JackAxe

Yeah, RAID is unnecessary for games. I stopped using it because of past reliablity issues, but I've heard the newer setups are reliable.

I had a 15K cheetah in my old G3. It was connected to a U2W Adaptec card. It's sloooww by todays standards.

AfterEffects under Windows supports 3 gigs or physical RAM. It's using that work around hack thing to do so. But I'm wondering if that works on an older Athlon though, since they only support 32-bit physical memory? Or is it only an option for procs that support more than 32-bit?

Anyways, doesn't really matter since I use a Mac for that app, I'm just curious. But for the most part, buying more then 2 gigs for a non 64-bit OS is a waste.

<]=)

__________________

I be a hearty pirate that plunders many waffles.

The Dread Pirate Monkey Gizmo has scurvy! :)

Nintendo DS and Wii, me gaming machines of choice.

SamuraiCatJB

Actually, you can, and do get benefit from RAID0, but, and it is a huge "but" it takes you doing your homework. As you said, Karim, a fast hard-drive is the easiest way to go. To make a proper RAID0, you must first determine which drive you want to RAID (don't buy it yet), research the reviews, check the read/write/seek issues in reviews and evaluate where it is bottlenecking. Read performance can only be improved significantly with SATA II controllers because it ups the theoretical limit to 300mb, and single drive performance is already 75mb plus on read (depending on drive up to 125mb). So two fast drives on a SATA I controller can only reach a theoretical 150mb read and you are almost there. No real benefit.

Even on a SATA II you have to make sure if you know you are going for read/write benefit or both. That is where drive homework comes in. Any two drives will probably still be less than a single SATA II drive or a fast SATA I because the bottle neck is always in control and I/O disk technology is still relatively fast -- even at 7200rpm if you could stream data at the spin rate it would be more than 300MB/s so you will always have to buffer and skip the data on the spin cycle. A fast hard drive means less time waiting for the same area on the platter to come around again before re-starting the read/write.

RAID is never something you can just casually throw together and hope it works, it takes a lot of up front planning. I do pull 240MB/s read on my SATA II RAID on SATA I drives (though they have command queuing to help), but it took planning to do it. I also pull 275MB/s off a SCSI RAID on read, that is over two times the performance of any one drive. But the SCSI RAID is standard for work, and costs a small fortune by itself. The SATA RAID was my proof that work was just trying to throw fast drives at a RAID controller to minimize thinking but maximize costs.

Plus, if you have RAID, you will notice all of your drive inconsistancies more, usually fragmentation. A fragmented RAID drive will reduce the performance to the same (or less) of a single fragmented drive because of the RAID overhead. So a RAID takes a lot more maintenance. Can you really get twice the drive performance of a single fast disk? yes. But you will work for it. Is it worth it to you? that anyone should ask. For my work, and the fact I bring work home, yes, I need it. But I also make a point to understand it. a RAID is just not something to throw together and ignore. Most of the benefit in RAID 0 is in write mode. anyone doing large movies, animations, video recording, etc. will get the most benefit. Read you can only get maximum of 200% single drive performance, but Write you can easily quadrouple or more depending on controller and drive. The controller makes a HUGE difference on throughput to a RAID and amount of CPU overhead.

__________________
And now, Grandfather, I ask you to bless the White Man. He needs your Wisdom, your guidance. You see, for so long, he has tried to destroy my people, and only feels comfortable when given power. Bless them, show them the peace we understand, teach them humility. For I fear they will someday destroy themselves and their children, As they have done so Mother Earth. I plead, I cry. After all, They are my Brothers.... ~ Prayer ~

SamuraiCatJB

Here's one of the better RAID0 level drives. It's only 7200RPM, but large Cache and SATA II command queuing and Cache R/W help significantly.
Single Raptor vs Single SATA II drive:
http://www.cluboc.net/reviews/hard_...hi/T7K250/2.htm

Single Raptor vs RAID 0 SATA II drive:
http://www.cluboc.net/reviews/hard_...i/T7K250/p3.htm

As Jack said, though, there is risk. RAID 0 is a definate one. I'm running n+1 RAID0 which means I have a hot-swap spare, the controller automatically brings it in on failure. And I backup a lot.

A single drive means you have a certain percentage of loosing everything all at once, an n number of RAID0 drives means you have n chances of loosing everything. RAID should never be considered lightly. But that does not mean it should never be considered. However, RAID0 tossed together by Alienware and others are selling the name, not the real thing. Most don't use decent RAID controllers, or worse, software RAID. (where's Jack's puking icon when I need it?) As with anything, pay attention, do your homework, and ignore the salesman -- he only wants to buy himself a 60" TV.

__________________
And now, Grandfather, I ask you to bless the White Man. He needs your Wisdom, your guidance. You see, for so long, he has tried to destroy my people, and only feels comfortable when given power. Bless them, show them the peace we understand, teach them humility. For I fear they will someday destroy themselves and their children, As they have done so Mother Earth. I plead, I cry. After all, They are my Brothers.... ~ Prayer ~

JackAxe

I'm paranoid of loosing things. I'm anxious for BlueRay to finally be released.

<]=)

__________________

I be a hearty pirate that plunders many waffles.

The Dread Pirate Monkey Gizmo has scurvy! :)

Nintendo DS and Wii, me gaming machines of choice.

SUCHY

Get a card with TV-out, if you done have one. Waching movies on a TV sure beats watching them on a computer screen.

As for the sound, I personaly don't believe in PC speaker systems. I have an Sony Tuner with 4 book shelf speakers hooked up to my PC. The sound is much superior than that form a PC speaker system.