Switching From ATA133 HD Too SATA HD

[ChrisHarris]

I currently have an ATA133 hard drive. It's a Maxtor DiamondMax 8 series. 40GB.

I have a Gigabyte MB that has 2 SATA ports built in. They are labeled SATA1 and SATA0 I want to switch to a dual SATA system. I don't really care about the storage capacity, because I don't dwnload or save a lot of stuff. My current 40gb HD still has 26gb free. A couple 80gb or 100gb drives will be more than enough for me.

I'm using Win XP Pro. 2GB of DDR400 plugged into 4 slots (4 sticks 500mb each) on the MB

Do I NEED a raid controller? I don't even know what a Raid controller is. What is it?

If my MB already has ports to plug the SATA drives in--will it work if I just buy 2 of them and plug them in? Or do I have to buy a Raid controller?

Any thoughts or idea on how to upgrade would be appreciated.

 

[apj101]

you only need a raid controller if you actually intend to set up a raid array with te drives, if you just intend to run them as seperate drives and your board has sata port then they will work just fine.

what board is it?

 

[ChrisHarris]

It's a gigabyte board. Model # GA-8IPE1000-G Rev 4.0

http://www.vibecomputers.com/index.cfm?loc=iview&vID=200161

It has 800mhz FSB and 4 dual channel memory slots. I have 4 sticks, 500mb each plugged into the slots. So, they are all full and running dual channel.

It has an AGP 8X video slot and 5 PCI slots.

It has Hyper Threading Technology to match my P4 3ghz CPU.

I am a gamer. Novice--at best, but I'm tryin'. I have read that raid controllers will tie the 2 hard drives together and make them run faster. I want that. I want it faster.

I'm tired of nickel and diming this thing. I have some tax money to dump into it and I want to just upgrade it and be done with it.

I'm buying a 7800GS video card. It's got the best specs and it will fit into my 8X AGP slot. I think it's about the best video card I can get for this board.

Now I want to get rid of this single ATA HD and use dual HD with my SATA ports. I want it FAST. I'm tired of getting my butt shot off in CS and Half Life. I get shot because my computer can't keep up with the rest of the game. It locks up and I get killed.

 

[apj101]

I am a gamer. Novice--at best, but I'm tryin'. I have read that raid controllers will tie the 2 hard drives together and make them run faster. I want that. I want it faster.

i'll tell you this now, raiding (the process of "tieing" multiple drives) together will not improve the performance of your gaming. It is over rated for the desktop market, and real performance gains are little.

Best thing to do it pick up a nice big sata drive, and run it alone.

Your choice of gpu is a good one.

Also be sure to look into a gentle spot of overclocking, to get the best out of rig when gaming.

 

[Geoff]

i'll tell you this now, raiding (the process of "tieing" multiple drives) together will not improve the performance of your gaming. It is over rated for the desktop market, and real performance gains are little.

remember, there are different types of RAID. RAID 0 shouldnt even count as RAID.

 

[ChrisHarris]

i'll tell you this now, raiding (the process of "tieing" multiple drives) together will not improve the performance of your gaming. It is over rated for the desktop market, and real performance gains are little.

Best thing to do it pick up a nice big sata drive, and run it alone.

Your choice of gpu is a good one.

Also be sure to look into a gentle spot of overclocking, to get the best out of rig when gaming.

I will take your advice and buy one large SATA drive.

Overclocking? Wouldn't have the faintest idea how to do it. I really don't want too. I paid over $200 for this CPU--and I don't want to cook it. I don't want to have too worry about it. I just want to turn it on and run it. I don't want to spend my time monitoring it for temps and fussing with it. I just want something stable and reliable.

How much could I really overclock it anyway? Maybe up too 3.2ghz or 3.4ghz--but at what cost? I am not willing to sacrifice reliability for another 200mhz of CPU speed.

It's fast enough for me. I just need to get my graphics card upgraded to the 7800GS and then get a SATA drive.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Geoff]

How much could I really overclock it anyway? Maybe up too 3.2ghz or 3.4ghz--but at what cost? I am not willing to sacrifice reliability for another 200mhz of CPU speed.
.

It depends on alot of factors, but you could get it anywhere from around 3.2Ghz to 3.8Ghz. Obviously it may be less or more, as i said it depends alot on your other hardware.

 

[ChrisHarris]

You ever heard this expression?

Do not medal in the affairs of dragons; for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

Thats my attitude about overclocking. I don't know how to do it. I don;t know if my other hardware is compatable. I don't know how hot I can run the CPU without doing damage. I don't know------------and on and on and on. I don't know squat about overclocking.

If I were to screw around and overclock this thing--it would smoke and blow a gasket on me within a week.

I bought the 3.0 P4 Prescott core processor because I wanted something fast. It's plenty fast enough for me. If I need a faster CPU--I'll buy a new one.

I appreciate that you guys have helped me out. And I admire your computer skills. But, I know my limits, and I know that I am very inexperienced at this sort of thing. Saftest way to avoid costing myself $200 is to leave well enough alone.

 

[Geoff]

You ever heard this expression?

Do not medal in the affairs of dragons; for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

Thats my attitude about overclocking. I don't know how to do it. I don;t know if my other hardware is compatable. I don't know how hot I can run the CPU without doing damage. I don't know------------and on and on and on. I don't know squat about overclocking.

If I were to screw around and overclock this thing--it would smoke and blow a gasket on me within a week.

I bought the 3.0 P4 Prescott core processor because I wanted something fast. It's plenty fast enough for me. If I need a faster CPU--I'll buy a new one.

I appreciate that you guys have helped me out. And I admire your computer skills. But, I know my limits, and I know that I am very inexperienced at this sort of thing. Saftest way to avoid costing myself $200 is to leave well enough alone.

A novice PC user shouldnt try overclocking, its meant for more advanced users, who know what there doing.