An upgrade/RAID question

Hello all, long-time reader, first-time poster. I like to read Sharkey's buying guides, but this month's guide isn't out yet and I'm ready to upgrade my old rig over my 2 week Christmas vacation. Oh yeah and clean the garage, yep yep https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/.../2005/06/5.gif My current rig is serving me well actually. But some of the newer games I've started playing are starting to push my level of tolerance below acceptable. Specifically, games like Castle Wolfenstein and Civ III just aren't fast enough. OK so 20FPS I can handle. Heck I played Quake I on a AMD 486 DX4 133 at 10FPS and it worked for me (well in single player.) But Civ III is terribly slow moving around, and I have got to upgrade this thing!

This is what I have now:

Retail PIII 450MHz @ 515 (4.5x113)
SOYO 440 BX-based board (forget the exact #)
128MB Mushkin RAM, 128MB "Value" RAM ("free" with XP purchase)
Geforce 2 MX w/ 32MB
Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer
low-end 56K modem http://dev.www.sharkyforums.forums.relay.cool/
Netgear 10/100 NIC
30 GB IBM Deskstar 75 GXP (Hungary ver. - never any problems)
Toshiba 40X CD-ROM
WIN XP "Home" ver.
All in an Enlight midtower w/235 Watt "Powerman" PSU

Incidentally, I run my HD in the 5 1/4" drive bay cooled with a "Storm" squirrel cage. The drive runs cool, which may attribute to my 75 GXP running fine. I've heard these drives are troublesome. Anywho, after doing quite a bit of research, this is what I've come up with for an upgrade:

Aluminum case (just for grins), some 300 watt PSU
ABIT KR7A RAID
Maxtor 40GB 7200ATA 133 x 2 in a RAID 0 config. *
AMD XP1600 Retail*
DDR Memory 256/512 *

I plan on using my MX for now, upgrading later and OCing it with some active cooling. And the Live! should be fine.

*RAID: Ok now this is where I need some suggestions. I wanted to play with RAID, as I read in mode 0 it's exceptionally quick. I don't do anything super intensive, other than gaming, so this is more a "fun" thing than a necessity. Is RAID 0 really worth it? I love to see the computer boot up super fast and ditto for applications, but is it REALLY that much faster? If not then I can save some money on a non-RAID MB, and use my 30GB HD to boot. Use the extra $$ to get an XP1800.

*Retail AMD: I like quite, not "is it on?" quite but something south of "WHAT?!". The "Storm" drive bay cooler I have is extremely quite. The only real noise is from the 80MM front radial fan. I don't plan on OCIng much, if at all. So the question is, how about that retail HSF? Is it adequate for stock speeds, and quite? If it's as loud as aftermarket versions then I might as well go OEM and get a separate HSF. Then if the itch gets me I could OC it. without worry https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/.../2005/06/5.gif

*Memory: What's the difference between DDR 266 and DDR 2100 if anything? I read the Abit uses the 266, but I'm probably confused here. I'm fully assuming the DDR 2100 is the absolute best/fastest correct? And I'm not sure if I want 256 or 512, it depends on the prices really. 256MB now is fine it seems.

I plan on buying a lot of this, minus the memory at the Pomona computer show here in So Cal. Memory is coming from Crucial or Mushkin because of their excellent service. If I'm going to pay sales tax (NewEgg is in CA) I might as well forgo the shipping. Plus I want to get everything within my short vacation.

I should tell you what I don't do: I don't OC hardcore, play DVDs (do that on a 27"), or burn CDs. Lacking cable/DSL support in my area permits me the pleasure of D/Ling MP3s and stuff on wonderful 56K bandwidth. IE I ain't got much need to store stuff non-local. Things I do play: Civ III, Q III SoF, and other FPSs like that. Oh and obviously type a lot, browse the internet and what not.

Any suggestions or comments or whatevers would be much appreciated!

Oero

I suggest you change your mother board to the Soyo Dragon Plus. Because it offeres every single feature as the Abit KR7 RAID but is $40 bucks cheaper and has onboard LAN https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/.../2005/06/5.gif ( If you do get you must immediatly update it to the newest BIOS cuz the first BIOS gave people some stability problems)

And I say definatly get the mobo with RAID because even without using the RAID 0 you can get double the amount if IDE devices. And by saving $40 you can hopefully upgrade to the XP 1800+.

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My Gaming PC

_Enlight Midtower 7237
case with 340 watt PSU
_Soyo Dragon Plus Motherboard with RAID and LAN Via KT266A
_AMD Athlon XP Pr1800+ 1.53ghz retail
_Crucial 256mb Pc2100 DIMM
_Ati Radeon 8500 64mb DDR RETAIL
_Maxtor 40 GB 7,200 rpm D740X ATA133
_Lite On 16x DVD/48x CD ROm drive
_Lite On 24/10/40 CD-RW
_Sony 3.5" Floppy
_ (2) x 24in. BLue rounded IDE ATA100 cables
_ 18 in. Blue rounded floppy cable
_Creative Labs Audigy sound card
_3com 10/10 mbps Ethernt card(DSL)
_U.s Robotics 56k V.90 modem (backup)
_NEC Multicync FE950+ Flat creen 19" monitor
_WIndows XP home edition
_Keyboard + Mouse
_Logitech Z230 2.1 speakers ( On real budget)

OH Yeah everythings from newegg and the total was $ 1500 shipped.

RAID is definitely not a necessity, especially for gaming. In your situation you will see only a small improvement in overall performance. However, the price premium for RAID 0 over a similar non-RAID setup is quite small, especially when you use a board with an on-board controller. I say, go for the RAID, but you don't really have to.

The retail AMD HSF will be sufficient for stock speed and perhaps even a little overclocking, without making too much noise. If you plan on more than that, you should invest in a high-end cooler.

DDR266 is the same as PC-2100. 256MB is plenty for most intents and purposes, but with prices where they are there is certainly no harm in getting 512. You will see an improvement in multiasking and memory-intensive applications. In your situation, I would probably get 384MB.



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Overclockum, ergo sum.

Thanks for the tips! My reasoning behind the Abit KR7A RAID is the utilization of Highpoint’s HPT372 controller. If I'm going to go RAID 0 I might as well get the absolute latest. The new HP supports ATA 133 mode, which I suppose in theory is 33% faster than ATA 100. http://www.viahardware.com/kr7a_1.shtm
Obviously then I'd need the ATA 133 Maxtor twins, but I'd be spending about $180 for this setup for, what I would hope, is an incredible speed boost.

OTOH if RAID 0 is really more for server-style intensive type apps, then I'd be better off using that $180 to move to an 1800+ or just save it for later (when the next gen of GPUs comes out.)

Thanks for the memory answer - I'm going to put my order in now at Crucial for 512mb. I'll have this rig for a long time so I may as well go 256x2. Dang, I remember when 64mb would bring out the wows! Come to think of it I remember when 64K was a lot. And I had one of those (Tandy CoCo II!) Is that a grey hair?


Oero

ATA 133 won't be much faster except for large file transfers -- rotational speed and access times are important for performance. Maximum transfer rates generally don't improve normal usage performance much if any.

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If they don't understand and agree--say it again, but LOUDER!