Salutations,

I have recently obtained a Western Digitial Raptor, specifically the 150GB version. I also have a Seagate S-ATA 320GB HDD which I have been using up till now.

I plan to install my OS on the Raptor. I am seeking some help in configuring my MOBO settings.

Should I enable AHCI mode or RAID? Which is more useful? I don't wish to have information written to both HDD's as set out in the guide for RAID0. I want to use the Raptor for OS and high performance games, and use the Seagate for Storage and the "not" high performance games I have.

I looked at the guide for RAID but it didn't answer my question about performance. Which performs better AHCI or RAID?

Anyone?

RAID is either more performant or secure depending on the RAID. AHCI is just a SATA standard. Since you have only one Raptor, you shouldn't choose RAID.

Assuming you've got an Intel ICH, there's really no good reason to run in AHCI mode if your system supports RAID mode. Your performance will be *identical* in RAID vs. AHCI mode if you're using a standalone disk. However, if you install into RAID mode, you have the option of installing a RAID volume at a future point in time without having to re-install Windows-- even if you're not using RAID at all right now. It's essentially a matter of future proofing.

The only reason I can fathom for going AHCI rather than RAID mode is if you plan on migrating your system someday to an ICH-based motherboard that doesn't have RAID support. Possible, but it seems more likely that you'd want to experiment with RAID someday with the system.

Thanks for the feedback. Although I thought you requried two identical hard drives to run a RAID function properly. As it stands I have a Raptor 150gb and a Barricuda 320gb which are not identical.

You can RAID different drives, but the size will be based on the small drive. IE if you went RAID0 you would end up with 300 Gig.

The problem with your setup is that the 320 is 7,200 RPM and would slow down the Raptor.

You can use AHCI. The preformance increase might be 5% over IDE mode.

1Haplo