.) the Internet BLOWS UP with talk about it. Unfair. But so the market stands.

My guess is this: since there is a growing need for fileservers in homes and small business, RAID5/6 solutions on cards Miguel mentioned will become more wanted for such environments. I mean todays CPUs and RAM are just sitting there in fileservers.In more demanding server applications, not so much,so a dedicated XOR on raid card will be preferable.

Qs: How much are the new RAIDcore 5xxx series cards? Do you have to have one to use the software combined with onboard controller or can you just buy the their software for use with onboard and maybe even combined with a different sata controller?
In your place I wouldn't think about using onboard ports to much. It is a cool idea, but mixing technologies doesn't sound right in some way.

What you want when going for a RAID card is being able to move all the drives to you next system with as less risk as possible. God knows how 4 disks on controller + 6 onboard on the same array would behave.
I wouldn't like to exeriment and find out when the going gets tough.

Can you span the Raidcore controllers?
Maybe you can buy 1x4port now and expand the array with another if needed. You can always make another array separate on a new controller you buy.

If onboard RAID and Raidcore software developers would work more on allowing good parity calcs and RAM as write cache to be used then onboard RAID has a good use in other things than RAID0.
Just think: maybe they could even offer additional ports extenders for mobo.
Like they do/did for USB. Why not?

Regarding IDE drive. I don't see why not to use it. If you don't have any ports free Ide I as goo as any of them for simple task as system drive in fileserver. If the model you mentioned is the same as the sata one then all the better.

Right now I have a E8200 CPU sitting in it
I dont know If I will keep it that way. I bought it to test the power consumption of the new CPUs
Bare system right now it is at 60W. That seems a bit high for such a bare system at the moment, but we'll see what can be done with underclocking and other optimisations
Adding a controller adds ~15W!

If I come across a new dual celly I would be currious to see how much less W would that mean vs, underclocked 8200.

Interesting days ahead I will post any updates and my findings.

[XS Janus]

Well I see that 8port Raidcore 5xxx is 250-300$
And that is cool at first glance but add to that a better CPU and RAM if they make that work and you come pretty close to a price point of proven products.
I guess it's all about how experimental you feel and can allow yourself to be.
I thing the tech is not yet mature.
Maybe it will be in time for SSD fileserver

[Buckeye]

Janus you brought up something I didn't think about with those pictures (there are a lot of things I don't think about Ha !).

Currently on my new build I have 1 MTRON 32GB Pro SSD for step 1 of the build. SSD is purchased and here now.

After build is completed and tests done if it looks like I want to boost performance my next step would be a Raid 0 with 2 or more SSD's.

The Raid Card I was planning on using is Areca ARC-1231ML SATA

I had not noticed the battery backup card that you showed in the pictures. Does the one that I listed have that also ?

This will be for a game machine so I do not think that battery backup will be needed ?

This is my hardware list so far, all sitting here waiting on the phase unit to be finished.

Silverstone TJ07
QX9650
EVGA 132-CK-NF79-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
2 each EVGA GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB 512-bit GDDR3
G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Dual Channel
Thermaltake Toughpower 1200W
HITACHI Deskstar 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
MTRON 32GB Pro SSD for OS
SS Phase cooler by Jin