SLI and RAID advice and comments/suggestions on my new build

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Pleb1ram
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SLI and RAID advice and comments/suggestions on my new build

Post by Pleb1ram »

Hello all!

I am an avid PC Gamer, but I have been out of the "game" for a couple years raising kids and focusing on work. I am finally able to get back to the world I love, and I have a better income to get it donw than I did a few years ago!!!

I have decided to build my first new PC in about 5 years, so let me show you guys what I either have, or speculate buying in the next few days/weeks.

I have built 2 gaming rigs in the past, but I am getting ready to embark on a journey I have little experience with. I want to RAID hard drives and put 2 graphic cards in SLI.

So here are the stats as they stand, sitting in boxes with no build time in yet:

Case
Yet to be determined but thinking the TT Revo Gene in Arctic White

Processor
Intel i7 3770K

Mobo
Asus Sabertooth Z77

Video Card
Asus GTX 660ti TOP
Asus GTX 660ti TOP

SSD
Samsung 840 Pro 128GB

HDD
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
(Thinking of adding another for RAID)

Memory
Corsair Vengeance 16GB

Power Supply
Corsair HX750

Any advice or links to guides/walkthroughs, or suggestions on what I might add to make it a more memorable build would be appreciated!!!

I am always seeking the advice of those with more experience and i am willing to be patient to make this a kick butt rig, so please feed me all the advice I can eat!
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Re: SLI and RAID advice and comments/suggestions on my new b

Post by XstollieX »

Looks like a solid build. The only thing I would certainly change is the primary HDD. Pick yourself up a good 120, or 240Gb SSD for the primary and skip the raid array. It will be quite a bit faster than the RAID array. Personally I will never go back to using a HDD as a primary drive.
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Re: SLI and RAID advice and comments/suggestions on my new b

Post by Major_A »

You might be good, no PSU expert by any stretch of the imagination, but if you plan on overclocking you might be pushing the limit of that power supply. I think the Samsung 840 Pro is a solid primary drive. If you want to get a couple Samsung Spinpoints for your storage/etc you will notice a difference running a couple in RAID 0. I have some older Spinpoint F1s I ran in RAID 0 a while back and the speed difference is pretty noticeable. Last piece of advice, don't spend more than you need to on the RAM. Going from some high dollar 2133 to value line 1600 you'll probably never notice the difference just using the PC. Welcome back, good luck and have fun.
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Re: SLI and RAID advice and comments/suggestions on my new b

Post by KnightRid »

If you want to RAID just for the experience then use a SSD for the boot drive and the RAID for data.

I would never use RAID to boot from but then again, I think RAID 5 is still one o the best for performance/cost/redundancy :)
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Re: SLI and RAID advice and comments/suggestions on my new b

Post by Apoptosis »

After having two RAID 0 setups fail in the past 5 years I gave up on them. SSD's are the way to go, but I've also had those fail... backups are your friend, but I'd go a 240GB SSD over RAID 0 any day.
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Pleb1ram
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Re: SLI and RAID advice and comments/suggestions on my new b

Post by Pleb1ram »

Thanks to ALL who replied. It is great to be back as part of a community again! I still need some device on SLI. I have never SLI'd and i am worried that A) I will see very little benefit
B) My PSU does not have enough power. I have NO idea what I need in terms of power.
C) I will cause a Chernobyl like meltdown in my PC from tinkering with a technology I know nothing about.

Any help is appreciated!!

THANKS AGAIN!
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Re: SLI and RAID advice and comments/suggestions on my new b

Post by Major_A »

A) What resolution are you going to game at? If it's 1680x1050 or lower SLI is a waste. Even at 1920x1080 it's still better to get one faster card.
B) Like I said, no expert here. Take this link as a suggestion, not an absolute truth. http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psuc ... orlite.jsp It says my machine needs a 714W power supply. I've only seen it pull roughly 380W from the wall.
C) You can't mess it up. All the parts only install one way. Remember to have fun or what's the point?
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Re: SLI and RAID advice and comments/suggestions on my new b

Post by KnightRid »

I think SLI is a nice way to prepare for the future without spending a small fortune on the highest end video card you can get. This is true if you game at 1080p and below like the Major said. Buying two video cards that are the same right now and running them SLI will let you prolong the life of the system for gaming and also negate you having to try and find one of these cards years down the road.

Personally, I don't think SLI gives as much performance as it should but it is a lower cost way of future proofing. It is also nice if you want to use multiple monitors.
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Re: SLI and RAID advice and comments/suggestions on my new b

Post by Pleb1ram »

Major_A wrote:A) What resolution are you going to game at? If it's 1680x1050 or lower SLI is a waste. Even at 1920x1080 it's still better to get one faster card.
B) Like I said, no expert here. Take this link as a suggestion, not an absolute truth. http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psuc ... orlite.jsp It says my machine needs a 714W power supply. I've only seen it pull roughly 380W from the wall.
C) You can't mess it up. All the parts only install one way. Remember to have fun or what's the point?

