RAID controller card override onboard RAID controller?
 

Originally, I was thinking of buying this rackmount server chasis SuperMicro RM1U1162 , and purchasing a MB and dual hard drives [western digital] for it.

but before I bought, I did somelooking around, and found this rackmount server Vision 1UHS-P24R , which already includes the MB and hard drives for about the same price. And has the added bonus of a locking front plate.

Theres one problem though, this server includes an onboard Promise ATA133 RAID Controller, and this controller is NOT a true hardware RAID controller [I DEFINATELY want a true hardware controller!]

Now, I kow that with things like onboard audio and video, a PCI card will override the onboard version. But is this true in this case? If I put in a hardware RAID controller card, would it override the built-in one? I assume it would, but I would definately like a for sure answer on this! I would hate to purchase this server only to find out Im stuck with the lame RAID controller built-in that depends on the BIOS!

I'd REALLY like to have the Sun Microsystrems SunFire v20z !!! {DROOL!}, But at $2,000.00, I am going to have to settle for one of the above servers. I can just about build 2 servers with dual WD 120gb hot swappable hard drives WITH a hardware RAID controller, for the price of just 1 of the Sun Microsystems servers WITHOUT a RAID controller!

Anyways, if someone knows for sure about the RAID controller card override issue, please let me know. Thank you ;-)

If the BIOS supports it you can get it to boot up on the raid controller instead of the onboard disks.

Disks on a RAID controller will just be added as a new set of hard disks, not replace the ones on the motherboard.