Think I'll see a difference??

[Fastbird]

Current computer setup is a AMD Phenom X4 2.5 GB Black Edition, 4gb PC800 DDR2, and a 750 GB WD Caviar Black, running XP Pro SP3.

Got an early Christmas present ordered for me today:

2 x Adata 64GB SSD's and Win 7 64gb Home Premium. Planning on running the SSD's in RAID 0 for Read/Write speeds of over 500MB/Sec. I just clocked my WD at 100 max. :D

Then I find out that my AM2+ motherboard, with a bios update, will fit an AM3 CPU and run fine. :D:D Six Core processor anyone? Just don't have DDR3 capability.

[Badbird_96]

Sounds like a nice setup although i know a bit about pcs but not as much as you apparently lol. I know enough to know thats a nice setup but not enough that some of it i would have to look up. I just want my laptop fixed :( damn dells. I just have a $3000 paper weight. :)

[Chris]

I dont know what any of that means !

[LVZ2881]

I dont know what any of that means !
same here.......

[Fastbird]

Watch this video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96dWOEa4Djs

Now, they had 24 Solid State Drives in Raid 0 running at over 2 Gigs access speed. These are early SSD's with lower read/write speeds than what's available now. What happens when you run a RAID 0 on a spinning hard drive is slightly faster read/write times, but you're still limited by the slowest hard drive. Solid state drives however, you can actually stack the read write times in RAID 0. For example, my 750 GB Western Digital drive Reads at aboutu 100 MB/Sec. If I got another and did a RAID 0, I'd still only be at 100 MB/Sec. The Adata solid state drives I am getting however, read at 285 MB/Sec. Running two of those in RAID 0, I can feasibly see approx 570 MB/Sec read times, or about 1/2 a gig, or 1/4 of what was shown in that video above. Should be a HUGE improvement over what I have right now. Plus with a windows 7 upgrade, I'll make more use of the memory I have available since I got the 64 bit system and it will see all four gigs of memory.

[Wooshie]

SSD's are awesome. Untill i get money to throw down for those I use my WD raptor as a primary drive and a 2 TB secondary drive behind it.

[Fastbird]

SSD's are awesome. Untill i get money to throw down for those I use my WD raptor as a primary drive and a 2 TB secondary drive behind it.

I thought about doing a larger capacity velociraptor, but the end result is that the read/write rates just don't stack like with the SSD's, so I've got 128 GB but over twice what the velociraptor would read at. I went that way because of the "hey, that's friggin cool" factor. :D

[faust]

sorry this thread is too geeky for me. i'll just stay with my vintage trs 80 lol

[Wooshie]

I thought about doing a larger capacity velociraptor, but the end result is that the read/write rates just don't stack like with the SSD's, so I've got 128 GB but over twice what the velociraptor would read at. I went that way because of the "hey, that's friggin cool" factor. :D

I just rebuilt mine and ran out of cash. I have an asus P7P55D mobo with the core i7 875K processor and 8gb pc200MHZ DDr3 memory. I opted to keep my 8800 ultras since this is an SLI mobo.

[Fastbird]

I'd like to make a swap to the i7 but the cash for me just isn't there for that.

[Wooshie]

I think I paid ~400 for mine. Christmas is around the corner.:)

[Fastbird]

Yeah, but then I have to swap mobo's and the ram.......= a lot more cash gone. I'll stick with the AMD until I build another system.

[KissMyWhtSS]

Nice. You'll love those SSD's (and also Win 7) I want a SSD but I'm still waiting for them to come down in price a little bit. I'd like to get a 120GB for ~ $150, but the cheapest I've seen them is about $200.

I swapped to an i7 a few weeks back. I've got 4 1.5TB seagates running in RAID5. I wanted some data redundancy to protect against a harddrive failure but couldn't justify the space efficiency of a RAID1. Keep in mind you have no fault tolerance with RAID 0, so make sure your important files are backed up.

Computer: i7 930, 6GB DDR3 1600, GTX 275 768MB, 500GB Boot, 4x1.5TB RAID 5, 750W OCZ, Win 7 Pro x64

[Fastbird]

Yeah, that's something I had been chewing on, so what I'm going to do is use the 250gb partition on my WD Caviar Black (750 GB) as a backup partition for the SDD's......essentially use a ghosting program sporadically to ghost the entire SDD stuff to the spinning drive.

[KissMyWhtSS]

Yeah, that's something I had been chewing on, so what I'm going to do is use the 250gb partition on my WD Caviar Black (750 GB) as a backup partition for the SDD's......essentially use a ghosting program sporadically to ghost the entire SDD stuff to the spinning drive.

I don't have anything crucialy important on my RAID5 array but I also don't really want to lose it and I need a high volume size which is why I went raid5. The files that are more important (Pictures I've taken, Documents, etc.) are on my RAID5 and a portable hard drive. Files that are very important (school work, docs) are on my raid5 and my portable, and are automatically backed up online through a cloud service. I've never cared to backup my boot drive because to me an OS install isn't very important. I can install windows 7 in 10 mins and install my apps pretty quickly too.

