Whats the advantage of RAID for a gamer?

[Akaz1976]

I am not overly concerned with the safety of my data since i dont really have anything irreplaceable on my HDDs. But i would be intersted in any performance boost that a RAID setup might deliver!

Is there any performance boost? or is RAID simply so popular cause it allows everyone to back up date? which set up type do i need to run to get the performance boost if there is one!

For the record i am considering 2 WD 80GB SE drives for RAID. Otherwise i would go with one 120GB HDD drive of same make!

Akaz

 

[MichaelD]

RAID 0, also known as "striping" uses two drives, preferably the same make, model, size, speed to create one big drive. The primary advantage is faster load times and faster saves.

For a gamer (that's me) the game initially loads faster and the time b/t levels is reduced considerably. You should have plenty of system memory (512mb is ideal) in order to take advantage of the higher transfer rate RAID 0 offers.

Typically, a RAID 0 stripe transfers about a third faster than a single drive.

 

[2nd1stXP]

Unfortunately there isn't a direct performance boost in games. Most games store ingame info in your ram. There are instances where some info is probably swapped but the only time raid really gives you a boost is in loading levels or starting a program/game. I have raid set up on my machine and am trying to decide if I really need it. It is really fun and snappy in loading programs from disk but as far as your games are conscerned... Actually, I'm not sure that you don't have a SLIGHT loss of gaming performance because of the overhead of calculating the raid 0 stripe. You won't see a boost in the almighty frame rate but only in load times.... I think raid is a lot of fun but if you want a gaming boost then raid isn't the place to find it. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

 

[halkebul]

Unless you need a fault-tolerant data storage system, don't complicate your setup. Get a Western Digital Special Edition Hard Drive (plenty fast) and be done with it.

 

[Sunner]

Like Michael said, your load times will be reduced, but your FTP is Quake3 for example, won't be affected.
So if you're looking for a good performance boost, a new harddrive ain't the way to go, in your case I'd look at getting a new mobo/CPU.

 

[Akaz1976]

in your case I'd look at getting a new mobo/CPU.

heh, dont i know that one. My CPU/mobo/ram combo is choking the life out of my vid card. I hopeing to upgrade to P4 2.X with 512 MB 4200 RIMMs in Nov/Dec time frame.

But at the same time my 30gig HDD has run out of space serveral times and i really need more space. So i guess based on the feed back here and based on teh fact that i dont want too complicated system (i hate trouble shooting PCs) i will go with a simple 120 gig WD SE drive!

Akaz

PS. Thanx for all the input guys, its much appreciated!

 

[halkebul]

I hopeing to upgrade to P4 2.X with 512 MB 4200 RIMMs in Nov/Dec time frame.

By Nov/Dec it would better to get a motherboard with a chipset that supports Dual-Channel DDR as opposed to RIMM 4200. Preferably SiS's 655 or Via's P4X600 as Intel's 7205 chipset (formely known as "granite bay") only supports DDR266 while Sis and Via offerings support DDR333. Dual Channel DDR333 provides 5.2 GB/s of peak bandwidth, effectively delivering a heavy blow to rambus!!!

 

[Akaz1976]

If they are out by that time i probably will but i thought nothing with dual channel ddr would be coming out till Q1 03 at the earliest

Akaz

 

[XMan]

Originally posted by: halkebul
Unless you need a fault-tolerant data storage system, don't complicate your setup. Get a Western Digital Special Edition Hard Drive (plenty fast) and be done with it.

I have two WD SE's in RAID0. If one is "plenty fast", what's that?

 

[halkebul]

Volume production of the Sis 655 chipset begins in November, with motherboards including this chipset soon to follow. I would like to say motherboards will be available in december but january 2003 is possible.