HighPoint RocketRAID 404
Reviewed by Akimoto
Provided by HighPoint Technologies

Benchmarks, comments, and conclusions

Test System:

AMD Athlon XP 1900+
Soyo DRAGON Ultra
256mb Kingston DDR333
Asus GeForce 3
High Point RocketRAID 404 - Provided by HighPoint Technologies
Dual Maxtor D740X Quiet Drives in RAID 0 (64k data stripes)
Single IBM 60GXP "Deathstar"

Only RAID 0 was tested because it offers the greatest performance available. RAID 1 is generally not chosen for its performance, but rather its data redundancy (its theoretical write speed should be identical to a single drive, and its read speed double that). RAID 0/1 was not included in this benchmark, because it costs an additional two hard drives—something this poor reviewer cannot afford. The Winbench99 High End Disk Mark was used to benchmark the RAID 0 array. The performance advantage is accentuated here because the single drive used runs at only ATA/100 (although there is data suggesting the actual performance gains with ATA/133 are negligible). The performance increase of a dual channel RAID 0 array over a singe drive is very pronounced. This may or may not be seen in the "real world" of computing due to the applications that will be used by the user. Keep in mind, however, that using RAID 0 decreases the reliability of the array, and should not be used in conjunction with critical data.

Stability and other comments

The controller was used with this RAID 0 array for well over 300 hours, and it is very stable. Bear in mind that a lot of stability is also dependent on the drives used. As a not on performance, small differences were very noticeable. Word documents and maps in Counter-Strike, for example, loaded faster than usual. For most users, the only real difference will be in small applications, such as those mentioned.

Conclusion

The RocketRAID 404 is overall a great card. While a little stocky for some rackmount cases, there's little that can be done in that area with a 4-channel PCI controller. While 4-channel RAID 0 may be something to get "oohs" and "ahhs" at the next LAN party, it only really serves to decrease data reliability. The benefits come in the area of RAID 1 and 0/1, because it allows for lots of data redundancy and possibly an increase in performance depending on which type of RAID is selected. This is a great solution for lower end servers, or for any users that just want a little more security for their data. As far as TechWare Labs was able to tell, the card's stability was top notch. Installation saw no problems, and the BIOS and software were useful and easy to use. Unfortunately there was no support for PCI 66 MHz, which is why the card earns a lower score for features. Overall, TechWare Labs is pleased to award the card our recommendation.

Stability: 10
Performance: 9
Features: 8.5

Overall: 9

The RocketRAID 404 can be found for just over one-hundred dollars on Pricewatch. Thanks go out to High Point Technologies for providing the card. Questions? Comments? Flames? Email Akimoto!