RAID Controller Cards

I am nearing my final build order and have been doing a lot of research, it seems that a RAID Controller card might be a better way for me to go than software RAID. I am mainly looking for a RAID 1 mirror and the latest info from the Ubuntu Community [that is the OS I use] makes me pause because I know I am still on a steep curve as far as learning command line and such. I really would not want to use the firmware RAID on the mobo but prices of add-on cards vary and I am not sure if the less expensive ones are just the same as the mobo hardware. I am looking at this card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816115075 but like I said at that price is it really a true RAID controller. The 'details' list Ubuntu as supported. Then I start the wheels spinning and think I should just go with an external constant back-up like WD offers. All Thoughts and suggestions are welcome.

I have a 62x Serial ATA 3 card from Highpoint and it is supported in Linux (Ubuntu) without issue. The Serial ATA 3 support is excellent.

It is not real RAID. There is no RAID engine, no RAM, no battery... You're better off using software RAID or the motherboard FakeRAID.

Thx for the info. I figured something was amiss when looking at prices that low for a RAID controller Card. I just got kinda nervous about the Software RAID in Ubuntu until I reread the document via their community site and realised that it was a 2009 documentation. I was just thinking that since both the mobo firmware and the software would be labor intensive to the CPU that using a $60 PCI Express card might shift some of the load; or am I looking at this backwards??

You'll still be using the CPU for RAID on this card.

That being said, if you are doing RAID1, there is no calculation needed. It just dumps data to two disks and can read from both of them.

If you're doing RAID5, the XOR calculation will tax the CPU.

Thx, I went to the website and looked at the installation instructions. It turns out they walk you through the same steps almost as the software RAID set-up. Do you think that using the software RAID would make adding drives in the future easier? Also since the mobo RAID is via the BIOS and chip-set and the Linux Drivers are vendor supplied for the chip-set I'm thinking the Software RAID would be better and hopefully more stable for OS and App's updates and upgrades. What are your thoughts on this?

Software RAID is easier to maintain and use. It is also portable.