MOD....This looked like the best place to post this topic, please move if I was wrong. I may even be at the wrong site...I don't know. Just let me know.
Well, I did some research on the matter of separating things like the OS, Programs, files and folders to other drives in order to speed up my system. After a whole afternoon and dozens of articles and web pages, with opinions varying so much, I now know why this topic is not often covered in your typical magazine or book. There was a dizzying array of set ups from simple one volume 2 partitions to one volume 6 partitions or multiple hard drives with multiple partitions......... ......although a number of the people gave good reasons for doing their particular set up, two things came to mind. The first was that I didn't see any "hard" evidence like benchmarks to support their claims of increased speed. The other, was that among the set ups, I didn't feel any of them spoke to me or my present set up.
How I use the computer: I currently use this computer for.....gaming, newbie overclocking, video conversion and editing (i.e. avi to DVD), video streaming to other computers in the house, torrents, storing large music and video files, Web surfing etc...etc.
My goal:
1) To use the current hardware\software listed below to the best of its abilities
2) Speed up system response- ie. faster OS response, opening a program or accessing data for a game
3) Flexibility to do a clean install of the OS without having to reload the whole computer.....I think you get the idea.
Current Hardware:
Asus Rampage Extreme X48
Intel core 2 Quad Q9550 (currently at stock speed)
Kingston Hyper X ddr3 Ram capable of 1600 MHz( 4 X 1028 currently)
Seagate 7200.10 (4 x 320gigs currently in system) 2 more are on hand and available for use
2x Radeon Hd 2900 pro video cards with 1gig of ram each
Creative Labs sound card
PSU Ultra X3 1000w
Koolance Water cooling system for the Cpu,Northbridge,graphics cards and memory
Software I use the most:
Vista Ultimate 64
Nero 8 Ultra
Norton's 360 v. 3.0
MS office 2003
Intel Matrix manager (software raid)
Adobe Master Collection CS4
Various games ( ie Crysis, GTA4,WOW)
IE8
I know that I will be able to do a number of things to increase speed on my system like tweaking the hardware/Software. I would like to get the hard drives sorted first and then start tweaking hardware/software next.
Just a note: The motherboard can support up to 6 hard drives in a Raid 0,1,5 and 10 config and combinations thereof using "Matrix Raid". The motherboard also has an additional 2 sata ports to be used independently of the above 6 ports in any config I would like.
I know its a lot. I tried to give as much info as possible so that you can help me in my quest. Now, I guess, I just hope that not only am I in the right place,but, I hope someone here has the knowledge,ability and willingness to point me in the right direction. Thank you.
Well, I did some research on the matter of separating things like the OS, Programs, files and folders to other drives in order to speed up my system. After a whole afternoon and dozens of articles and web pages, with opinions varying so much, I now know why this topic is not often covered in your typical magazine or book. There was a dizzying array of set ups from simple one volume 2 partitions to one volume 6 partitions or multiple hard drives with multiple partitions......... ......although a number of the people gave good reasons for doing their particular set up, two things came to mind. The first was that I didn't see any "hard" evidence like benchmarks to support their claims of increased speed. The other, was that among the set ups, I didn't feel any of them spoke to me or my present set up.
How I use the computer: I currently use this computer for.....gaming, newbie overclocking, video conversion and editing (i.e. avi to DVD), video streaming to other computers in the house, torrents, storing large music and video files, Web surfing etc...etc.
My goal:
1) To use the current hardware\software listed below to the best of its abilities
2) Speed up system response- ie. faster OS response, opening a program or accessing data for a game
3) Flexibility to do a clean install of the OS without having to reload the whole computer.....I think you get the idea.
Current Hardware:
Asus Rampage Extreme X48
Intel core 2 Quad Q9550 (currently at stock speed)
Kingston Hyper X ddr3 Ram capable of 1600 MHz( 4 X 1028 currently)
Seagate 7200.10 (4 x 320gigs currently in system) 2 more are on hand and available for use
2x Radeon Hd 2900 pro video cards with 1gig of ram each
Creative Labs sound card
PSU Ultra X3 1000w
Koolance Water cooling system for the Cpu,Northbridge,graphics cards and memory
Software I use the most:
Vista Ultimate 64
Nero 8 Ultra
Norton's 360 v. 3.0
MS office 2003
Intel Matrix manager (software raid)
Adobe Master Collection CS4
Various games ( ie Crysis, GTA4,WOW)
IE8
I know that I will be able to do a number of things to increase speed on my system like tweaking the hardware/Software. I would like to get the hard drives sorted first and then start tweaking hardware/software next.
Just a note: The motherboard can support up to 6 hard drives in a Raid 0,1,5 and 10 config and combinations thereof using "Matrix Raid". The motherboard also has an additional 2 sata ports to be used independently of the above 6 ports in any config I would like.
I know its a lot. I tried to give as much info as possible so that you can help me in my quest. Now, I guess, I just hope that not only am I in the right place,but, I hope someone here has the knowledge,ability and willingness to point me in the right direction. Thank you.