HTPC hardware

[Kris Bodenheimer]

One thing I might caution you about, when dealing with raid controllers, 
  is that that mulitple hardware raid controller cards can fight with 
each other.  Especially in the IDE Raid stuff.  It is typically a 
driver/module issue, but I have seen it happen in linux and in windows. 
  What's worse, is often the cards will appear to be great, but then 
begin to blow chunks once under heavy load.  Just something to look out 
for.  Kris

Brian Densmore wrote:
> Yes, with a PCI RAID when the board goes south,
> all you need do is replace is the bad card. With the 
> all-in-one system if one part goes out, you are left with
> a partially functioning board that if you are lucky
> you can disable the onboard piece of hardware  and install
> an add-on board. Worst case scenario in the all-in-one
> solution is you need to replace the MB and RAID card 
> because you can't disable the broken RAID controller /or
> you need to replace the MB. But I know people who swear
> by them. so you pay your fee and take your chances. I
> hadn't read that HW RAID was any better than SW RAID.
> I have seen the argument, but never any proof.
> To the best of my knowledge it is an Urban Myth. I do
> recall seeing a comparison done somewhere and the numbers,
> IIRC, were inconclusive. [now watch someone on the list
> will find some evidence to prove me dead wrong]
> 
> Brian
> 
> 
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: brad [mailto:brad at bradandkim.net]
>>Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 1:32 PM
>>To: kclug at kclug.org
>>Subject: HTPC hardware
>>
>>
>>I am trying to put together (cheaply and with the help of 
>>Christmas) an
>>HTPC box that will run MythTV as well as many other multimedia apps. 
>>Basically I am starting with the MB and CPU and had a couple of
>>questions.  I want to run IDE RAID so that read/write speeds are
>>better.  Is there a difference between a MB with an onboard RAID
>>controller and a PCI RAID controller?  Is the PCI bus going to slow it
>>down?  Also, is there a difference in how Linux 
>>handles/supports the two
>>choices.   It seems like I have a lot more options if I go 
>>with the pci
>>card instead of onboard.  I don't want software RAID because 
>>I have read
>>that this slows down the cpu.
>>
>>TIA,
>>
>>Brad
>>
>>
>>
>>majordomo at kclug.org
>>
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