- Feb 29, 2004
- 13
- 0
- 0
Hi All,
I've been in the industry for 14 years but have never configured RAID for a home gaming system. After doing some hours of research on this, I'd like to confirm some things as well as ask some questions. Please don't answer unless you do consider yourself experienced on the matter or question at hand. I bought a Gigabyte GA-EP45T-DS3R (on sale for $40 at Fry?s NIB) and two WD 74GB Raptors (WD740ADFD; $35 each) and would like to setup RAID 0 for my new gaming setup. Here are my questions:
1. I'm also assuming from what I've read that RAID 0 is going to be the fastest config I can have (storage wise) for gaming. Is this true?
2. What should I be warned of to make sure that my array isn't ever lost for whatever reason and I lose it?
3. I will be having a third 1TB drive for file storage. The RAID 0 array is for the system and game installations. I will actually be installing other business type applications on the single 1TB drive.
4. I've read that most (all?) on-board RAID controllers on motherboards are crap. Can someone explain why?
5. Would my performance increase "substantially" if I buy a RAID controller card and put it in an open PCI slot?
6. What is the optimal RAID 0 config as far as hardware, cards, settings, etc.?
7. I HAVE to tell Windows 7 about my RAID controller during install, right? This is the only way to do it, correct?
8. I?ve read about ?fakeraid?. What is that all about?
9. What RAID controller card has the best price/performance numbers for RAID 0? I also want to be able to do RAID 0+1 later on with four drives. What controller card do you recommend?
I've been searching on Tom's Hardware and Googling around and haven't found many helpful articles or comparison reviews for RAID 0 configs. I remember quite a bit a few years back but can't seem to search them up. Any 2009 or late-2008 links would be much appreciated. I've studied some about various RAID configs on wikipedia as well.
I look forward to your input regarding the RAID setup on my new gaming machine.
Here are the specs btw:
CPU: Intel Q6600 G0 SLACR
RAM: 8GB (4x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333 8-8-8-24
GRAPHICS: Two ATi 4870's 512MB CrossFire
HDD: (2) 74GB WD Raptors (RAID 0) for Windows 7 64-bit installation and games
HDD: (1) Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1TB SATA 7200RPM (ST31000333AS; storage & office apps)
RAID CONTROLLER: ???
SOUND: SoundBlaster X-Fi (5.1)
DVD: Samsung 22X DVD±RW & CD-RW Burner SH-S222L LightScribe
MONITOR: Dell UltraSharp 24? 2408WFP (1920x1200 native)
POWER: Antec 750W power supply (four 6-pin connectors, four separate rails)
CPU COOLER: Xigmatek HDT-S1283
CASE COOLER: Multiple Thermaltake ISGC fans of various sizes
CASE: Antech Nine Hundred
LIGHTS: Multiple blue Tt Dual UV cold cathodes
I've been in the industry for 14 years but have never configured RAID for a home gaming system. After doing some hours of research on this, I'd like to confirm some things as well as ask some questions. Please don't answer unless you do consider yourself experienced on the matter or question at hand. I bought a Gigabyte GA-EP45T-DS3R (on sale for $40 at Fry?s NIB) and two WD 74GB Raptors (WD740ADFD; $35 each) and would like to setup RAID 0 for my new gaming setup. Here are my questions:
1. I'm also assuming from what I've read that RAID 0 is going to be the fastest config I can have (storage wise) for gaming. Is this true?
2. What should I be warned of to make sure that my array isn't ever lost for whatever reason and I lose it?
3. I will be having a third 1TB drive for file storage. The RAID 0 array is for the system and game installations. I will actually be installing other business type applications on the single 1TB drive.
4. I've read that most (all?) on-board RAID controllers on motherboards are crap. Can someone explain why?
5. Would my performance increase "substantially" if I buy a RAID controller card and put it in an open PCI slot?
6. What is the optimal RAID 0 config as far as hardware, cards, settings, etc.?
7. I HAVE to tell Windows 7 about my RAID controller during install, right? This is the only way to do it, correct?
8. I?ve read about ?fakeraid?. What is that all about?
9. What RAID controller card has the best price/performance numbers for RAID 0? I also want to be able to do RAID 0+1 later on with four drives. What controller card do you recommend?
I've been searching on Tom's Hardware and Googling around and haven't found many helpful articles or comparison reviews for RAID 0 configs. I remember quite a bit a few years back but can't seem to search them up. Any 2009 or late-2008 links would be much appreciated. I've studied some about various RAID configs on wikipedia as well.
I look forward to your input regarding the RAID setup on my new gaming machine.
Here are the specs btw:
CPU: Intel Q6600 G0 SLACR
RAM: 8GB (4x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333 8-8-8-24
GRAPHICS: Two ATi 4870's 512MB CrossFire
HDD: (2) 74GB WD Raptors (RAID 0) for Windows 7 64-bit installation and games
HDD: (1) Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1TB SATA 7200RPM (ST31000333AS; storage & office apps)
RAID CONTROLLER: ???
SOUND: SoundBlaster X-Fi (5.1)
DVD: Samsung 22X DVD±RW & CD-RW Burner SH-S222L LightScribe
MONITOR: Dell UltraSharp 24? 2408WFP (1920x1200 native)
POWER: Antec 750W power supply (four 6-pin connectors, four separate rails)
CPU COOLER: Xigmatek HDT-S1283
CASE COOLER: Multiple Thermaltake ISGC fans of various sizes
CASE: Antech Nine Hundred
LIGHTS: Multiple blue Tt Dual UV cold cathodes