So do you still need specific software/drivers (intel matrix?) installed to manage the raid controller, setup the array. If the raid chipset is on-board the motherboard and it uses the CPU, and say I am using a Core 2 Quad Q9550, would a hardware based card still out perform the motherboard chipset? This is for a home workstation and I could spend $300 on a areca ARC-1210 PCI-Express x8 SATA II but I want to be able to justify the money for the raid card.
My motherboard is a GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P
UPDATE: I was going to RAID5 using 4 500 GB drives, and I was going to buy a controller card but this article got me thinking hmmm….Toms-Southbridge Battle
Best Answer
Yes, it's software RAID. To get hardware RAID you need a RAID card, and the cheaper ones aren't even hardware RAID. A good hardware RAID card will almost always outperform a software solution, but with your CPU you shouldn't notice the difference.
You're better off using the Windows RAID tools for Dynamic Disks. The only advantage to using the onboard RAID (which is still software RAID) is that you can RAID a boot volume, but there are a ton of drawbacks.