raid cards, vista, dx10

Dfran · Posted: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 14:44:59 Post Subject: raid cards, vista, dx10

I wanted to get a raid card for my system, but I realized that 99% of them are not Vista compatible. I had also wanted to upgrade to Vista for the dx10 graphics that my gpu puts out. Do I just want to wait for the vista upgrade, so I can get my raid controller? Is dx10 significantly different? What I want for raid is 2 at 0, and 2 at 1. Does Vista have other software raid options than xp? Lastly, is hardware raid significantly better than software raid?
Thanks!!

BeerCheeze · Posted: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 14:49:50 Post Subject:

1) DX10 is supposed to be noticeable better than DX9... that is if they release games that use it. (Of course smart money says build for it)

2) Vista isn't yet considered a real OS... so RAID support will happen when it happens. Sad, but true (most companies are looking at any way possible to NOT deploy Vista).

3) I think XP & Vista are about the same for RAID. So don't use it, it's slow and I wouldn't trust much to it. Only time I use it is when I want to "clone" a working system onto a new HDD.

Hellfire · Rated XXX Joined: 05 Aug 2003 Posts: 3473

DX10 is much better than DX9....been playing with several games that are both DX9 and DX10, side by side the DX10 looks much nicer (although it is on a more powerful card too).

DX9 - 7900GTO 512MB
DX10 - 8800GTS 640MB

As for the rest of it, I agree with EC.

Dfran · Posted: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:43:38 Post Subject:

How can Vista not be considered a real OS yet?

So to get DX10 w/ a raid array, what is the best solution?

I did see some cards that were Vista compatible, but most of them didn't suit my needs, surprisingly, like several had only 2 sataII connectors, I want 4.

What I want to accomplish is to have two disks in raid 0, and have two other disks for storage, one being a backup, so I figured I'd just put those 2 in raid 1. I could just use the 2 connector card, for raid 0, then use the nvidia connectors on motherboard for both storage disks, they wouldn't be in raid though so I'd have to keep backing one up, less preferable to raid 1.
Thanks

knight0334 · Posted: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:54:20 Post Subject:

Dfran · Posted: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:59:35 Post Subject:

acruxksa · Posted: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:59:38 Post Subject:

Are we talking SCSI raid, or SATA raid? There should be some SATA raid cards out with Vista drivers.

Hardware raid should always be faster than software raid, but it's also more expensive. What you need to ask yourself is whether the added cost is worth the extra speed.

Dfran · Posted: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:57:59 Post Subject:

sata raid. I've noticed some of the cards don't include what OS's they support. Does that mean that they are strictly a hardware drive and the OS doesn't matter? I want the DX10 of Vista, but not many cards are compatible. I also can't tell which of the cards are a software solution, and which are hardware.
Thanks

acruxksa · Posted: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:18:37 Post Subject:

This link might help:

http://www.iexbeta.com/wiki/index.php/Windows_Vista_Hardware_Compatibility_List#RAID_Controller

I'm not sure which ones are hardware or software, but if it seems like a good deal, it's probably at least partially software. Also, It does look like pretty slim pickings. Many of the ones listed as compatible are commonly found on motherboards and that's a pretty good indicator that they are software raid options. There is nothing wrong with software raid, it's just not going to be as fast as a hardware solution, but should be faster than a single disk in SOME tasks, but usually not all tasks.

Hellfire · Rated XXX Joined: 05 Aug 2003 Posts: 3473

Currently, if you want to play a game in DX10, you have to get Vista. Through the grapevine, it sounds like MS is backing off and considering putting DX10 onto XP.

I don't think there are any games coming out ONLY for DX10 now though. So all games in development should run fine under DX9. You just won't get all the pretty things that you can in DX10.

As for the "something else new real quick", Windows "Seven" is currently slated for 2009 or 2010 I think.

That being said, I can't stand XP any more. I have all fairly new hardware (within past 2 years) and not running a Raid system any more so I don't have an issue with drivers, and have only found one thing that didn't work under XP, which was OCCT for testing power supplies.