[Fastbird]

Got off early today, took the chitland home with me, and got to working on my computer. First, benchmarked with Passmark.......823 with the video card in. I knew it was holding me back. Removed, benchmarked again, 826. Wow. No wonder the vid was suttering.

Then got to installing the new SSD's. Mind you this is a Small Form Factor case and there's no spot for them (saving my other HDD spot for another large spinning HD for archiving and data. So.....I had to make them fit. Using some extra aluminum, some time on the band saw and drill press, a quick bend.......I think it came out nice after I sanded a brushed finish into it.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/2010-10-27135815.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/2010-10-27143408.jpg

[Fastbird]

So got it all running last night, and was a impressed but disappointed. New benchmark via Passmark (mind you Win7 is known to score low) was 816. Doh! Via Atto my read/write speeds were only about 300/200 for some reason. Did a TON of researching last night and today, and decided to reflash my bios, install the AMD RAIDXpert utility for my SB700 chipset, and enable NCQ and WriteBack on the drives. BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE!!!! New benchmark went to 967 and Atto gave me a 536 Read and 482 Write speed. Yes, I'm reading at 1/2 a gig from the RAID 0 SSD's now. This thing f-ing floats!!!! And this is without any overclocking (though I upped the ram voltage in the bios to 2.1, but that's because the ram is specced at 2.1, and I went .1 up in the SB per recommendations) or a video card. I'm stoked.

Plus, I REALLY like windows 7.

[Fastbird]

Soooo........First off, last night, my new passmark benchmark was 968 with the drives moving like lightning. Then today I installed a Sapphire Vapor-X 5750 video card. New passmark benchmark is 1527. I'd say that this computer is about good to go at this point.

[Fastbird]

Now on an AMD 1090T 3.2 ghz 6 core processor. Overclocked and stable at 4.0 ghz, idling at 28* celcius. Anything I do doesn't phase that processor.

[ws6nighthawk]

i envy you know fastbird.lol i wanted a 1090T, but when the 970 comes out ill just get 1 of those. but i have been heavily contemplating the phenom II 965 black edition. gonna switch to a AM3 mobo and try for 6 GB of 1333Mhz. And i know you will def see a difference switching to the dual raid 0 array SSD's, should almost see 0 lag with read writes in real time use compared to the slow 7200rpm HHD. what video card are you running?

edit:vapor X' are cool. im more of a ATI xfx guy tho. nothing beats the 5970 2GB 512 bandwidth card imo. great setup you have tho.

[Fastbird]

I'll post pics when I get home tonight. I had to hack my case and everything to fit my new CPU Cooler on it. I can't run a long video card or I'd have gone at least with a 5770 instead of a 5750. But, everything works for me.

[Fastbird]

Here's what I did:

Had to do some modding to facilitate a new heat sink/fan for the CPU as the one I had was NOT cutting it with the overclock.

Before, with acrylic windows and an Ultra X-Wind 120mm CPU Cooler:

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/2010-10-31125720.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/2010-10-31125849.jpg

After, with the addition of a Coolermaster GeminII S CPU heatsink/cooler, extra 80mm front intake fan, and mesh sides replacing the acrylic windows:

First up was fitting the new cooler. I pulled the fan off and found clearance issues at the left and center supports. The left side support got cut out, the center was modded with two cuts then bending the space between the cuts straight down.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/DSC_4727.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/DSC_4728.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/DSC_4732.jpg

After that was done, I noted that the hard drive cradle needed to me cut back some and moved forward. Simple cut to take the back overhang off, then drill a hole in the rail to hold it back down since it doesn't fit the slider anymore.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/DSC_4724.jpg

New Heatsink fully installed:

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/DSC_4738.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/DSC_4735.jpg

Second 80mm fan added to the front (the green one). I put teh new one in the stock location, then took the stock one and moved it to the left, drilling two new lower mounting holes and several holes in the casing for airflow.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/DSC_4741.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/DSC_4742.jpg

New mesh sides replacing the acrylic. I used the pet resistant screen door mesh as I had some left over from redoing our rear door. Worked PERFECT.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/DSC_4747.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/DSC_4746.jpg

Couple of the fans are green LED. They're all pretty much the same color, camera captured them as different is all. THe blue is from the Video card.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/DSC_4752.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/DSC_4750.jpg

Only thing I have left to do is to cut out the lower cover on the front and put a screen in it as it completely blocks off intake airflow. I don't have a dremel anymore and it's about all I trust to make precise cuts at a low speed to keep from distorting the plastic, hence the holdup.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/Fastbird93/DSC_4745.jpg

So.......at a 3.8 ghz overclock on the 1090T I'm now idling at 20-22* C, and at a just over 4.0 I'm idling at about 26-29* C due to the extra voltage. Under Prime95 I've seen a MAX of about 56 at the 4.0, and a MAX of 48 on the 3.8 overclocks. I'd say this was a successful endeavour, and I'm VERY happy with the preformance I'm getting out of my machine now. Pay not attention to the front display temp reading, it's off because there's no good spot for the sensor to go with the new heat sink.