RAID0 striping question...

[Majeztik12]

Time to reformat my system again an start new. I am using two Raptors (16mb cache,74gb) and was wondering what is the best striping method for gaming. I found out that some of the bigboiz (Alienware) use a 64kb stripe. My system offers a 128kb max setting. Is 128kb the way to go? I usually use the 64kb option.

 

[Brahmzy]

I have 2 of your exact drives in RAID0 and I'm using a 32 stripe. I've tried 64 and couldn't tell a lick of difference and neither could any benchmarks. I wouldn't go 128 though.

 

[shade_star]

Most of the time the default is the best. The only way to tell which one is better is to test one array with 64 and one with 32. Some mobo's perform better with one vs the other. Its kind of a crap shoot.
64 is generally the one to go with, the middle of the ground choice.

 

[bbz_Ghost]

64KB stripes tend to be the best overall size for the widest variety of drives and situations. Every time I've done research into whatever card or controller is used, almost unfailingly I'll find that the manufacturer's recommended settings are 64KB for RAID duties, so that's what I use for my setups. I've never had issues of any kind, and the performance is always within a few percentage points of the rated specs in the long run.

 

[xxGriff]

i think between 32 and 64 you are mostly getting more capacity. 64 is default i believe, and if it works, i would not fix it. i dont think you are going to see any real performance boost because of the cluster sizes you gave. at this point it is really the hdd spec and performance, with cluster sizes having more impact on your arrays capacity.

for desktops anyway