It's a nice board, but it's not hardware RAID. The Promise controller has drivers which implement RAID functionality in software whereas a true hardware RAID controller will offload the bitwise math to a dedicated processor.

Ahh... I meant that it will show the array correctly, without having a raid array setup program in windows.
So it is basically a hardware raid bios/controller, with fewer fetatures then?
I have seen boards, that only ran raid when a program controlled the array and not the BIOS.
You know... A kind of fake raid.

As far as I remember, the A7V266-E did not show two drives in Windows partition manager.
Nor in MS Dos 6.22, after I installed two drives in eighter mirror or striped.

In the end all RAID is software. The difference is whether the software runs in main memory and on the main CPU, or in dedicated memory of a dedicated CPU.

I just noticed the boxed TI4400... *hides boner

There's a lot of stuff in there that brings back memories... not only the boxed 939 CPUs, but the boxed Ti 4400, the KT266 board... those are from a time I remember fondly...

brostenen wrote:

Ahh... I meant that it will show the array correctly, without having a raid array setup program in windows. So it is basically a […]
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Ahh... I meant that it will show the array correctly, without having a raid array setup program in windows.
So it is basically a hardware raid bios/controller, with fewer fetatures then?
I have seen boards, that only ran raid when a program controlled the array and not the BIOS.
You know... A kind of fake raid.

As far as I remember, the A7V266-E did not show two drives in Windows partition manager.
Nor in MS Dos 6.22, after I installed two drives in eighter mirror or striped.

RAID is handled at the driver level rather than by the operating system, so it's like a standard IDE controller with a specialized driver and a setup tool in firmware. However, all the grunt work is still done by the CPU.

stamasd wrote:

In the end all RAID is software. The difference is whether the software runs in main memory and on the main CPU, or in dedicated memory of a dedicated CPU.

Although this is a big difference in terms of implementation. Softraid like that provided by Promise and Highpoint drivers is really the worst of both worlds, featuring none of the performance of full hardware RAID controllers (like 3ware) and all the incompatibility with other vendors.

Eighter way. Mine is stable, running 2 x 40gb in Mirror. I know there is nothing to gain from mirror (speedwise), it just seems pretty cool to have a setup like that, with a V3-3500, 512mb Ram and YMF-724. The thing is. I don't have any benchmarks of the HDD setup in this system.

RAID 1 can have improved read performance, but yes the emphasis is on reliability for RAID 1.

gdjacobs wrote:

Softraid like that provided by Promise and Highpoint drivers is really the worst of both worlds

I can tell you've never used software RAID in Linux kernels 2.2.x (I have 😁 Still have nightmares)

stamasd wrote:

gdjacobs wrote:

Softraid like that provided by Promise and Highpoint drivers is really the worst of both worlds

I can tell you've never used software RAID in Linux kernels 2.2.x (I have 😁 Still have nightmares)

try linux zfs to erase a trauma with a yet bigger trauma

stamasd wrote:

gdjacobs wrote:

Softraid like that provided by Promise and Highpoint drivers is really the worst of both worlds

I can tell you've never used software RAID in Linux kernels 2.2.x (I have 😁 Still have nightmares)

I never had the displeasure. I didn't have the hardware to run RAID volumes back when I was using Slackware 3.x.

gdjacobs wrote:

I never had the displeasure. I didn't have the hardware to run RAID volumes back when I was using Slackware 3.x.

Circa 2000 I had a 486 DX2/66 on an Octek Hippo DCA2 motherboard, and a stack of dissimilar but small hard drives, ranging from about 80 to 260MB. 4 IDE and 2 SCSI. All salvaged from machines that were being thrown away. I used I think Slackware beta 3.9 (yes that existed, good luck finding it on any mirrors these days) with one of the early 2.2 kernels, custom compiled with all the RAID modules built-in as well as support for AHA1542. Used one of the larger IDE drives as root, then the other five (3 IDE and 2 SCSI) were arranged in a RAID0 array (append mode, not striped - I wasn't quite _that_ crazy) and mounted as /usr. Hilarity ensued. Fun times.

Personally, I would go for SCSI if I had to set up RAID on Linux or Unix.

Nice! I love Slot A. What CPU speed do you have?

Munx wrote:

P_20161124_184022.jpg

Slot A Intel's nightmare 😀

Now the only thing I need is for the 5v heavy PSU to arrive to drive this 50Watt beast.

Cyrix200+ wrote:

Nice! I love Slot A. What CPU speed do you have?

Munx wrote:

Slot A Intel's nightmare 😀

Now the only thing I need is for the 5v heavy PSU to arrive to drive this 50Watt beast.

600Mhz, "Argon". Should be a very good match for my dual Voodoos.

A friend who attends a cinema club with me, gave me a 15 year old almost-full PC, owned by her boyfriend - just knowing that her boyfriend is a person who spends in these things, I expected a nice retro PC for gaming, very interesting in the content - although my passion are the first 90s, and pure MS-DOS stuff, I'm glad to have some back-up available, especially if well made. The thing I liked right away is the aluminum case of the ThermalTake, the Xaser - full of fans, its fanbus and other extras. Inside I found DVD and DVDRW, 2GB DDR400 Corsair CL2 in dual kit, an ATI Radeon X1950 Pro AGP on Asus A7N8X motherboard. For storage 2x 80GB SATA disks. Missing power supply and CPU Athlon XP 2500+ inserted under stock heatsink. I am currently working to transfer the pieces of my main PC in the new home, which I like very much - and put my more modern digital fanbus instead of the one I've found - I have never been a big user of ATI cards, can you give me some advice on this card? Maybe I can use it in one of my XP builds.

the 286 board arrived, needed a small track repair in the back:

that thing is fast, faster than I expected...

really pleased with the result, now I really want to make a build out of it 😀

Kadath wrote:

I have never been a big user of ATI cards, can you give me some advice on this card? Maybe I can use it in one of my XP builds.

It's one of the fastest AGP cards aver made, seconded only by the HD 3850 and the 4670. It's a lot faster (twice?) then the rare 7800GS AGP.

kanecvr wrote:

Kadath wrote:

I have never been a big user of ATI cards, can you give me some advice on this card? Maybe I can use it in one of my XP builds.

It's one of the fastest AGP cards aver made, seconded only by the HD 3850 and the 4670. It's a lot faster (twice?) then the rare 7800GS AGP.

Thanks kanecvr, I'm glad to ear that: I'll keep this board with care, maybe for future projects and/or benchmarks. The Asus A7N8X instead, was a good gamer choice in those years?

Finally got the card I wanted for my Win 98 build:

Well my Music Quest Midi Card turned up today. Looks clean and in good condition. Just need to make a back plate for it. Come with the midi break out cable too. Have Firmware V009 according to the sticker. Will try and test it somehow over the weekend.