[Hampshire] [hardware] RAID5 - hardware or software based?

I recently decided to upgrade my main desktop machine from a 2-disk
RAID0 array (2 x 320GB) to a 4-disk RAID5 array (4 x 320GB). I already
have / on a separate 150GB drive, so there are no concerns about trying
to boot from the RAID setup. So far, I've taken the cheap route and run
all the drives from the SATA ports on the motherboard (a Tyan Thunder,
with 2 x 2GHz Opteron dual core processors and a total of 8GB RAM).

I've been doing some scratching around, wondering whether to splash out
on a hardware RAID controller to take the load of managing the RAID5
array off the CPU(s); most of the RAID controllers I've found have been
either "not really hardware RAID controllers" (e.g. the LSI Logic 8204)
or rather expensive (e.g. the Adaptec 3405 and up). Does anyone have any
experience of using software-based RAID5 and/or a "real" hardware RAID
controller which they'd like to share, please?

Thanks in advance

Ian
--
Ian Park
17 Pyle Hill
Newbury
Berkshire
RG14 7JJ
Tel: +44 (0)1635 821420
GSM: +44 (0)7785 300290
email: ian@???
--