My OS is running on a new Seagate IDE drive. I just bought a Seagate SATA drive that I installed for more storage space. Will I <really> see increased performance if I reverse the config and run the OS off the SATA drive? It's a 7500rpm drive - not the Raptor.

Thanks!

Flyin_J<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Flying_J on 04/23/05 04:18 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

If they're both relatively new, then you won't see a huge difference in performance. Although SATA allows faster transfer rates the HDDs can't take advantage of it.

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<pre>that would be a 7200RPM</pre><p>__________________________________________________
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That was my understanding - based solely on what I've read on THG today. The IDE is about 2 months old (8mb cache) and I bought the SATA last week (also 8mb cache).

So a 2nd question if you will:

If I added another SATA drive and setup a stripe set would that increase performance? (I have the SI 3112 chipset on my board.)

Thanks so much for your replies.

Flyin_J

Always glad to help!

We'll need your system specs to be able to answer that one properly.

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Thanks!

Here are specs:

Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro 2 (rev. 1)
Athlon 3200+
1g HyperX (2 @ 512mb) in Dual Channel
Nvidia GeForce4 MX420 (PCI)
1-Seagate 160g IDE 8mb cache
1-Seagate 160g SATA 8mb cache
LinkSys 802.11 NIC
USR Internal Modem
Antec Case w/350-watt PS

Would I see performance increase if I added a 2nd Seagate SATA drive in RAID 0 configuration using the Sil3112 chip on my board? And if so, how much of an increase - best guess-timate?

Again, many thanks!

Flyin_J

I am running a RAID 0 configuaration on the same SATA RAID controller you have. Its the Silicon Image 3112. I noticed a huge jump in loading times and in overall performance of my machine. I have two 2x74 GB Raptors in RAID 0. I am using my old OS drive a Western Digital 80GB w/8MB as my backup drive. Therefore if my RAID 0 crashes, my important stuff is backed up. You could do the same, put the 2 SATA drives in RAID 0, and leave the 160 GB IDE drive as backup. I see where you have a 350 watt PSU. Antec is a good brand, but I would think you would be cutting it close running 3 hard drives. My reccomendation, would be to upgrade to at least a 400 watt PSU. I have a 430 watt Antec PSU. Go to my site, and check the specs of my whole system.

My System:
<A HREF="http://amdgamingrig.dyndns.org" target="_new">http://amdgamingrig.dyndns.org</A>

Our cases are almost identical. Mine has window in side panel that I don't like, but case was free so I can live with it. I'll probably end up buying 2 Raptors to use as you recommend and I'll upgrade PS when I do. But it's work time again - at least until the weekend!

Thanks!
j

Flyin_J

<i>> I have two 2x74 GB Raptors in RAID 0</i>

Right, so the reason you see a huge jump in OS performance is because you are using a RAPTOR, not because of the RAID0. In his instance he's talking about making a RAID0 of 7200rpm drives for his OS. If he does, he'll see hardly any benefit at all.

As far as performance, I am running 2 WD 250GB Sata drives in a raid 0. I dont run my os on it just games and movies. They have been benchmarked at 115 mb per sec were as my WD 200 GB drive, OS drive, was only at 53mb per sec.

The only real difference a person would see is load times. Once the os is loaded there is no difference.

Other than newer games I see the most performance by putting games on 10k and movies&pr0n&MP3 on RAID-0.

BTW my OS loads in <3s once in the Windows screen due to the Cheetah X15.

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<i>>They have been benchmarked at 115 mb per sec were as my WD 200 GB drive, OS drive, was only at 53mb per sec.</i>

In 100% continuous read, sure. Unfortunately the OS access pattern is 100% random read.