RAID HDD vs SSD

luigi_t8 · 16 May 2011 at 13:38

hi, i want to build a gaming rig and I've been looking up drive options. I was keen to go for SSD but they are stupidly expensive compared with the HDD's then i read up about raid. I think i understand all the different formats of raid and that raid 0 is fastest. Do SSD's and Raid HDD's just help with load times of files and games etc or will they help in game with fps too? What is the file system like with raid, when i'm saving files in the file browser do i save to one effective drive and it splits it by itself?

LT

Surveyor · 16 May 2011 at 17:14

RAID 0 will be the fastest but you lose all your data if one drive fails.

SSD's and RAID HDD's won't help with FPS in games.

The operating system sees 2 disks in RAID 0 as a single drive and automatically splits the data between them.

Craig321 · 16 May 2011 at 18:01

Surveyor said:
RAID 0 will be the fastest

An SSD on its own will be faster than normal drives in RAID 0.

Surveyor · 16 May 2011 at 18:11

Craig321 said:
An SSD on its own will be faster than normal drives in RAID 0.

Don't try and pick me up before I fall.

Read the original post.

He asked which type of RAID was the fastest. RAID 0 is the fastest whether that be HDD's or SSD's.

Craig321 · 16 May 2011 at 18:15

Surveyor said:
Read the original post.

He asked which type of RAID was the fastest. RAID 0 is the fastest whether that be HDD's or SSD's.

Of course, but he wasn't really asking that as he said he thinks he understands RAID 0 anyway

Surveyor · 16 May 2011 at 18:21

Craig321 said:
Of course, but he wasn't really asking that as he said he thinks he understands RAID 0 anyway

"I think i understand all the different formats of RAID" is a statement which expresses uncertainty and I clarified that his thoughts were correct.

luigi_t8 · 16 May 2011 at 18:52

thanks both for your help. I back up my HDD to an external network drive anyway so that wouldnt be a problem with Raid 0. i think that realistically atm SSD's are too expensive for me and being that an extra couple of £30 HDD's would increase boot times and loading times it's probably worth it. Whats raid like to set up? do i need special software or a particular motherboard or anything?

Surveyor · 16 May 2011 at 18:55

What motherboard do you have?

Most have onboard RAID these days.

luigi_t8 · 16 May 2011 at 19:27

It's not for my current pc. i'm going to build and it will most likely have an asus p8p67 pro going into it.

luigi_t8 · 17 May 2011 at 13:01

ok, so i've been reading about raid a bit more. I hear people talking about raid controllers.... am i right that if your MB has a raid controller then you don;t need to buy another one. Also i hear a lot about people staying away from raid as drives are prone to failing, why are they any more likely to fail than in a normal setup? i've had a pc for years and none of my drives have ever failed.