System Setup

[JJADAMS]

What would be the best way to set up my system? Here are the specs

Motherboard: GA-8PE667 Ultra WITH RAID
Processor: P4 2.4
Samsung 512 memory
2 Maxtor 7200 ata 133 40 gig hd
Sony DVD/R/RW
ATI 9700 PRO
Areal sound card.
I also have a spare 40 gig maxtor 5200 rpm and 40 gig IBM 5200 RPM
Windows XP Pro

What I normally do with this PC is games and videos of my daughter. Should I run raid or normal? I don't want to overclock since my wife will not let me buy more hardware :-(. Please any suggestions on how I should set this up and get the most out of it. I will be loading tonight, Thnks in advance

 

[DTSS]

I'd forget about the raid config...due to the oversight that people seem to think they get a major preformance increase from raid. " YES AND NO" Raid WILL NOT INCREASE you preformance in games. Raid increases write speed, not read. Therefore, unless you are running a server- I think its over kill. Those 5200 rpm HD's will slow down your preformance some compared to your 7200 rpm drives. Stick with those and install them on IDE channel 1 on the same ribbon cable as master and slave drives. Install Windows on the Master drive and perhaps use the the other drive "partition" for your games and video. Normally 2 drives for a total of 80gigs is plenty storage for gaming and some video editing.

Goodluck - DTSS, Daryl

 

[jackschmittusa]

80gb is not a lot for video editing. It may suffice for the dabbler.

 

[DTSS]

Like I said, Some Video editing! Still, 80 gig is still alot of storage!

 

[dakels]

I would just install basically like DTSS stated. I don't see the need for RAID unless you are doing or planning some serious video capture. Keep the OS and applications on one 7200rpm drive and install the other as a slave and your main work area (files, video editing, etc). If you need more storage you can put the 5400rpm drives in but I'd make sure the 7200rpm drives are holding the current work and the 5400rpm's are more archival. I probably wouldn't bother partitioning your main bootup since games can take a huge amount of space in the applications folder. I have about 10 games (some are 2-3 discs) loaded and they alone take up over 12 gigs in my programs folder.

You have a decent amount of RAM but not huge. I'd consider pointing XP's page filing (control panels->performance-> ~advanced memory config) to the non bootup 7200rpm drive. It may help a little if and when you load up some large video files, and even small <100mb video files may want over 200-500mb's especially when considering swap space and undo's.

Your other parts should work just fine, get the most current drivers and load up the games. Make sure you get all your equipment and current drivers loaded up (from the corresponding web sites not the factory CD's) before installing the software, especially your video and audio cards. It usually helps avoid some future problems and redecting of hardware.

You should be able to get this machine up and running within a few hours at most. You can do a burn in with something like Sandra to see if everything checks out ok under some stress.

here's a direct FTP link to SiSoft Sandra 2003

use the burn in wizard. good luck and enjoy the new system.