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RAID 0 - Great for gaming?... or....

K

kilgore777

Gawd
Joined
Sep 12, 2005
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896
I have recently read that Raid 0 doesn't benefit 3D gaming because data packets are pulled more randomly from the drive than in a process such as video editing (where packets are stored and retrieved consecutively).

Was anything missed here? Do you really receive a boost in performance with RAID 0 in gaming, or is it unnecessary? :confused:

I am looking to eventually build my own system (probably early next year) and I need some advice. Thanks! ;)
 
It helps significantly with map loading. The evidence is that if you are on Raid 0, you are always one of the first to get on the server!
 
RAID-0 is a mixed bag of potential, problems, pitfalls, and occassionally performance. RAID-0 does best in content creation work, file copying, etc with linear loads. Some games exhibit linear patterns, particular MMORPG. WoW for instance stores its data in 6 MPQ files, as much as 1GB. It scales well with RAID-0, and RAID-0 will deliver additional performance in such titles. However, look at a games like UT2004 or FarCry, with over 1000 files, and you will see where RAID-0 falters performance wise when compared to a single disk.

Look at this way. Is it better to SLI 6600GTs, or get a 6800GT? SLI 6800GTs or 7800GTX? Same answer for RAID-0. The overhead of keeping the spindles in sync means that the RAID-0 array realizes nowhere near double the throughput, just like SLI yields nowhere near double the FPS. Just like SLI, RAID-0 only delivers a performance boost in certain applications, and simply does nothing for other apps.
 
RAID-0 For years, was one of the first to mod to a FastTrack 66. The pitfalls, I never notice the pifalls! What I notice is the gains. Back in the day I've been first on CS map changes, I've noticed quicker save/load times on 150-650MB+WAV files, it all counts. Recent reinstall, had me rethink everything, and I installed the OS on a single drive, I WAS PISSED, maybe it was all in my head and also the fact was the single drive is louded didn't help ... so I re-did the entire partition/install setup.

Never a single STRIPE failure with heavy OC - Just watch FSB/PCI speeds
 
I use Raid 0 for my loading times. I just have my OS and Apps on my Dual Raptors in Raid 0 16k Stripe. Its fast. But any data I have that is important is on my 250Giger

But to answer your question more specifically... Raid 0 great for gaming? umm... well if you know anything about hard drives... that has no effect on game performance. YOu will not get more Frames per second if you have a faster / slower / bigger / smaller hard drive... That is CPU and Video Card dependant.
 
It is very popular to hate RAID 0 these days. IMO, people were expecting 2x the performance of a single hard drive, and when they found out that wasn't happening, they got pissed. It is much the same situation as having 2 CPUs - if your applications are suited towards it, you will see a nice performance increase. However, there is also the issue of data corruption. If you go RAID 0, keep your important data backed up. Actually you should regardless, but even more so with RAID 0. I have been running RAID 0 for over a year now with no issues, and FWIW, I am always one of the first, if not the first, to load in all the games I play.
 
USMC2Hard4U said:
I use Raid 0 for my loading times. I just have my OS and Apps on my Dual Raptors in Raid 0 16k Stripe. Its fast. But any data I have that is important is on my 250Giger

But to answer your question more specifically... Raid 0 great for gaming? umm... well if you know anything about hard drives... that has no effect on game performance. YOu will not get more Frames per second if you have a faster / slower / bigger / smaller hard drive... That is CPU and Video Card dependant.
Click to expand...

And RAM.

Remember that when you are playing a game the CPU cache, video ram and system ram are what the cpu and gpu are chewing on to generate the purty pitchers, so anything over a single, fast, non-fragmented HDD is serious diminishing returns time.

Stick your games on a 15Krpm scsi drive, now that's hella fast.
 
MartinX said:
And RAM.

Remember that when you are playing a game the CPU cache, video ram and system ram are what the cpu and gpu are chewing on to generate the purty pitchers, so anything over a single, fast, non-fragmented HDD is serious diminishing returns time.

Stick your games on a 15Krpm scsi drive, now that's hella fast.
Click to expand...

Yes, I know the importance of data redundancy and how important hardware is, but I was unclear of the impact of RAID-0 on gaming (I think there are many misconceptions about it), so thanks for shedding some light on the subject.

Also thanks for the tip on the 15Krpm scsi drive- I'm off to googleland to get some prices.

Thanks all for sharing your expertise...I appreciate it! :D
 
Provided that 15K SCSI drive is either a Maxtor Atlas 15K II or (preferably) a Fujitsu MAU, then they will blow away RAID-0 Raptors. Just be prepared to shell out double the cost/GB of a 73GB Raptor. No other SCSI drive warrants consideration over WD740GD. Sorry Seagate fans, they just don't deliver the goods.

If you want storage performance that beats the Raptor, this is the drive you want.
 
DougLite said:
Provided that 15K SCSI drive is either a Maxtor Atlas 15K II or (preferably) a Fujitsu MAU, then they will blow away RAID-0 Raptors. Just be prepared to shell out double the cost/GB of a 73GB Raptor. No other SCSI drive warrants consideration over WD740GD. Sorry Seagate fans, they just don't deliver the goods.

If you want storage performance that beats the Raptor, this is the drive you want.
Click to expand...

Ouch! :eek: I'm going to have to do some overtime! Maybe it'll be a little cheaper by the time I'm ready to buy...

I also found the 73.5 GB for $181 (same place)- a much better value. I'll keep my eye on this one.
 
Problem is, to get one of those drives, you need a U320 SCSI card. IMHO, it's hard to justify the price for a gaming system vs getting a 74gb raptor.



 
kilgore777 said:
Ouch! :eek: I'm going to have to do some overtime! Maybe it'll be a little cheaper by the time I'm ready to buy...

I also found the 73.5 GB for $181 (same place)- a much better value. I'll keep my eye on this one.
Click to expand...
Are you sure that wasn't $381? Or a MAT? MAU is a 15K drive, MAT is only 10K.
 
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