Promise FastTrak TX4200

Author:  Tyler Curry Date:  2005.10.08 Topic:  Storage Provider:  Promise Technology Inc Manufacturer:  Promise Technology Inc

We weren't able to get to many benchmarks using this card but the following is what we managed to get using a couple 400GB hard drives in a RAID 0 configuration.  We used the following system, including some Crucial Ballistix PC4000 DDR memory courtesy of Crucial, you can find all the information you need on their great RAM at www.crucial.com.

The following are all the benchmarks we managed to get, this includes HD Tach 3.0, PCMark04, File Copy from X-bit labs, SiSoft Sandra, and a couple game loading tests.  All benchmarks are on the default settings.

As seen in the benchmarks, although not directly benchmarked against any other drives or another setup, is obviously faster than a single drive.  And although not shown in this review, we had also tested RAID 0 benchmarks on another onboard solution.  Unfortunately these benchmarks could not be published, however we can tell you that the differences are very minor and there is no clear advantage either way.

We did love the Promise Array Management software that is included with the card, it comes with all the options you can imagine and more to configure you RAID setup any way you wish.  So far the PAM software has got to be the best RAID software we have tested to date, with its ton of options and ease of use.

But overall it is hard to recommend a card that retails for a little over a hundred dollars US when an onboard solution will get the same job done and in some cases even better.  There are a few situations that could call for a TX4200 purchase, like if you own a motherboard with no SATA RAID solution onboard and don't plan on upgrading anytime soon, or perhaps you do have an onboard SATA RAID solution however it doesn't support Native Command Queuing, and you need or want it, then sure.  To me, personally, I think if you have the money to buy a RAID setup in the first place then you should also be investing in a better motherboard that has an onboard SATA RAID solution, especially if you plan utilizing all four ports on the TX4200.  Then there is the TX2200, which wasn't reviewed here but carries the same specifications as the TX4200 but comes with two ports rather than four and retails for about half the price (about 50 USD).

Basically, we believe the Promise FastTrak TX4200 can only be recommended in a certain situation, otherwise for a large majority of you, stick with your onboard solutions.