Another Hdd Just for Games?!

[NaOH]

So I have a 160gb WD Hdd hooked up to primary IDE that I install everything on. I'm thinking about getting a second SATA smaller drive (say 60-80gb) so that I can install ALL my games onto. I want to do this so when I rip and encode a dvd, and play with large video files (all on my primary drive), I can also game at the same time. This way eliminating the hdd bottle neck? In my head it sounds right, what do you guys think? My sys specs are in my sig.

 

[arcenite]

Huh?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: AMDUALY
So I have a 160gb WD Hdd hooked up to primary IDE that I install everything on. I'm thinking about getting a second SATA smaller drive (say 60-80gb) so that I can install ALL my games onto. I want to do this so when I rip and encode a dvd, and play with large video files, I can also game at the same time. This way eliminating the hdd bottle neck? In my head it sounds right, what do you guys think? My sys specs are in my sig.

Hmm, that'd make an interesting article. I wonder if having your apps on a seperate drive would really speed things up noticeably...files and system stuff can go on the boot drive and then games can go on a seperate drive; I'd imagine it'd be pretty quick if you have a couple of Raptors or something...

 

[arcenite]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: AMDUALY
So I have a 160gb WD Hdd hooked up to primary IDE that I install everything on. I'm thinking about getting a second SATA smaller drive (say 60-80gb) so that I can install ALL my games onto. I want to do this so when I rip and encode a dvd, and play with large video files, I can also game at the same time. This way eliminating the hdd bottle neck? In my head it sounds right, what do you guys think? My sys specs are in my sig.

Hmm, that'd make an interesting article. I wonder if having your apps on a seperate drive would really speed things up noticeably...files and system stuff can go on the boot drive and then games can go on a seperate drive; I'd imagine it'd be pretty quick if you have a couple of Raptors or something...

Except for loading, games don't us the HD all that much...

 

[NaOH]

Originally posted by: arcenite

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: AMDUALY
So I have a 160gb WD Hdd hooked up to primary IDE that I install everything on. I'm thinking about getting a second SATA smaller drive (say 60-80gb) so that I can install ALL my games onto. I want to do this so when I rip and encode a dvd, and play with large video files, I can also game at the same time. This way eliminating the hdd bottle neck? In my head it sounds right, what do you guys think? My sys specs are in my sig.

Hmm, that'd make an interesting article. I wonder if having your apps on a seperate drive would really speed things up noticeably...files and system stuff can go on the boot drive and then games can go on a seperate drive; I'd imagine it'd be pretty quick if you have a couple of Raptors or something...

Except for loading, games don't us the HD all that much...

Yeah, but when you are using the same hdd that your game is on to rip and encode videos that are 8gb in size.... it not only uses your hdd full time, it also takes a LONG time. So when I do actually have to load in a game, the sh1t hits the fan.

 

[arcenite]

Originally posted by: AMDUALY

Originally posted by: arcenite

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: AMDUALY
So I have a 160gb WD Hdd hooked up to primary IDE that I install everything on. I'm thinking about getting a second SATA smaller drive (say 60-80gb) so that I can install ALL my games onto. I want to do this so when I rip and encode a dvd, and play with large video files, I can also game at the same time. This way eliminating the hdd bottle neck? In my head it sounds right, what do you guys think? My sys specs are in my sig.

Hmm, that'd make an interesting article. I wonder if having your apps on a seperate drive would really speed things up noticeably...files and system stuff can go on the boot drive and then games can go on a seperate drive; I'd imagine it'd be pretty quick if you have a couple of Raptors or something...

Except for loading, games don't us the HD all that much...

Yeah, but when you are using the same hdd that your game is on to rip and encode videos that are 8gb in size.... it not only uses your hdd full time, it also takes a LONG time. So when I do actually have to load in a game, the sh1t hits the fan.

