Do I Need Raid Card

[sm100378]

Hi,

If I am getting 2 Seagate 120gb (240 total), do I need what is called a "raid card / raid controller" ? Can I simply set this up via cables and then the bios?

What is the card/controller for? I see newegg sells them for minimum $80.

What would the speed difference be with the Raid controller ?

I have an ASUS A8N5X MB.

Thanks!

 

[Geoff]

It depends if you have one built-in, since alot of newer motherboard have RAID controllers built in. If your asking about the computer in your sig, then it has RAID built in. These are the types of RAID your motherboard supports:

RAID0, RAID1, RAID 0+1 and JBOD span cross SATA and PATA

 

[sm100378]

Okay, so my MB has a Raid controller built in.

1) What is the difference with the PCI slot Raid controler and mine?
1a) Speed difference?

2) The Seagate is ATA, is this worthy of RAID 0?



Thx

 

[Geoff]

I know your motherboard supports SATA RAID, but im not sure if it supports IDE RAID. Some of the more expensive RAID controllers show slight improvements, but the onboard will be fine.

 

[ceewi1]

It does support PATA RAID. In your case it's not worth purchasing a RAID card. Take a look at RAID 101 for some performance benchmarks.

Can I simply set this up via cables and then the bios?

You'll also need to load in the appropriate RAID drivers when installing Windows XP (you'll see a 'Press <F6> to install a third-party SCSI or RAID driver' screen when you start to install XP).