My new Build

[wannabedamned]

The current Spec for my new build is this.

Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler - £41.11
Noctua NF-S12 1200RPM 120mm Silent Case Fan - 3 Pin - £14.09
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz oem - £166
Asus P5K Pro Intel P35 (Socket 775) - £85.76
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) - £7.04
BFG GeForce 8800 GT OC 512MB GDDR3 (PCI-Express) - Retail - £173.89
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - £70.49
Samsung SpinPoint F1 750GB SATA-II 32MB Cache x 2 - £216.18
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU - £70.49
G.Skill 4GB DDR2 PQ PC2-6400C5 (2x2GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit - £76.36

It's now £923.42


Note the hard drives.

Samsung Spinpoint x 2.

Now that looks great when it comes to storage, But I'm looking to get my load/access times down to their bare minimum, And I'd also like to keep my OS drive and Storage Drive seperate. So there will probably be a good 700gb going to waste on 1 of those drives.

I've been recommended away from Raptor.

So I was wondering, Are there any good performing Hard drives out there, Which possibly rivals the Raptor? But it quieter?

Here is a link to the original post and spec in General Hardware. Have a read, and maybe tell me what you think?

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17827979


In that thread, there are mentions of possible raid setups that would increase my system performance? And allow me to seperate OS/Storage?

Thanks

 

[semi-pro waster]

The Seagate 7200.10 250gb (new model) is supposed to be very quick, not quite Raptor speeds but reasonably close. However other people have said they found their WD AAKS drives quicker. You shouldn't be able to lose by picking either of them though.

You could buy two small fast hard drives and put them in a Raid0 array and partitioning them would then give the option of logically separating OS and storage albeit not physically. However if you are going to go with Raid0 then I'd suggest getting a third hard drive for backup purposes.

 

[wannabedamned]

Cheers for that, Just 1 more quick question.

Is it better to get a Raid controller card? Or will the motherboard do the Job fine?

 

[rpstewart]

If you're looking at RAID0 then there's no performance benefit to be had from a controller card (but a potential reduction if you use a PCI card). You do need to be aware though that an array running from a motherboard controller probably won't work when moved to another board (there are situations where it will but it's safer to assume it won't). With an add in card you can move the array without a problem.