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View Full Version : I think I finally did it......


Allan74
05-09-2011, 09:17 PM
I don't wanna speak too soon, but, I think I am actually HAPPY with my system for the first time in a LONG time.

I decided to stick with an already solid 1366 setup, rather than jump ship over to 1156/56/whatever...and I am glad as hell that I did.

I use my machine for light gaming, heavy video/BluRay/encoding/ripping.

WORST INVESTMENT in the last 2 months:
Solid State Drives (3x40GB Boot/Programs, upgraded from RAID 0 VelociRaptors).

BEST INVESTMENT in the last 2 months:
24GB of RAM (6x4GB).

THE USE OF RAM DRIVES JUST MADE A COMEBACK ONTO MY SYSTEM ;)

Depending on what I am doing, I run anywhere from a 12GB to 18GB RAM drive for Encoding/Muxing etc and the performance is STAGGERING.....INSANE.
6GB of RAM for the OS seems to work fine - so far (if I am using 18GB for RAM DRIVE).

All I can say is - FINALLY

Blazing fast bootup and Program loading from the SSD's.
Awesome Read/Write from the Velociraptors as temporary storage.
Unbelievable Read/Write from the RAM Drive for temp jobs.

Thanks to whomever took the time to read this little rant.
Allan

ps. 6 RAM SLOTS RULES THE WORLD !
NKrader
05-09-2011, 09:18 PM
GRATZ

i wish to one day be happy with my rig.
Allan74
05-09-2011, 09:25 PM
GRATZ

i wish to one day be happy with my rig.

Thanks.

I can say, I have not felt this good since my first RAID 0 array of (4) 36GB Raptors back in the day.

I can't find anything to benchmark the drive though, as HDtach and HDtune seem to not recognize it, even though I create it with HDD emulation etc within the RAM DRIVE Control Panel that I am using (ImDisk Virtual Disk - http://www.ltr-data.se ).

Oh well, combining read & write on a single drive (ie. "8GB MKV re-mux job") it does in under 20 seconds what takes over 1.5 minutes on my VelociRaptor RAID 0 array (and nearly 3minutes on my SSD RAID 0 array.....LMAO). DECENT.
crazy1323
05-09-2011, 09:40 PM
Congrats on your system. Hopefully I will be happy with mine once I get it all done. I went the 4 SSD route with 4 60GB OCZ Vertex 2's.

Why were you not happy with the SSD array? Were you using a dedicated controlled or software RAID?
Allan74
05-09-2011, 10:02 PM
Congrats on your system. Hopefully I will be happy with mine once I get it all done. I went the 4 SSD route with 4 60GB OCZ Vertex 2's.

Why were you not happy with the SSD array? Were you using a dedicated controlled or software RAID?

Unfortunately, just the onboard ICH10R, so crappy writes from the controller, combined with crappy writes from the SSD's added up in the end, although I am happy with the read/load speeds of everything.

I also wanted to 'play it safe' and go with Intel drives, when I SHOULD have bought (3) Corsair Force 40GB drives for my RAID 0 array, but my local retailer was sold out at the time and the Intels were the same price, so I figured I would give them a shot.

I will probably end up picking up an Areca controller (for the SSDs/Boot array) to play with, like I should have done for my VelociRaptors, rather than buy SSD's.

Oh well, 1 step at a time. I guess that's why they call it a 'hobby'...lol
antiacid
05-14-2011, 07:36 AM
I also wanted to 'play it safe' and go with Intel drives, when I SHOULD have bought (3) Corsair Force 40GB drives for my RAID 0 array, but my local retailer was sold out at the time and the Intels were the same price, so I figured I would give them a shot.


I'm pretty sure your setup failed because you used 3x lowest end ssd's you can find out there. You should've went for a x25-m g2 back in the days, those would've prevented a lot of headaches for you.

Out of curiosity, how do you handle booting with a ram drive? Is your OS moved to the ram drive at start or do you just use it for programs?