Yes, with a PCI RAID when the board goes south,
all you need do is replace is the bad card. With the 
all-in-one system if one part goes out, you are left with
a partially functioning board that if you are lucky
you can disable the onboard piece of hardware  and install
an add-on board. Worst case scenario in the all-in-one
solution is you need to replace the MB and RAID card 
because you can't disable the broken RAID controller /or
you need to replace the MB. But I know people who swear
by them. so you pay your fee and take your chances. I
hadn't read that HW RAID was any better than SW RAID.
I have seen the argument, but never any proof.
To the best of my knowledge it is an Urban Myth. I do
recall seeing a comparison done somewhere and the numbers,
IIRC, were inconclusive. [now watch someone on the list
will find some evidence to prove me dead wrong]

Brian

> -----Original Message-----
> From: brad [mailto:brad@bradandkim.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 1:32 PM
> To: kclug@kclug.org
> Subject: HTPC hardware
> 
> 
> I am trying to put together (cheaply and with the help of 
> Christmas) an
> HTPC box that will run MythTV as well as many other multimedia apps. 
> Basically I am starting with the MB and CPU and had a couple of
> questions.  I want to run IDE RAID so that read/write speeds are
> better.  Is there a difference between a MB with an onboard RAID
> controller and a PCI RAID controller?  Is the PCI bus going to slow it
> down?  Also, is there a difference in how Linux 
> handles/supports the two
> choices.   It seems like I have a lot more options if I go 
> with the pci
> card instead of onboard.  I don't want software RAID because 
> I have read
> that this slows down the cpu.
> 
> TIA,
> 
> Brad
> 
> 
> 
> majordomo@kclug.org
>