SATA driver Rant!!!

[Squid1]

Assuming I can get XP on a RAID 0 how would "ya'll" set up a config for a gaming computer? I'll have the two 80 gig WD Caviars`and two 36 gig Raptors. My PSU is not on the "recommended" list, but I have not really had any issues beyond the floppy cable thing.

 

I would first make sure that RAID-0 is actually a performance advantage for you.

 

RAID-0 does not speed up small reads at random locations, which most of program startup is made of (read programs, config file, resolve dll symbols etc).

 

However, RAID-0 speeds up simultaneous reads and writes (happens a lot when you don't have enough RAM) and it speeds up large contiguous reads, which happens when you start some games (but not for others), when reading large textures paks, maps and the like.

 

You should only risk raid-0 when you know it's actually giving you something.

[allthatwhichis]

The reason I was advised to try a RAID0 is when playing Oblivion I get a slight hesitation when the game loads different areas of the world. I was told that running everything off the one drive may be causing this. I am not sure what else could cause this with my setup.

 

I got the OS installed on the single Raptor last night and I am trying to get my programs on the 2x80 RAID0. I got it set up but get different problems and results depending on what SATA controller I put different drives. This moring before I came to work I had all 3 drive on the NF4 controller since I can't seem to get the Sil... driver to work right. I got a new driver last night but have yet to install it. when I booted up it to a LONG pause at the second "Detecting IDE" moment...

 

I will try the new Sil... driver tonight and see if that helps it see the RAID there. It won't even see the Raptor on those SATA ports, and the boot time is way too long with all 3 drives on the NF4 ports. Hopefully I can get a little game time in tonight... :drool:

[Squid1]

The reason I was advised to try a RAID0 is when playing Oblivion I get a slight hesitation when the game loads different areas of the world. I was told that running everything off the one drive may be causing this. I am not sure what else could cause this with my setup.

 

Could be a driver problem in Windoze.

 

You can make use of two drives without raid-0. You could put the OS (and hence all the DLLs) onto one drive and the game on another.

 

If you page out a lot due to memory shortage it would also help to give the pagefile on the drive that the game is not on a much higher priority. But you have 2 GB so I think you probably don't page out a lot.