Good Cheap Hardware Raid Controller?

[aPanzerIV]

I have been looking around at some Raid controllers, and it turns out all the ones i seem to be able to afford are all software raid(have no real preformance upgrade), and so I once again return here to CF for an answer.

Some Specs that I need from it:

PCI or PCI-E 1x
2x Sata II or above (3x prefered)
Hardware Raid 0
Under $150

Are there any Hardware Raid Controllers that match what I need?

 

[bullzi]

After searching for about 5 minutes on newegg I found this.. seems to fit the bill.

Newegg.com - SYBA SD-PEX40031 PCI-Express 2.0 SATA II (3.0Gb/s) Controller Card

 

[Indigo]

Unless you need enterprise level storage performance, there's nothing wrong with software RAID. I actually prefer to run Software RAID at the OS level because then I don't need to worry about a chipset or finding a card only to have it go out of manufacture a few years later when the first one dies.

 

[aPanzerIV]

Not that software raid would be a problem, but the problem is that Im trying to solve a loading time issue with Garry's Mod, sometimes it takes 20/30 mins to load and theres just nothing to do.

Thanks for the raid bullzi!

 

[Indigo]

20-30 minutes? Something else is amiss. I've loaded his mod on systems way slower than my main gaming rig and they've always been quick. I doubt RAID will offer much improvement for you anyway since RAID isn't much good at small random file loads (such as game loads) but good luck to you - if you find out otherwise, would love to hear about it.

 

[Jesusfrk611]

I'm nowhere near at enterprise level, but software RAID has given me too many problems. Hardware RAID really is that much better.

 

[bullzi]

Not a problem Panzer. Can you tell if that's software or hardware? I Couldn't tell by reading the specs.. I'm not a huge RAID hardware junkie, I just know how to set them up and know generally how they work.

What's the SMART status of your drives? That seems like quite an issue to be having that long of load times..

 

[aPanzerIV]

bullzi, You probably dont have as many addons as I do, and last time I had that many was with a pentium D 820 lawl... I think I can handle myself but thanks

My Seagate Baracuda 160 is great, The WD is working fine in mah gramps comp, and the Maxtor boot drive has found itself useful in this disfunctional poweredge server.

In which 3 of the 4 hdd's are dead or dying. The waranty ended 7-2-10, which leaves me to belive it wouldnt have helped, seeing as You void the waranty by not having a Dell certified Retard plug in your keyboard, I guess I voided it about 700 different ways in the past 10 minutes...

 

[aPanzerIV]

can you find one that has 4 sata II ports?

 

[bullzi]

can you find one that has 4 sata II ports?

Newegg.com - PROMISE SATA300 TX4 PCI SATA II (3.0Gb/s) 4-Port Adapter