SSDs in Raid 0 config and CPU questions

[Reactor-core]

Greetings Hackintoshers, I just got all my funds in order to build my Custom Hackintosh and have a couple of questions before I pull the trigger…


SSD Raid 0 config:
I understand the Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H motherboard does not support two SSD drives in Raid 0 configuration… but the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H motherboard does and wanted to verify this.


The reason I ask is I want to basically use two SanDisk Extreme SSD 120 GB G25 in Raid 0 as my boot/system drive.


Should I also get a basic 1TB SATA drive to initially install Mac OS and get the system running and then work on Raid 0'ing the SSDs? Or, can I just config the SSDs from the USB Flash set-up?


Main CPU, Huge Difference?:
The system will mainly be for Web development, Light Video/Audio production, Photoshop work and my main Gaming rig to boot. I'm leaning towards just going with the i5-3570k for this Hackintosh with a little overclocking but wonder if the i7-3770k posses any huge advantages given what I will be using the Hackintosh for and if any fellow Hackintoshers have some valid advice regarding this. I know the main difference in the i7 has four more threads which can only be used by certain apps and the CPU is clocked a hair faster than the i5.


Thanks in advance for any help you can provide me. -Reactor-Core

 

[neilhart]

Greetings Hackintoshers, I just got all my funds in order to build my Custom Hackintosh and have a couple of questions before I pull the trigger…


SSD Raid 0 config:
I understand the Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H motherboard does not support two SSD drives in Raid 0 configuration… but the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H motherboard does and wanted to verify this.


The reason I ask is I want to basically use two SanDisk Extreme SSD 120 GB G25 in Raid 0 as my boot/system drive.


Should I also get a basic 1TB SATA drive to initially install Mac OS and get the system running and then work on Raid 0'ing the SSDs? Or, can I just config the SSDs from the USB Flash set-up?


Main CPU, Huge Difference?:
The system will mainly be for Web development, Light Video/Audio production, Photoshop work and my main Gaming rig to boot. I'm leaning towards just going with the i5-3570k for this Hackintosh with a little overclocking but wonder if the i7-3770k posses any huge advantages given what I will be using the Hackintosh for and if any fellow Hackintoshers have some valid advice regarding this. I know the main difference in the i7 has four more threads which can only be used by certain apps and the CPU is clocked a hair faster than the i5.


Thanks in advance for any help you can provide me. -Reactor-Core

I am under the impression that OS X does not support motherboard bios created RAIDs. Again, I don't know this as a 100% truth.

A normal fast SSD gives me 5 to 7 second boot times on ML 10.8.2 on a GA-Z77x-UP5 TH and i7-3770K and a RAIDed SSD might get you to nearly half that time... but so what? Once the system is up, it is usually waiting on the user.

Of interest along these lines, there are some relatively inexpensive PCIe RAID cards that do have support in OS X and do work with SATA III SSDs. I have a HighPoint Rocket 640L card that have brought up a HDD RAID 0 2 drive set in ML 10.8.2 and it is stable (I don't have a matched pair of SSDs to try that configuration). OBTW this card could do a RAID 0 set of 4 drives. If you went with a PCIe RAID card, the mother board dependency is of less importance.

Just my thoughts,
neil

 

[BitterMelon]

I am under the impression that OS X does not support motherboard bios created RAIDs. Again, I don't know this as a 100% truth.

It's true as long as the RAID is not a proper RAID, but rather the cheap knock-off "hybrid" RAIDs that all the normal consumer-level motherboards have. They need driver support, which OS X don't have. If it's a proper RAID chip, and it's supported (like the PCIe card you mentioned), it would work.

The UD5H does have an extra Marvell controller, but I don't know if that's a proper RAID controller or not.

 

[Reactor-core]

Thanks for the info guys, giving me some ideas to play around with.

I bought all my components, went with the GA-Z77X-UD5H mobo with the i5 3570k CPU and threw in a 500GB WD VelociRaptor 10k just for good measure for the basic install which will allow me to play around with the initial SSD Raid config.

I'm building a custom case from scratch and wanted to conserve as much space as possible forgoing the basic 3.5 SATA drive and sticking with just SSD but think I can squeeze a 3.5 SATA drive in there with some backwards engineering.

-Reactor-Core