motherboard RAID or 3Ware RAID?

dearroy

Dear all Recently I was planing to order a server with RAID 10 protected.I have inquired some providers and get 2 options about RAID. One is motherboard RAID,it seems to be hardware RAID based on the same motherboard.I guess it will still assume CPU resource.but i am not sure about the actual performance improvement on disk I/O. the other is 3Ware RAID Card.this usually takes $30-50/m more,and it wont assume CPU,and will enhance disk I/O evidently. Some of my friends told me motherboard RAID wont really assume CPU.but i still hang on which to choose.

Any buddy here to give advice? thanks very much

concerto49

@dearroy said: Some of my friends told me motherboard RAID wont really assume CPU.but i still hang on which to choose.

Most onboard raid is software RAID that uses CPU resources, but then and again cheapo RAID cards are just the same.

rds100

Avoid motherboard RAID at all cost. Better use mdadm RAID than fakeraid. Of course the hardware RAID card would be the best options, performance wise.

SimpleNode

Motherboard onboard RAID is not "real" h/w RAID. It does still use your CPU

dearroy

@concerto49 said: Most onboard raid is software RAID that uses CPU resources

Thanks for your reply. But what if the motherboard RAID is hardware RAID?

dearroy

@rds100 said: Avoid motherboard RAID at all cost. Better use mdadm RAID than fakeraid. Of course the hardware RAID card would be the best options, performance wise.

Thanks.goona take hardware RAID card

Kenshin

Go for hardware PCI-E RAID. Reason is simple, at the minor extra costs you can ensure that you're not tied down to the motherboard you're using. If your motherboard fails you can swap to another motherboard, if your RAID card is on the motherboard when you swap you need to swap to the exact same board, which may not be as easy to replace as a regularly board without RAID.

concerto49

@dearroy said: But what if the motherboard RAID is hardware RAID?

It rarely exists unless it explicitly says it has integrated some RAID chip - then look that up and see if it's just a software RAID chip, like most on the cheapo cards as said, aka what @rds100 calls fakeraid.

Alex_LiquidHost

I got a shitty 350$ 3ware card that performs good actually. Obviously better than onboard raid.

key900

@Alex_LiquidHost said: I got a shitty 350$ 3ware card that performs good actually. Obviously better than onboard raid.

I get 3ware 9750-4i for $389 to my SAS, Ya it shitty:S

ExpertVM

We recently had one of our provider upgrading from 2 to 4 port 3ware RAID card, the swap was smooth. This proven that in the event that even the RAID controller or motherboard failed, the recovery timeframe will be pretty short.

dearroy

@key12 said: I get 3ware 9750-4i for $389 to my SAS, Ya it shitty:S

One of the provider told me that the RAID card is 3ware 9750-4i 4,should i take it for extra $30/m?

miTgiB

@dearroy said: should i take it for extra $30/m?

That is fair for the card, will be a million times better than motherboard fakeraid, and a good bit better than mdadm raid in linux

dearroy

@miTgiB said: That is fair for the card, will be a million times better than motherboard fakeraid, and a good bit better than mdadm raid in linux

Thanks Tim.i am going to take the server with this RAID card now.

key900

@dearroy said: One of the provider told me that the RAID card is 3ware 9750-4i 4,should i take it for extra $30/m?

It's good you should go with it.