Spreading RAID 0 across SATA 3 controllers

[Xyzzy_Frobozz]

Hi!

I have a RIVE motherboard which includes four SATA3 ports across two controllers (Intel and Marvell).

Previously I had a RAID 0 array of two SSDs plugged into my Intel controller. When I ran out of room on that array I added another SSD of the same brand and size to the array (Corsair Force 3 GS 240GB).

I now get much lower benchmark results than previously, with Sequential Read/Write performance in the in he 500MB/s region, where previously performance was around 1000MB/s.

Is this as a result of spreading the array across two SATA3 controllers? Is there anything I can do to improve performance to meet or exceed my old results with the SSDs I already own, or am I stuck with the limitations of the X79 platform?

This being the case, is a PCIe RAID Controller an option? If so, any suggestions?

Any help would be hugely appreciated!

[HiVizMan]

You can not cross controllers.

Their are heaps of quality RAID controllers and they are not that expensive at all. LSI are top, HighPoint RocketRAID are good to.

[Xyzzy_Frobozz]

HiVizMan wrote:
You can not cross controllers.

Their are heaps of quality RAID controllers and they are not that expensive at all. LSI are top, HighPoint RocketRAID are good to.

Thanks HVM.

The world of RAID controllers is both new and confusing to me. At the moment I have abandoned RAID 0 for an extended volume across the three drives, although I would like to have them in RAID 0.

The limited amount of review material of various controllers on the net leads me to believe that there are a number of compromises one makes when installing a RAID controller, the main one being an extended boot time.

To be clear, I have a separate SSD for my OS.

There seem to be very few four port SATA3 controllers available. I am also lead to believe that to achieve best performance I will need a controller with PCIe x4 compatibility. What I don't want is to buy a controller only toi find that the speed advantage is marginal. Given that most RAID controllers seem to use Marvell controller chips, and that these seem to tap out at around 650MB/s, I'm wondering whether it is worthwhile.

Many of my assumptions may be incorrect given that they arise from only a few hours research, so if anyone has more info to share it would be really appreciated.

[HalloweenWeed]

Xyzzy Frobozz wrote:
Thanks HVM.

The world of RAID controllers is both new and confusing to me. At the moment I have abandoned RAID 0 for an extended volume across the three drives, although I would like to have them in RAID 0.

The limited amount of review material of various controllers on the net leads me to believe that there are a number of compromises one makes when installing a RAID controller, the main one being an extended boot time.

To be clear, I have a separate SSD for my OS.

There seem to be very few four port SATA3 controllers available. I am also lead to believe that to achieve best performance I will need a controller with PCIe x4 compatibility. What I don't want is to buy a controller only toi find that the speed advantage is marginal. Given that most RAID controllers seem to use Marvell controller chips, and that these seem to tap out at around 650MB/s, I'm wondering whether it is worthwhile.

Many of my assumptions may be incorrect given that they arise from only a few hours research, so if anyone has more info to share it would be really appreciated.

Be careful, choose one that is compatible W/RIVE. There is one top model that is not compatible (search this forum for the model to find out).

[Praz]

RAID across multiple controllers needs to be done from within the operating system. The resultant array will not be bootable however.

[Xyzzy_Frobozz]

Thanks, I'd already worked that much out.