Which Athlon XP RAID Motherboard should I get??

[brashquido]

Hi All,

I know this question has been asked before, but I'm a little short on time at the minute to go searching. I'm setting up a new machine to do all my video editing, 3D animation, and DVD authoring on, the machine specs I've decided on so far are as follows;

Windows 2000 SP2
Athlon XP 2100+
512 PC2700 DDR
Zoltrix Nightingale Pro 6
2 X 30GB IBA ATA-100 7200RPM HDD's in RAID 0
19" Hitachi Monitor
Leadtek 64MB Geforce 4 MX
Pinnacle Studio Deluxe
Pioneer DVR-A04 DVD-R/RW

My question is, which motherboard has the best RAID 0 performance and reliability. I was thinking of either the GIGABYTE GA-7VRXP DDR Socket A with the VIA KT333 / 8233A(CE) chipset, or the GIGABYTE GA-7DXR+ DDR sock A with the AMD761 AGPset, but have no idea of the pro/cons of each, or if there is another board that is better. Could anyone make some suggestions?

My last IDE RAID solution was very poor indeed. I got 2 Iwill SIDE-RAID100 with the High Point HPT370 chipset, and I've had no end of trouble with data corruptions using 2X 10GB WD ATA-66 5400RPM drives. I don't know if it was something I missed, all I know is I'm a bit weary of setting up another RAID 0 configuration. What is the best stripe size setup for RAID 0?

[brashquido]

Ok, I had pretty much set my sights on the GIGABYTE GA-7VRXP. However, I've read on other hardware sights that the IDE RAID controllers built into motherboards such as the GIGABYTE GA-7VRXP, are nothing more than glorified software RAID, and don't offer any performance gains over software RAID. Is this true?:confused:

[Bahamut Zer0]

the Epox 8k3a+ has raid.
so does the kt333 chipsetted asus board (cant remember the model sorry)

Gigabyte have dropped the ball recently with high-performing mobos. anyone else noticed this?

when looking for a board with (or without) raid, its usually best to go with one that has a good, feature-packed chipset. the amd 76x chipset, while a top performer in its time is a little out of date.
these days its either kt266a or the kt333

Id just have a poke around manufactures websites and look at their boards. abit, epox, asus etc

oh, and yes- software raid is indeed slower than hardware.

[brashquido]

Obviously a GOOD hardware RAID system is going to knock the socks of a software RAID setup anyday! But what about the IDE RAID controllers intergrated into motherboards these days, from what I'm reading they're reliablity is crap, and their performance is nothing over a standard software RAID setup of the same configuration.

[Andy]

so does the kt333 chipsetted asus board (cant remember the model sorry)

A7V333 :)

[Morgan_Lander]

Obviously a GOOD hardware RAID system is going to knock the socks of a software RAID setup anyday! But what about the IDE RAID controllers intergrated into motherboards these days, from what I'm reading they're reliablity is crap, and their performance is nothing over a standard software RAID setup of the same configuration.

I don't know about unreliable, but if you want a true hardware RAID setup, expect to drop a few hundred (in USD) on the card. The RAID controllers on the motherboard aren't technically software RAID, nor hw RAID---someone said they're a CMOS RAID. I use Promise and Highpoint controllers on different mobo's, and I only need the driver. If I used software RAID, I'd be using a separate program or a disk management function from within Windows.
They can't be considered hw RAID in the sense that they don't have a separate processor an external RAM with them. Only HW IDE RAID cards have this luxury to them.

[Shepps]

I have absolutly no experience with RAID so i'll keep stum. :rolleyes: