RAID or not?

leetkyle · 08-09-2007, 12:01 AM

As a gamer, a small 74GB Raptor is just crippling me - so I have decided to sell it and go with some much larger disks. I do quite a bit of gaming (Battlefield 2, CM: DiRT etc). What solution would be best?

RAID 0
2 x 250 GB Western Digital WD2500KS Caviar SE SATA300 7200RPM 16MB Cache Hard Drive

Single Drive
500GB Western Digital WD5000KS Caviar SATA-II 7200RPM 16MB Cache Hard Drive
The single drive is £15 cheaper and also means that my disk failure rate is "half" (in theory, compared to RAID 0)

I appreciate your input.

K.

INTELCRAZY · 08-09-2007, 12:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leetkyle

As a gamer, a small 74GB Raptor is just crippling me - so I have decided to sell it and go with some much larger disks. I do quite a bit of gaming (Battlefield 2, CM: DiRT etc). What solution would be best?

RAID 0
2 x 250 GB Western Digital WD2500KS Caviar SE SATA300 7200RPM 16MB Cache Hard Drive

Single Drive
500GB Western Digital WD5000KS Caviar SATA-II 7200RPM 16MB Cache Hard Drive
The single drive is £15 cheaper and also means that my disk failure rate is "half" (in theory, compared to RAID 0)

I appreciate your input.

K.

Yeah good idea to me, load up times will be faster, maybe 5fps of difference in gaming. Are you backing the RAID array up on the single?

**The_Other_One** · 08-09-2007, 03:44 AM

RAID is good... I used a pair of Raptors a while back and it was pretty darn fast. However, under normal circumstances, I really saw no performance increase over a good single drive. Plus you have more of a chance of failure, more power, more heat... Typically I'd stay away from RAID unless it's much cheaper or you do something like a mirrored set.

leetkyle · 08-09-2007, 09:25 AM

It would be my primary drive and I'd install all my applications on it etc. 500GB is quite a lot to lose - so I am sort of leaning towards one of the single drives because it is both cheaper and less likelihood of failure.

I appreciate both your inputs

TheMajor · 08-09-2007, 10:06 AM

RAID0 is not really worth it. I have 2 drives in RAID0, loading times improved a little, but that's about it. You won't get better fps; for that you would have to get a better graphics card, memory or CPU.

**Cromewell** · 08-09-2007, 08:24 PM

Quote:

maybe 5fps of difference in gaming.

Who told you this? RAIDing your harddrives wont get you more FPS. It will help loading times a little though.

08-09-2007, 12:01 AM	#1 (permalink)
leetkyle Platinum Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Northern Ireland Age: 17 Posts: 587	RAID or not? As a gamer, a small 74GB Raptor is just crippling me - so I have decided to sell it and go with some much larger disks. I do quite a bit of gaming (Battlefield 2, CM: DiRT etc). What solution would be best? RAID 0 2 x 250 GB Western Digital WD2500KS Caviar SE SATA300 7200RPM 16MB Cache Hard Drive Single Drive 500GB Western Digital WD5000KS Caviar SATA-II 7200RPM 16MB Cache Hard Drive The single drive is £15 cheaper and also means that my disk failure rate is "half" (in theory, compared to RAID 0) I appreciate your input. K. __________________ Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 @ 2.13Ghz \| Asus P5W "Digital Home" Deluxe \| 2GB Corsair XMS2 PC2-6400 800MHz 5-5-5-12-T1 \| Hiper Type-R 580W Blue \| 74.3GB Western Digital Raptor 10000RPM 8MB Cache \| 300GB Samsung 7200RPM 16MB Cache \| DVD+/-RW Dual Layer 18x18 \| LG CD-R/DVD-ROM Drive \| Antec P180 \| X1900XT 512MB Slave Edition w/ Arctic Accellero \| Creative Audigy 2 ZS 17" Dell TFT 1280x1024 \| 17" Sony TFT 1280x1024 \| Saitek Rumble Cyborg 3D Joystick \| Creative T5100 5.1 Speakers

08-09-2007, 03:44 AM	#3 (permalink)
The_Other_One Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Lexington, NC Age: 23 Posts: 12,368	RAID is good... I used a pair of Raptors a while back and it was pretty darn fast. However, under normal circumstances, I really saw no performance increase over a good single drive. Plus you have more of a chance of failure, more power, more heat... Typically I'd stay away from RAID unless it's much cheaper or you do something like a mirrored set. __________________ Desktop * Athlon X2 4200 \| 2G RAM \| 160G HD \| 7600GT Laptop1 * C2D T5550 \| 3G RAM \| 120G HD \| Intel x3100 Laptop2 * C2D T5250 \| 2G RAM \| 160G HD \| Intel x3100

08-09-2007, 09:25 AM	#4 (permalink)
leetkyle Platinum Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Northern Ireland Age: 17 Posts: 587	It would be my primary drive and I'd install all my applications on it etc. 500GB is quite a lot to lose - so I am sort of leaning towards one of the single drives because it is both cheaper and less likelihood of failure. I appreciate both your inputs __________________ Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 @ 2.13Ghz \| Asus P5W "Digital Home" Deluxe \| 2GB Corsair XMS2 PC2-6400 800MHz 5-5-5-12-T1 \| Hiper Type-R 580W Blue \| 74.3GB Western Digital Raptor 10000RPM 8MB Cache \| 300GB Samsung 7200RPM 16MB Cache \| DVD+/-RW Dual Layer 18x18 \| LG CD-R/DVD-ROM Drive \| Antec P180 \| X1900XT 512MB Slave Edition w/ Arctic Accellero \| Creative Audigy 2 ZS 17" Dell TFT 1280x1024 \| 17" Sony TFT 1280x1024 \| Saitek Rumble Cyborg 3D Joystick \| Creative T5100 5.1 Speakers

08-09-2007, 10:06 AM	#5 (permalink)
TheMajor Silver Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: The Netherlands Age: 22 Posts: 187	RAID0 is not really worth it. I have 2 drives in RAID0, loading times improved a little, but that's about it. You won't get better fps; for that you would have to get a better graphics card, memory or CPU. __________________ My profile

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