Advise on Drive combination for RocketRaid 640

[Dark Mantis]

Well that is what we are all here for after all, to help each other. Pierre certainly has plenty of knowledge when it comes to storage devices etc. and I always appreciate his input also.

[Aussie Allan]

 Absolutely...... and its helped me come to the decision going back to the The Two Momentus XTs on the raid card which I haven't experimented with as yet, got two to begin with in the front room(storage only mind you) and depending on performance.... might add two more when I sell the rest of the wife's Jewellery!

 Aussie Allan

[Dark Mantis]

Oh, so you've finally managed to crack the code on her wall safe then ?

[Aussie Allan]

 Nope ! but the hole in the wall behind it did!...

 Aussie Allan

[Tinker]

I never got any apparent increased speed using single WD Black SATA 3 & Manhatten SATA 3 Express card AA.
Still may try the 620 card. The Manhatten seek time is fairly quick but don't knpw if it works at SATA 3 yet.

Am just researching SATA 3 SSD drives at present but need 3.5 one. No idea what to get yet apart from Trim
& build size. Am looking between 120 to 180gb without the Marvell chip !! Sanforce ?


Regards tinker.

[Aussie Allan]

  How's it going Tinker

 Well there's the thing........you would expect the 9128 chip to perform consistently ... but it don't! ..... I have the chip in my board (GA-X58A-UD3R v2) and it sucks......but I have not 1 but 2 integrated onto the Highpoint  640 PCI-E card and it performs like a gem 

   4 Samsung Spinpoints HD502HJs in raid 0 and get 540Mb/s read and 525 write ... tell me how that work.

  One thing I have read is,.... ideally....as it has 4 ports with two Marvell controller chips....Ive been told the best performance is gained by allocating a single drive per controller........I think the 620 has only one..... so research well if you get the 620

  The Manhattan I have no experience with, but at less then a quarter of the price......maybe you get what you pay for..... It always worries me when I can't find a review of a product anywhere on the net, ... including Amazon......lots of good report about current SanForce controllers.......but again there not cheap either.

  A lot of people are looking in the wrong area when comparing SATA2 and SATA3 performance.......if you're still using spinning plattered drives, the performance increase is not that big .... a ballpark figure for a single drive would be going from an average 65/70Mb/s to 100/110Mb/s tops for SATA3.....SSDs and raid is where the performance resides with SATA3.

 Aussie Allan

[Dark Mantis]

Hi Tinker

Have you considered the OCZ Revo drives ? They are extremely fast and will murder any SSD that they are put up against.  They are PCIE card drives and work brilliantly, I am only surprised that Allan hasn't been shouting about them as he has one too. The RevoX2 that we both have is 100GB and willl give speeds of roughly 690 MBs write and 740 MBs read. They have just dropped in price since I bought one and are now much more competitively priced.

http://www.ebuyer.com/258813-ocz-100gb-revo-x2-pci-express-ssd-read-740mb-s-write-690mb-s-100k-oczssdpx-1rvdx0100

[Aussie Allan]

 Yes they are blooody good!...... the best drive I have ever installed by a country mile!

  Aussie Allan

[Tinker]

Thanks for the replies DM &  AA. REf http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,6396.msg50445.html#msg50445
this is my setup. Not getting too far at present as can only find Icy box sata 2 converter from 3.5" to 2,5"
Both my 3.5" bays are in use. Wanted 3.5 SSD & plug in card would mess up my setup. Want to keep 3.5 drive
bays as have found a compromise setup on above link. May have to get SATA 2 converter with SATA 3 SSD
until ICY BOX get round to producing SATA 3 converter. Same problem with their plug in cases, way behind
times. Pity  the SSD don't appear to cater for 3.5" removable drives unless you know of a source.
Above link is at bottom of page or page 2.

Regards tinker.

[Dark Mantis]

I don't know if this is the sort of thing that you are after but check this out :

https://www.candccentral.co.uk/scythe-twin-mounter-2.5-rev.c-2.5-to-3.5inch-adapter.html

[Tinker]

Thanks for the link & trying to help Dark Mantis. I just need a box that converts a 2.5" to a replica 3.5" drive.
Trying to avoid altering case setup & want to stick to removable plug in drives. The case bays are fully
populated. The 2x 3.5" bays have a floppy & fan contollers+USB. Plus a press switch that shorts out
resistance to fans to allow temporary full power should a fan stall.
There are combination units available but non at SATA 3. Have to go back & look at Icy Dock units.
Think I should have started a different thread for the topic.
The adds are so misleading like SATA 3 then gb/s . Most don't even give spec  to get you to buy oldstock.
Enough to drive you nuts !!


Regards Tinker.

[Dark Mantis]

Yes I know exactly what you mean about the conflicting ways of describing the different specs.  As you say some I am sure is done on purpose.