Which upgrade would benefit this system RAM or a RAID 0 config?

[1ManArmY]

Looking at upgrading a system that consists of
P4 3.0C
ASUS P4C 800-E Deluxe
512 DDR RAM (400MHZ)
120 WD HD
Audigy 2 Platinum
EvGA 5900 Ultra
A05 DVD Burner
Samsung CD Burner
Win XP Home

Debating on adding an addtional 512 of DDR to bring the total to 1 GIG or add another 120 Hard drive and put it in RAID 0 configuration? Will the system benefit from the additional RAM and if so by how much? Does RAID 0 only benefit load times or is there more it? Plan to back up critcal data in case of HD failure so everything isn't totally loss. System used to process a lot of digital photos and plan to convert VHS videos to DVD. No Video editing at this time. Your thoughts please.

 

[InlineFive]

That new system over your current one in your sig won't be worth the price. Keep the one you have since it already has HT on it. That's just for the main components though because I have a DVD+RW drive and it's really cool so you could get that.

 

[Jeff7181]

You may not see the benefits of more RAM or RAID 0 with what you intend to use it for. But the extra storage space of another hard drive could come in handy.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
You may not see the benefits of more RAM or RAID 0 with what you intend to use it for. But the extra storage space of another hard drive could come in handy.

He's working with lots of pictures and converting video. I say BOTH would be a benefit. RAID-0 would make working with both MUCH snappier in load times, and more memory would allow him to smoothly work with multiple projects at once.

Hell, I notice my RAID-0 array just in day to day stuff because my HDD is the only thing really slowing down my system.

 

[poppyq]

I saw a bigger performance gain going from 512 to 1gb (single channel to dual channel) than I did in going from 120gb drive to 2 80gb in raid 0...however, the notice was more in game load times (specifically bf1942/dc). Overall though, even in windows I notice faster times. If you can do it, go for both, but I saw the greater benefit from the ram upgrade.

 

[1ManArmY]

That new system over your current one in your sig won't be worth the price. Keep the one you have since it already has HT on it. That's just for the main components though because I have a DVD+RW drive and it's really cool so you could get that.

Talking about 2 separate systems although I do plan on upgrading my system to a 800 BUS haven't decided on CPU yet.

How much ram does win XP need to be efficient? Is 512 sufficient?

 

[Sheriff]

512MB is sufficient enough for XP although some HardCore Gamers and Vid/Photo Editors may disagree and reccomend 1Gig

 

[Regs]

512 Sufficant? For just Windows XP and a games, yeah. However I like to have 1 Gig because of photoshop and sound editing software. The paging files grow humungous when you have 300 MB sized projects on a working stage during a process.

 

[1ManArmY]

So if you had to choose 1 upgrade what would more beneficial in overall performance the RAM or RAID 0?

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: 1ManArmY
So if you had to choose 1 upgrade what would more beneficial in overall performance the RAM or RAID 0?

I'd choose RAID-0. However, I know most here would choose RAM. I guess slow load times are just a huge peeve of mine.

 

[Dack76]

Both...why not.

 

[1ManArmY]

Well to add 512 DDR 400 (PC3200) Mushkin Level 2 in a dual pack (2X256) running on a dual channel board is an additional 100+
bringing the total to 1 GIG versus a 120 WD Hard drive

 

[1ManArmY]

Dual pack quite spendy

512 DUAL PACK

 

[JimRaynor]

that's way overpriced, it's much cheaper at newegg.

 

[1ManArmY]

yes I would agree as newegg is 45 dollars cheaper, not sure if the price from the Mushkin link is dated from Sep 03?
newegg LVII Dual Pack

What advantage does a dual pack have over regular PC 3200 (Lev1) 256 sticks of RAM other than the obvious overclocking capabilities?

 

[JimRaynor]

The timings are a little tighter, which will mean they are a little faster.

Today I just got my matched pair of Kingston hyperx 3200 (2x256). I shopped around for a long time and I was going to get the mushkin for awhile. However, Kingston has just as good timings and were over 20 dollars cheaper for the same thing. I had one experience a couple years ago where I had a stick of ram go bad and my rma experience with them was fantastic. After that I told myself I would consider buying from them again in the future.

To the point, I noticed more of a performance increase going from my crucial 1x512 pc 2700 (suck timings) to the hyperx than I did going from my barracuda IV to my raptor! I think you even mentioned something about loading bf, and there is a significant difference now. It used to take me forever to alt tab outta that sucker and now I can do it almost instantaneously. I guess the tighter timings, higher frequency, and dual channel mode all make a big difference.

 

[1ManArmY]

So when I upgrade my current system (selling CPU,MOBO & RDRAM to offset cost) listed below to a system consisting of
P4 3.2 C
ASUS P4C 800-E Deluxe


Should I go for a 1 GiG Dual pack (2X512) DDR 400 PC 3200 or start out at a 512 (2X256) Dual pack?

Mainly a gaming system, some digital photos, movies and MP3's

 

[blazerazor]

What about if a drive goes bad in raid 0.

How hard is it to recover? I know raid4 be best, both striping and backup, but who can afford 4 drives?

So is raid 0 better than a 10,000rpm Raptor? or a SCSI?

 

[1ManArmY]

Well in Raid 0 if one Hard drive goes bad you are SOL, so without religious back-ups of critical data it's a total loss.
I have an external WD 80 gig hard drive to archive data files but I'm wondering if the RAID 0 is worth it? If all its going to do is increase load times in games is it really worth it.

 

[JimRaynor]

If you got the money I'd say go for the full gig. If not, 512. I'm running 512 right now and I'm fine. I was thinking about getting one 512 stick and then planned to add another one later, but then I decided I could get 2x256 right now, be able to run dual channel, and still be able to add 512 later on if I want to. Still, would be nice to have a gig right now ^^;

 

[1ManArmY]

So is it better to have 2 512 sticks running in dual channel or 4 256 sticks? Which configuration will be faster or are they going to be the same?