Ok, forgive me for asking ... regarding RAID 0 as being your only choice: you said you tried "SPACE, TAB, UP, DOWN, SCROLL" to change the RAID 0 option, but did you try ENTER? I believe Enter will bring up the RAID options. And as for speed, the onboard SATA ports are only optimized for optical drives ... from the Technical Guide: "Serial ATA (SATA) ports with transfer rates up to 300 MB/s (R710 supports two SATA ports for optical devices or tape backup)" The R710 can boot to PCIe devices - many of the FusionIO-branded items are listed, so if the hooks are compatible, you may be able to get another device to boot.
Bringing an old R710 back to life.  I have a question about the RAID controller.  When I go into the Setup for the RAID (CTRL R) configure the VD's, the only option for a RAID type that shows up is "RAID 0".There are no other RAID options available as far as I can tell.  Hitting SPACE, TAB, UP, DOWN, SCROLL, etc. doesn't show any other options besides RAID 0.  I've got a total of 6 2 TB HDD installed in the drive bays, 5 seagate and 1 some other brand, but all the same size.  I also have a 500 GB SSD in the SATA II slot where the DVD once was.  Just wondering if that is some sort of limitation related to the hardware setup that I have or if there is a simple way to see other options than just RAID 0.  For now, I just have 2 6 TB VD configured, but I'd like to have some other options also.
PowerEdge R710 with PERC H700 Contoller, RAID 0 in only option.