Thanks Major!!! I will be running at 1920x1080. I am still debating the SLI move, but honestly, the ASUS 660TI TOP comes factory overclocked and out performs all 670 cards and a few 680 cards in 1080p benchmarks of the games I would play. With that said, I don't know what advantage SLI would give me, other than additional expense.

Thanks again.

More questions coming soon!
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Re: SLI and RAID advice and comments/suggestions on my new b

Post by Pleb1ram »

KnightRid wrote:I think SLI is a nice way to prepare for the future without spending a small fortune on the highest end video card you can get. This is true if you game at 1080p and below like the Major said. Buying two video cards that are the same right now and running them SLI will let you prolong the life of the system for gaming and also negate you having to try and find one of these cards years down the road.

Personally, I don't think SLI gives as much performance as it should but it is a lower cost way of future proofing. It is also nice if you want to use multiple monitors.
Thanks, Knight!

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Re: SLI and RAID advice and comments/suggestions on my new b

Post by Pleb1ram »

OK everyone, here is a nice RAID question.

My ASUS Sabertooth comes with these storage options:
Intel Z77
2xSATA 6Gbs
4xSATA 3Gbs

2x ASMedia 1061 SATA controller
2xSATA 6Gbs
2xeSATA 6Gbs

Here's my qyestion:
1)What the heck does all that mean? I want performace from my set-up. I want to RAID acouple of standard 7200RPM HDDs, but I also want to have an SSD for boot/OS/some programs.

2)What are my RAID options?

3)What RAID option gives me the best performace while also giving me a good back-up solution?

4) Can you "RAID" SSDs, or is there another way of getting even faster performance by having 2 SSDs connected?

Sorry for the Newbness, but I want to get this right from the start.
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Re: SLI and RAID advice and comments/suggestions on my new b

Post by Major_A »

1) Those are different SATA controllers. If you can always run on the Intel SATA controller. So definitely put your boot SSD on the Intel controller. If you get 2 SATA 6Gbs (aka SATA III) drives then put them on the ASMedia SATA 6Gbs controller. If you get 2 SATA 3Gbs (aka SATA II) then run them on the Intel SATA 3Gbs controller. Some information for you (hope it helps)... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA#Revisions When shopping for hard drives on Newegg you can refine your search by the SATA interface (i.e. SATA II or SATA III, etc...).

2) It depends on the SATA controller and how many drives you want to run. Check this out and see if it helps. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID#Standard_levels

3) Seems like that's RAID 10. But I'm not a SATA expert. Maybe the link in #2 will help. If not I'm sure a smart individual here can really answer that question.

4) You can but in some cases it makes the performance suffer (generally you are adding latency across the drives and SSD drives suffer). Check this review out, it might explain why the performance was worse. http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Cors ... TX_240_GB/

All good questions. Don't worry you'll get caught up sooner than you think.
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Re: SLI and RAID advice and comments/suggestions on my new b

Post by Pleb1ram »

Major_A wrote:1) Those are different SATA controllers. If you can always run on the Intel SATA controller. So definitely put your boot SSD on the Intel controller. If you get 2 SATA 6Gbs (aka SATA III) drives then put them on the ASMedia SATA 6Gbs controller. If you get 2 SATA 3Gbs (aka SATA II) then run them on the Intel SATA 3Gbs controller. Some information for you (hope it helps)... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA#Revisions When shopping for hard drives on Newegg you can refine your search by the SATA interface (i.e. SATA II or SATA III, etc...).

2) It depends on the SATA controller and how many drives you want to run. Check this out and see if it helps. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID#Standard_levels

3) Seems like that's RAID 10. But I'm not a SATA expert. Maybe the link in #2 will help. If not I'm sure a smart individual here can really answer that question.

4) You can but in some cases it makes the performance suffer (generally you are adding latency across the drives and SSD drives suffer). Check this review out, it might explain why the performance was worse. http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Cors ... TX_240_GB/

All good questions. Don't worry you'll get caught up sooner than you think.
Excellent stuff. I have plenty of reading for the night! Thanks again!!! I know all this knowledge will spur another question.
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Re: SLI and RAID advice and comments/suggestions on my new b

Post by Pleb1ram »

So heres a good question. If I RAID, do I have to use identical HDDs? In other words, all have to be WD Caviar or Samsung Spinpoint?
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Re: SLI and RAID advice and comments/suggestions on my new b

Post by Major_A »

No but it's a REALLY good idea to have identical drives. I've played around with 4 mismashed drives in RAID 0 and the performance was really bad when compared to 2 matched drives in RAID 0.
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