Good/better/best RAID setup for Color?

Wait a couple of weeks. Although disk access is a significant factor, the fps benchmark is largely determined by the GPU, not even the number of cores.

jPo

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[Chad Terpstra] "Apart from that, what is a simple external setup?
What is the minimum drive setup needed to get 24 fps of 2K uncompressed? "

Probably 8 drives minimum running with an SAS/SATA array. We get 500MB/s + with our old Maxx Digital EVO HD 8TB array running in RAID 5. Over 600 MB/s in RAID 0 but we would never run the array in that mode.

Our new 16TB EVO 2HD Expando Chassis runs well over 700MB/s in RAID 5 when striped as one volume, that's also an SAS/SATA Array. We actually run it in two volumes though as part of a shared array running via Ethernet so we're really only using it at about 100MB/s to each of the 6 workstations. We use the local Maxx Arrays when we have to work in Uncompressed HD.

Fibre Channel is really only necessary if you plan to run a shared system where each system has to have Uncompressed / 2k abilities. Otherwise it's just overpriced for single workstations.

And you're not going to get full 24fps playback right now with the way Color operates today and the current Mac Pros. You're still going to get a proxy playback as of right now. Could change in a few weeks but we won't know until April 20th.



Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

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Thanks for all your help and suggestions. I feel a lot more knowledgeable about RAIDs now. And I know that nothing good exists under $1,000 and even that is iffy.

So short of doing it "right" which I can't spend the money on just yet, what would having 3 1TB drives RAID-0 striped inside my mac pro get me? Assuming I was doing it with the OSX software. Right now I have two striped together and I get up to 75MB/s. Would a third reach 100MB/s? At this point I'm just out for a temporary good solution to be better than the standard 60MB/s and add in another 5 fps to my Color experience.

If not the internal software route, what about internal with a RAID controller? Or what about this guy over SATA? http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=11140

Much appreciated!