Real / Measurable performance gain using RAID 0

[ethu]

I want to know as to what real / measurable performance gain can be expected using RAID 0 array of two HDD for OS/applications versus if they are installed on a stand-alone HDD.

My machine configuration is as follows.

Motherboard - ASUS P5K PREMIUM/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel
HDD - 250 GB x 2 SATA (planned for the RAID 0 array). There are other IDE based HDD also in the machine.
DVD Drive - Samsung Internal SATA DVD Writer
Memory - 8 GB (Two kits of Patriot Extreme Performance 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model PDC24G6400LLK)
OS - Windows 7 64 bit RC

 

[sminlal]

When I was setting up my Core i7 system I did a quick test by putting a couple of WD Green drives into a RAID 0 array vs. non-RAID. The time to boot 64-bit Windows 7 was 17 seconds for the RAID 0 array vs. 22 seconds for a single drive. That's the time from when the Windows splash screen is displayed until the logon prompt appears.

 

[belial2k]

boot times improve, write times will improve some too if you are moving big files around...but other than that it will not improve gaming performance or app performance

 

[maxima120]

RAID0 - Read and Write times are the best amongs ALL the RAIDs.. So if you want an improvement in I/O the RAID0 is the best for mechanical drives...

It is prone to failures most of all though. You might also consider SSD to improve it further but then it will cost considerably more.. Everything is a tradeoff.