WS Raptor & Raid 0 Questions.

[Zer0Cool]

Very soon (when Q9450 comes out) I will be building my 1st ULTIMATE gaming rig. I have decided to get 2 Raptors and set them to raid 0 (have no idea how to do it lol) I fond that there is Raptor & Raptor X, by the looks of it, performance is the same, only diff is the clear case. Is there any other distinguishments? If no, I guess Raptor X is the one for me.

Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM SATA 1.5Gb/s Hard Drive – OEM

OR

Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 RPM SATA 1.5Gb/s Hard Drive – OEM

This raptors will run my OS and Games, I will also get one 500G or 1TB HDD for my movies/music..etc is this a wise choice? (I also currently have exturnal 500G HDD as a backup)

I have never build a computer b4, and I am very much looking forward to this build. Can someone please explain to me or provided me with a guide how to set my 2 raptors to raid 0 once I get my pc assembled. Thanks.

For people that are curious about my specs, here they are; (work in progress)

1st CASE = Cooler Master Cosmos 1000 Case OR COOLER MASTER Stacker 830 Evolution RC-830-KKN3-GP
2nd MOBO = DFI LP LT P35 T2R OR GIGABYTE GA-P35C-DS3R OR DFI LANPARTY DK P35-T2RS OR I might wait fore the X48, coz I heard current boards don't have enough FSB for a good @
3rd CPU = Q9450 (45nm)
4th RAM = 4G CORSAIR XMS2 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066. (not sure et, I need to ask around what would be a good ram, I might just go with DDR3)
5th HDD = 2X Western Digital Raptor
6th VID CARD = 9800 X2 OR I might just get the GT or the GTS and just wait for the new line of chips to come out.
7th PSU = Something with 800W should be enough for me
8th CPU COOLER = Ultra-120 eXtreme OR IFX-14 OR Tuniq Tower
9th OS = Vista 64 bit Ultimate

 

[DJ-CHRIS1]

Yeah, the difference is the clear window. Two drives in Raid 0 really increases the chance of failure however, you loose one drive, the data on both is unreadable.

 

[Kage]

Yeah, which is why in my view, this isn't even worth the extra speed you get.

Going for RAID 5 (you'd need 3 or more hard drives however) is the next safest solution to RAID 0

RAID 1 is great also (what I'm running with), but you completly lose the capacity on one drive but if one drive fails, you simply insert another one in to connect the chain, and you don't lose any data, since it simply mirrors from one to the other.
Its faster at reading, but slower at writing.

 

[Zer0Cool]

Yeah, the difference is the clear window. Two drives in Raid 0 really increases the chance of failure however, you loose one drive, the data on both is unreadable.

Thanks Chris, Yes I know how raid works, i just dont know how to set it ip lol.

I have just found this on another forum;

"You can use two types of hard drives. If you go with the onboard controller: ata and serial ata. You can use SCSI if you use a special PCI controller, its faster (320Mb/s) and more reliable then sata, but it's far more expensive, so it's up to you what you want."

If I get the PCI controller how much of a transfer rate increase am i looking at? is it worth it?

Yeah, which is why in my view, this isn't even worth the extra speed you get.

Going for RAID 5 (you'd need 3 or more hard drives however) is the next safest solution to RAID 0

RAID 1 is great also (what I'm running with), but you completly lose the capacity on one drive but if one drive fails, you simply insert another one in to connect the chain, and you don't lose any data, since it simply mirrors from one to the other.
Its faster at reading, but slower at writing.

Thanks Kage, I currently have raid 0 now, with 2 wd 7200rpm hdd, and I had this set up for almost 2 years now. I also have exturnal 500G hdd just incase. So I might take my chances with 2 wd raptors.

 

[LambOfGod]

I would go with DDR3 for your build...

and Raid 0 and an additional Internal drive for storage (Seagate 7200.11 i would recommend)

I would get one of these for each drive as well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835888105

Dropped my HD temps 10 degrees Celsius (been running for 8 months, and i cant hear them)

And here is a PSU that will be great for your build

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341002

 

[DJ-CHRIS1]

Thanks Chris, Yes I know how raid works, i just dont know how to set it ip lol.

I have just found this on another forum;

"You can use two types of hard drives. If you go with the onboard controller: ata and serial ata. You can use SCSI if you use a special PCI controller, its faster (320Mb/s) and more reliable then sata, but it's far more expensive, so it's up to you what you want."

If I get the PCI controller how much of a transfer rate increase am i looking at? is it worth it?

You hard drives are SATA, not SCSI so you cannot use a SCSI controller. You could see some very very nice hard drive bandwidth increases if you were to use a high end SATA RAID card, however these can cost a pretty penny.

 

[Zer0Cool]

I would go with DDR3 for your build...

and Raid 0 and an additional Internal drive for storage (Seagate 7200.11 i would recommend)

I would get one of these for each drive as well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835888105

Dropped my HD temps 10 degrees Celsius (been running for 8 months, and i cant hear them)

And here is a PSU that will be great for your build

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341002

What DD3 u think I should get? I deff want 4G something thats fast, but not 2 crazy in price, coz I know that DD3 is still hight in price.

U think 700W of PSU will be sufficent? I also will jhave 2 pci sound cards in this build. I currently own an X-fi pro and the razer sound card.

You hard drives are SATA, not SCSI so you cannot use a SCSI controller. You could see some very very nice hard drive bandwidth increases if you were to use a high end SATA RAID card, however these can cost a pretty penny.

Whats a good SATA RAID card, something not 2 crazy expansive, but can justify the purcase.

Thanks

 

[LambOfGod]

What DD3 u think I should get? I deff want 4G something thats fast, but not 2 crazy in price, coz I know that DD3 is still hight in price.

Yea I checked the prices on DDR3, its still outragous... so scratch that idea for your budgets concerns

U think 700W of PSU will be sufficent? I also will jhave 2 pci sound cards in this build. I currently own an X-fi pro and the razer sound card.

Yes it will