fast storage solution for gaming at <250$ ?

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Michaelius

Supreme [H]ardness
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Sep 8, 2003
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Hmm since I think my computer is fast enough when it comes to CPU and GPU for my needs there's one thing remaining which needs improvement - storage and game/programs/os loading times

I currently use Samsung F1 640 GB drive for my os system (I got lucky to receive 333 gb platters one in the samsung rulette). Current controler for raid would be SB600 integrated one but i'll replace it to something with ICH10R in few months.

My budget for this is about 1000 PLN (price of Velociraptor 300 gb +25$ for comparision in us money)

So after reading for few days i narrowed my options to 4 variants:
1) 60/64 GB SSD MLC drive like patriot warp v2 or ocz v2 )
+ very fast
+ can be used for PS3 gaming when it get's outdated)
- jmicron controler slow downs
- way too small (only vista + few games will fit)

2) single Velociraptor 300 GB
+ fast
+ big enough
+ no weird issues from raid/flash memory effects/bad controllers
- might become badly overpriced storage space very soon if SSD advances fast

3) pair of Velociraptors 74/80 GB in raid 0
+ faster than single VR300 slower (?) than SSD
+ big enough
- warranty problems (I'd have to import them from other EU countries or risk on ebay)
- expensive (with massive shipping cost I'd probably go at least 20-30% above budget)

4) pair of new Seagate 500 GB single platter drives short stroked to 250 gb in raid 0
+ a lot of possible space
+ can be used as storage system later when i buy pair of SSDs next year or two
+ they cost 500 PLN instead of 900
? how fast would it be compared to single VR ?

Which one would you choose?

PS. Just to make sure if i short stroke 250 gb out of 2x500 drives can i still use remaining 750 ones for other particion ?
 
Why not a pair of WD6401aals
Cheap and fast

Or a single vraptor
 
If you get a MLC SSD get a OCZ vertex or an Intel. Period. Do not consider any JM602 based drives, with the possible exception of the G.Skill Titan and OCZ Apex.

Bang for buck you are best off with some WD 640 drives in RAID0 (2 or 3 should do it) on a ICH10R.
 
Wouldn't it be better to use 1x500 platter disk instead of wd with 2x320 for raid 0 ?
 
The access times on the 500gb platter drives are not as good.

for a 7200 rpm drive, the WD 6401AALS is still the best.
 
+1 for 2 WD6400AALS or 2 WD6400AAKS's in RAID0. Shortstroke 'em and be better off and cheaper than a single VRaptor.
 
ok I'll get WD640x2 then :)
Is there something like optimal size of shortstroking ? (I think I'd go with 300 GB)

And actually is there more to short stroking or i just create partition after building raid array (I've never used raid before)
 
Keep the size of each "half" under 50% smaller than a single platter of the drive. The smaller the better within the limits of your needs (OS + games).

The short stroking is part of building the raid array, it's what makes the intel matrix stuff "special". You can sorta duplicate it via partitioning, but since you have the ICH use that.
 
Michaelius said:
ok I'll get WD640x2 then :)
Is there something like optimal size of shortstroking ? (I think I'd go with 300 GB)

And actually is there more to short stroking or i just create partition after building raid array (I've never used raid before)
Click to expand...

I always shortstroked a 60GB volume for just Vista x64. This kept it lightening fast and clean. A games/app partition first on the second volume and then static storage / music partitions on the remaining portion.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you put data on the remaining portion of your array, aren't you voiding all the advantages of shortroking? The heads will have to travel all the way to the other partition making the drives perform as normal raided drives and not shortstroked drives.
 
Using the rest of the left over space of a short stroked array is a trade off that some people make when they need the additional space. Yes it will reduce some of the advantages of the short stroked array, but since the heads will live in the OS partition MOST of the time, it still offers some advantages to a single huge partition.

Personally, with the price of hard drives, I don't see why most people wouldn't just pick up a separate storage drive.

OP, why don't you just pick up 1 or 2 more F1 drives and RAID/short stroke them together? Not quite as past as the WD 640's but you would not be able to tell the difference in real life.

Don
 
Raptors are a waste of cash. You can get multiple 7200 RPM drives in a RAID array for the same price and blow the throughput away. What do you think you will notice more, the change from 4ms access time for the Raptor compared to about 7ms for the slower drives, or the change in throughtput to about double?

Your games for the most part will be about load time. Load time depends on throughput more than access time. Access time only becomes important if you game constantly hits the hard drive while playing.
 
DonDon said:
OP, why don't you just pick up 1 or 2 more F1 drives and RAID/short stroke them together? Not quite as past as the WD 640's but you would not be able to tell the difference in real life.
Click to expand...

Becouse Samsung are assholes and you can buy F1 640 drives with diffrent platter sizes - 320 ones will have results close to WD 6400AAKS or ones that are close in speed to 2-3 years old T166 in performance and only way to find which one of them is inside is running hdtach or hd tune

bad samsung F1:
http://forum.purepc.pl/redirect.php?url=http://www.fotosik.pl

probably 3 platter 750gb version with one head disabled
 
In the end i decided to pull the trigger on Patriot Warp v2 30 gigs for most important games and AAKS for OS/aps.
 
Nice. After you get it up and running, let us know how you like it.

I have 3 Patriot Warps 64's in RAID 0 on my new rig. I think I am going to steal 1 and put it in my work laptop as I hate using it now that I have SSD's on my main rigs.

Yea, I need to update my sig. Maybe later in the week.

Don
 
Michaelius said:
In the end i decided to pull the trigger on Patriot Warp v2 30 gigs for most important games and AAKS for OS/aps.
Click to expand...

You have SSDs, but you're not using them for your OS??

I think you're missin' out man. I KNOW you're missin' out.
 
Why?
Vista 64+ games particion would have to be 90+ GBs.

For OS usage I'd need Vertex or Intel-M class SSD (or a bunch of Jmicron drives)
Intel 80 M or 2x60gb vertex would be 200-300 euro more.

Worst case scenario after few monts Warp goes to netbook and i get a bunch of Vertexes v2 or something like this.
 
I would just buy a single raptor, for a $250 budget you can't really go wild with storage performances. At least with the raptor you get storage capacity and good performance.

On the flip side you can get a small SSD for your operating system and select installs and use the existing drive you have for your applications/games.
 
Not available in Poland for god knows how long

Besides it's too late i already bough Warp :)
 
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