Best HDD setup for gaming

[Darkbonez]

Hey guys!!!!!

Just want to start of saying im not good at putting questions in the best way, sorry if i am hard to understand

I am getting ready to build my first gaming PC and want to get everything right. I am having trouble with the best way to get the most performace for gaming with different setups for HDD.

I will be getting the

"Fujitsu MAX3073RC 73GB 15,000 RPM" and also looking at the

"Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10,000 RPM"

Ok, remember, best performance for GAMING

1. get 2 Fujitsu MAX3073RC 73GB 15,000 in RAID0 (simple) but will it be best for gaming performance?

2. leave them RAID 1 *if i leave raid1, im getting one 15k and one 10k* or 2 10k for #6

3. if i go with step 2(RAID1), which one should i place games in, programs in, OS in, for best speed? <----biggest question

4. Would i put OS and games on 15k for best performance and other stuff on 10k?
5. Or put ONLY games on 15k and put OS, programs, on 10k?
6. OR, i could get another smaller 10k HDD, for only OS, 15k for ONLY games, and the other 10k for ONLY programs

THANKS for the help!

 

[dagger]

I think it would make more sense to put OS on 15k, as some OS files are accessed while loading game, but no game files are accessed when you're not playing. Make the most of your faster drive by putting the most frequently accessed files on it, which means the OS.

But keep in mind that such high end harddrives don't dramatically improve in game fps. That has to do with ram, aside from cpu and gpu. Remember, when you start loading a game, the data is unloaded from hdd to ram, where it is accessed on demand during gameplay. Thus, faster hdd mostly decrease initial load time, instead of improve fps during actual gameplay. Even the fastest hdd is far slower than the slowest ram, so avoid running out of ram and using page file at any cost.

 

[Synh]

To be honest I doubt you need 15 or 10k. Gaming wise as well put by dagger your Ram / GPU / CPU will be more important, so your better off getting a good 7.2k and investing in either a Quad Xtreme if you have the money or getting an SLI / Crossfire system.

And you have to be ready to suffer some heavy noise with Raptors, I can only imagine 15k must be worse. GL though.

 

[Zenthar]

Like the others, I don't think HDD will have much impact on gaming performance. The only gains you might get is better loading time (which you could get for much less $$$ using standard SATA RAID) or reduced swap delay (which you might be able to eliminate entirely with 8GB+ of RAM).

The way I do it is I put the OS on a disk of it's own with some basic utilities (spyware removal, firewall, anti-virus, ...), everything I need for basic computer usage. All the remaining I put on another disk, it doesn't really matter of you put your apps on the same disk as games since I've never seen anyone using Word, Excel and Crysis at the same time so they won't compete for I/O.

 

[snipingkid]

Like other people mentioned, HDD don't have a huge impact on computer performance. In my opinion, a 7.2K HDD is enough. Look at the HDD performance charts on TomsHardware's home page.

I seriously recommend investing on quality RAM, a decent CPU, and the latest GPU (if you can afford it, try Dual 8800GTX). If you were thinking about that many 10k and 15k drives, you can probably get all of this.

BTW, it's not all in CPU, GPU and RAM, you also need a decent motherboard that can hold all of that, and process everything fairly quickly.

** I made the mistake of buying one big drive, even if you save money on that, you should consider buying multiple smaller sized HDDs for backup (as they may fail), and easier OS setup.

Regards,
Snipe

 

[SpinachEater]

I agree with everyone as well. 150% with the comment above from snipingkid. THG HDD charts are pretty helpful if you haven't checked them out yet.

Like Zenthar, I like to put my OS on a smaller HDD and try to keep it for drivers and OS related programs only. Then I pop for larger HDs for my common use files like games/music/video/documents...ect... I am not sure performance wise if it does anything to separate the OS but I do it to help protect my media files in case of OS/HDD mishaps.

Depending on what your priorities are, putting the OS on the faster disk would probably make your system feel more snappy. I would rather have a more responsive OS than shaving off seconds of game loading time...but that is all up to you.

Always keep in mind, as said above, that you could save some money on slower HDDs and use it to upgrade to a better CPU/RAM/GPU or even 2 GPUs that will really boost your gaming quality.


BTW, what is your build going to be?