rafale

You are really extreme rexrzer. 
I am not using my computer as a movie server so... For the OP having 2 or 3 drives he probably will gain performance by switching to the onboard controller. I personally actually have 4 drives and I have the freaking DMI saturated. I also have an LSI 9240 sitting right next to me... arrgh. I am a bit too lazy to put it in there and reinstall everything. The mess of cable it will create is also something I fear. I like the neat look of my rig right now. 

 
Hah Hah!     I'll take that as a compliment about the being extreme, and yes, I've been called that before so it's nothing new. I just do what I have to do, that is all, and the Areca 1680IX-8 was a good investment for my purposes 18 months ago, and it's still serving me well after 2 firmware and BIOS updates during the time I've had it working in my PC. Areca builds nice products, and I like what I have a LOT!  
 
As for the cables? There are literally just two physically small, tiny in fact, SAS to SATA cables running off the *rear* of the controller for internal HD's; the external setup runs off the back of the PC box as a PCI appendage, and that's a full SAS to eSATA extender system to the FirmTek RAID enclosure that I honestly don't even look at, but to make certain the HD's are functioning with their LED's lit and the fans buzzing away with their LED's also. So there's minimal fuss and bother--but yes, the install is not for the faint of heart either.  
 
I Cloned my OEM Raptor 300GB HD with all my apps and the full Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit OS already on it to the RAID system (2TB RAID 0) using Paragon's Drive Backup 9.x, which took all of about 45 minutes on an eSATA bus in the PC, so my investment as far as time goes and "reinstalling everything" is minimal. 
 
I've never actually "installed" anything on the RAID 2TB volume that is the basis for all my work, and God forbid that I should or be forced to do such a thing! Cloning my necessary OS and app volumes is the way to go, you know what I am saying?  
 
I like the convenience of modern trappings this is certain, and Paragon utilities is another thing that I am constantly using for one thing or another, Partition Manager 10.x, Hard Disk Manager 10.x, and the Mac/PC utility that allows me to "see, read, and drag/drop Mac HFS files onto/into PC volumes" is another item I am constantly using, for audio, sound, and video files from Mac to PC, and PC to Mac, as I am often doing X-platform work of one sort or another.  
 
As for the OP here in this thread I also think he could benefit from using the SSD's he was writing about vs the Areca 1210 RAID controller, especially as far as convenience and quick booting etc goes...with the RAID controllers one must deal with the RAID BIOS and control mechanisms when booting and that takes a little time, every time, so if he's wanting fast boots and restarts that's the way he should go, I agree.  
 
He really has no use for the Areca controller in the traditional sense, as he is wasting his time and $$ using it vs straight SSD's on the ICH10 busses that are sitting there ready for him and waiting...so let's call it fair to middlin' that he does just that. I think he'll be a lot happier than he is right now with the Areca controller in the mix for his setup...he just doesn't need it.  
 
rexrzer77