Raid 0 Hardware :banana::banana::banana::banana: :)

[IanB]

This will pretty much just have the OS installed on it, while other programs will be on a different drive. I do have space to put something like OS + Crysis on it though.

OK, maybe I'm being dumb... but question:

2 x 32GB in RAID0 = 64GB usable space. How the hell can you NOT get OS + apps in 64GB????

Let's assume you are using Vista (charitably or uncharitably LOL) rather than XP which can slim down to WAY less than 4GB on its own, you'd need maybe 10-20GB of space for Vista, leaving around 50GB of space. What on earth do you have for "apps" that takes over 50GB of space? I have less than 5 to 10GB of actual "apps", by which I mean things that do real stuff, not games. If you mean games then say so, but you should certainly be able to fit Office and Photoshop and a heck of a lot of other bloatware into 50GB.

I guess I am REALLY not understanding why you need to waste all that valuable high-speed space just for a (single) game...

[Buckeye]

OK, maybe I'm being dumb... but question:

2 x 32GB in RAID0 = 64GB usable space. How the hell can you NOT get OS + apps in 64GB????

Let's assume you are using Vista (charitably or uncharitably LOL) rather than XP which can slim down to WAY less than 4GB on its own, you'd need maybe 10-20GB of space for Vista, leaving around 50GB of space. What on earth do you have for "apps" that takes over 50GB of space? I have less than 5 to 10GB of actual "apps", by which I mean things that do real stuff, not games. If you mean games then say so, but you should certainly be able to fit Office and Photoshop and a heck of a lot of other bloatware into 50GB.

I guess I am REALLY not understanding why you need to waste all that valuable high-speed space just for a (single) game...

Yes you are right. There will be more installed on it. I am just playing it by ear atm and seeing how the build goes, leaving all options on the table. This rig will be a pure game machine and for me to tweak on. I have another machine that I do my work on and it is to important to me to mess around with it. That's why I am creating this new build.

The first plan was just the 1 32GB SSD, but I decided to expand it to the Raid 0 setup to leave more options available to me on what apps I want installed on the SSD's.

[SoulsCollective]

Let's assume you are using Vista (charitably or uncharitably LOL) rather than XP which can slim down to WAY less than 4GB on its own, you'd need maybe 10-20GB of space for Vista, leaving around 50GB of space. What on earth do you have for "apps" that takes over 50GB of space? I have less than 5 to 10GB of actual "apps", by which I mean things that do real stuff, not games. If you mean games then say so, but you should certainly be able to fit Office and Photoshop and a heck of a lot of other bloatware into 50GB.

Your calculations are slightly off. Vista wants at least 20GB for its install; unless you're running a vLite'd disk it will have a sad otherwise. So that's 42GB. You'd also lose some space due to gigabyte definition and the nature of RAID, so call it 40GB usable space after Vista.

I do agree that you could fit a decent number of apps into 40GB, however.