I suppose. I usually have two hard drives anyway. My C drive is a raptor, with all of my games and apps and other registry-required apps. My D drive is all of my downloads and other programs that will still work after reformatting my C drive if I have to. I always build a machine this way, makes things a lot easier especially come time to finding drivers for everything after reformatting...

 

[NaOH]

I usually use my external for my drivers and downloads but doesn't hurt to back it up again since I would definitely have the space even if I get a 60gb drive. I don't know, was thinking about upgrading either my ram to 2gb or get another hdd but I think the hdd would be more worth it. Should i get ide or sata? My current drive is ide. I was afraid that sharing the channel would negate having two hdd for dual core.

 

[arcenite]

Originally posted by: AMDUALY
I usually use my external for my drivers and downloads but doesn't hurt to back it up again since I would definitely have the space even if I get a 60gb drive. I don't know, was thinking about upgrading either my ram to 2gb or get another hdd but I think the hdd would be more worth it. Should i get ide or sata? My current drive is ide.

I would say go sata either way. This way if you have to transfer files between the two drives you do not experience major slow downs. In my experience even if two drives are on different ide channels, slow downs will still occur. SATA FTW.

Edit: If you play any of the latest games, you would benefit greatly from an additional gig of memory.

 

[arcenite]

dp

 

[NaOH]

Originally posted by: arcenite

Originally posted by: AMDUALY
I usually use my external for my drivers and downloads but doesn't hurt to back it up again since I would definitely have the space even if I get a 60gb drive. I don't know, was thinking about upgrading either my ram to 2gb or get another hdd but I think the hdd would be more worth it. Should i get ide or sata? My current drive is ide.

I would say go sata either way. This way if you have to transfer files between the two drives you do not experience major slow downs. In my experience even if two drives are on different ide channels, slow downs will still occur. SATA FTW.

Edit: If you play any of the latest games, you would benefit greatly from an additional gig of memory.

Yeah, I was afraid of the 2 hdd fighting for bandwidth on the 1 channel. I only play WoW, CSs, and BF2 at the moment and they run fine for me. I'll have to look into this more to decide.....

 

[arcenite]

Originally posted by: AMDUALY

Originally posted by: arcenite

Originally posted by: AMDUALY
I usually use my external for my drivers and downloads but doesn't hurt to back it up again since I would definitely have the space even if I get a 60gb drive. I don't know, was thinking about upgrading either my ram to 2gb or get another hdd but I think the hdd would be more worth it. Should i get ide or sata? My current drive is ide.

I would say go sata either way. This way if you have to transfer files between the two drives you do not experience major slow downs. In my experience even if two drives are on different ide channels, slow downs will still occur. SATA FTW.

Edit: If you play any of the latest games, you would benefit greatly from an additional gig of memory.

Yeah, I was afraid of the 2 hdd fighting for bandwidth on the 1 channel. I only play WoW, CSs, and BF2 at the moment and they run fine for me. I'll have to look into this more to decide.....

Well if BF2 runs fine for you then I wouldn't worry too much.. though for me when I play BF2 on some maps it takes up nearly 1.5 gigs of memory

 

[dBTelos]

Well, I like where you are going with this and think it will work out. But I think you would benifit more if you get a 74GB Raptop SATA and use that as the primary, system drive to run games and OS on. Then use the 160GB as the storage drive to do your video editing, converting, etc. on while playing games. This is of corse if your chipset supports SATA II.

 

[NaOH]

Originally posted by: dBTelos
Well, I like where you are going with this and think it will work out. But I think you would benifit more if you get a 74GB Raptop SATA and use that as the primary, system drive to run games and OS on. Then use the 160GB as the storage drive to do your video editing, converting, etc. on while playing games. This is of corse if your chipset supports SATA II.

I think I'll go for the hdd upgrade (80gb). My ram will get cheaper once AM2 hits shelves and everyone is switching to ddr2.

Edit: Would I have regular programs (aim, microsoft word, etc) on my primary then? Mine supports SATA II i believe.....it says SATA 3.0gb/s