P-ata, S-ata...what should I do??

[daddy_fizz]

well here is my dillema...

1. My new motherboard that i just got (P4C800-E) only has onle IDE Raid plug-in, so if were to setup raid 0 on my 2x80gb WD SE drives they would have to be on the same IDE cable...how big of a performance hit would this be over having them on 2 seperate cables?

2. I am ...thinking of getting 2x36gb WD S-ata Raptors and putting them in a raid 0 array, how big of a performance gain would this be over my single IDE cable WD raid array?

or

3. I could just get 1 160gb WD S-ata 7200 rpm drive, once again how would this compare to my single IDE cable P-ata raid array?

4. Get 2x80gb WD S-ata 7200 rpm and put them in a Raid array...speed???

any advice/comments/suggestions would be much appreciated :D

thanks

~Fizz

[felix88]

1. you don't want to put RAID 2 drives using the same cable, so this option is out.

2. would work great, but a single Raptor is also very fast. maybe you don't need to go with RAID 0 with the Raptors.

3. your seek times would probably be better with a single drive, and it will probably be nearly as fast as 2 drives on the same cable.

4. this is probably the most cost effective solution. it's not the fastest, but it'll surely be faster than the single 160GB drive or the 2 x 80GB drives on the same cable.

[daddy_fizz]

thanks for the input, if i can come up with the cash i'll just spring for the 2xRaptors or if i can't i'll probably just get the 2x80gb 7200 rpm

~Fizz

[CCW]

The single Raptor will outrun the RAID0 array easily. It will also "feel" much faster, by that I mean you will notice the difference due to its lower seek times.

Craig

[daddy_fizz]

damn i had my 2 drives on seperate cables, set up in raid 0 mode and now when i start up the computer (with both of them on one cable) it recognizes it as 1+0 or something like that and as only 80GB even though i both have them plugged in...is it impossible to set up raid 0 on one cable? I don't want to lose all my data so i'll probably have to buy a raid pci card temorarily until i can get some diff hard drives....

~Fizz

[expl0it]

I'm haveing the same problem and I'm pullin my hair out. I just setup 2x wd 120's in raid0 on a p4c800 dlx and sandra benchmarks are real crappy. i'm also thinking about buying a raid card to get this thing where it should be. on my previous p4 rig i was scoreing in the mid 50k's in sandra now im gettin 32k. ick! even with these 2 drives not raided scores seem a little low. if i cant get this worked out i'm sellin this board.

[daddy_fizz]

well i got the raptors, just got them set up yesterday...damn they are fast, definetly worth the $$$$ in my eyes

~Fizz

[felix88]

sounds like you've got a nice setup.

make sure you post screenies when you get them installed.