Need opinions/help with RAID setup

i2avi · 5 Oct 2011 at 00:00

My machine is primarily for gaming and media. I'm running an i5 2500k 4.5ghz, GTX560Ti overclocked, 4GB RAM.

I'm thinking the thing that my computer would most noticeably benefit from is upgrading the storage drives. Right now, I have a 1TB 7200rpm standard Samsung HDD in the machine, and a 1TB external HDD that I could strip if needed.

What I'm considering is getting a pair of Seagate Momentus XTs and setting them up in RAID. Can I use my existing drive in this setup? What's the best RAID type for my usage? I've never dealt with RAID before.

Many of the reviews show the XTs as being faster than a 10,000RPM HDD, and just a little slower than an SSD. I think this will be a good upgrade, because my boot times and application load times are rather poor for a fairly decent gaming machine.

All opinions/tips welcome.

Azer · 5 Oct 2011 at 00:36

Personally I would get a pure SSD for windows/main games.

You could even get a small SSD maybe for the OS (can your mobo handle sata3?)
and maybe get a smaller momentus for your main apps and games.
And a bulk storage HDD for ur mkv's etc.

i2avi · 5 Oct 2011 at 00:43

• SATAIII controller integrated in Intel® P67 (B3) chipset
- Up to 6Gb/s transfer speed.
- Supports two SATAIII ports (SATA1~2) by P67 (B3) PCH
- SATA1~6 ports support RAID 0/1/5/10 mode by Intel P67 (B3) PCH

So yeah, seems like I've got 2 SATA3 ports.

I guess two XTs would cost me £90, so it's better to pay £130 for a 120GB SSD? Is that enough for Windows and a couple of games? I'd probably only load Battlefield 3 onto it, to be fair.

Azer · 5 Oct 2011 at 00:44

that would be more than enough mate imo... and a fair bit more.

Get the crucial m4 128 > 120 sandforce drives atm. They seem to cream em in benchmarks, theyre priced v well so its like an extra 8gig or whatever.

I would love to have a momentus drive... but theyre only sata2....

therefore I will stick with my SSD / green drive (but sata3 and q quick) option for now.

ChrisD. · 5 Oct 2011 at 01:09

Buy a Crucial M4.

iostream · 5 Oct 2011 at 10:07

Or you could try the best of both

I have a Crucial M4 64GB for my OS, and run a RAID 0 array with two 500GB Samsung F3 drives for my games. Media etc on a 5400rpm 2TB Samsung.

Although as Azer mentioned, if you get a 128GB SSD, you'll have more than enough room for your OS and a few games. I use the RAID because I have a silly collection of games that wouldn't fit on an SSD