Optimizing Dual Core potential with Hard Drive Setup.

[keichan82]

Hey all. I'm setting up my opt system and wanted some suggestions. Sorry for asking so much. I just want the best out of this system.

My system is :
Opteron 175 or 170 or 165 (2 are on the way, i will keep the best overclocker)
ThermalRight SI-120
DFI Expert Beta Bios 12/07
2 x 1GB OCZ Platinum 2-3-2-5
2 x eVga 7800GTX ACS3 SLI
2 x 74Gb Raptors
2 x 400Gb WD 16MB SATA2
2 x NEC DVD DL...
6 x Thermal Take Smart Fan
Sound Blaster Audigy 2
OCZ 520w PowerStream

I read that with dual core, you can be limited or bottlenecked by the hard drives. So it is better to run OS and programs in one and games in another.
How should I install my HDs?
Raid 0 Raptors for OS and Programs
Raid 0 WD for Games
or
One Raptor for programs and One Raptor for Games
or
Any other suggestions. Thanks.

 

[Furen]

You will only be limited by the HD if you have two different threads running and using the same HD. For example, if you have a video encoding thread running on one core and a game running on the other you may experience performance decreases when the two threads contend for IO time. You could curb this by making sure that both programs access different harddrives, the applications don't have to be on different harddrives but, using the encoder example above, having the output folder on a different harddrive from the Harddrive from which the game is running (and loading from) will keep this contention to a minimum.

Personally I'd try to get an NCQ Raid-0 array for your applications and a raid-1 NCQ array for your storage (you could raid-0 this too, if you dont care about data redundancy).

 

[RichUK]

First off this should have been posted in General Hardware, just FYI next time.

Lol, the hard drive does not bottle neck dual cores, it bottle necks processors in general. It is the slowest operating piece of hardware in any given system due to it being mechanical (except for the fans lol j/k ), and it operates in milliseconds, where as everything else works in nano seconds

Also do you really need that amount of storage, you may well do but that is a hell of a lot of storage. It doesn?t look like it?s a tailored system for a certain use, it looks like you just went and nabbed your dads credit card and went on a high level spending spree

If your set on running raid arrays then I would recommend running a raid 0 with the raptors, although you will sacrifice data redundancy against say raid 1, however you will have a slight overall performance improvement if accessing large amounts of data from the hard drive. Of course you can always use the large capacity 400GB disk for backups, if running a raid 0.

I wouldn?t really worry about hard drive management if it is not for professional use (and gaming isn?t considered professional use ). That?s a nice rig but no offence that is just overkill for most users, and please tell me you are running a high res display with those SLI?ed GFX cards.

 

[keichan82]

Lol..
Its a bit overkill but I got the GTX as gift and bought the other off ebay for $400.
Most the parts I had from my previous Computer.

Planning on getting the Dell 2405fpw hopefully that is a good match for my system

I think I'm going to run the OS and Programs on one Raptor and Games on another Raptor.
Raid 0 for the 400Gb as storage.
What you all think?

 

[OatMan]

I have been amazed at the performance benifit of my RAID 0 set up with my DC Opty.

3x Seagate 160GB SATA2 drives. Each single platter for max data density and now three channel pipes. Huge difference versus single drive.

I can only imagine what the new 150 GB Raptors would be like in a RAID set up.