RAID 0 SSD's!

[K PhaNTOM]

So I got the upgrade itch a while back. I thought long and hard and came up with me needing the ultimate HDD. I realized then that I only have Sata 2. So that's a new motherboard with Sata 3. Check. Now it's time to go get me some SSD's. Decided on this. Well, not one, but two. Then for some reason, I wanted to change my CPU cooler. It wasn't important but hey, once you got an itch you got an itch. So I went with a Corsair H70.

So, the whole upgrade hardware wise went smoothly. Comes to reformatting and for some reason my computer won't find my unformatted Velociraptor. It has quite a bit of data but it's mostly just old game files and videos. Not a big problem. I'll just reformat it. So now to my lovely RAID 0 SSDs. Apparently you can't test Write speeds if the Disk has any kind of partitioning going on. However the read speeds, my oh my, the read speeds were crazy to me. My previous second generation 150GB Raptors in RAID 0 used to get read speeds of 80MB. These SSDs get an astonishing 370MB! That is absolutely crazy!

The CPU cooler was a small problem. I think I didn't install it correctly because all it did was add 4 C degrees to my previous air cooler. Not important though. I'll put back the Air cooler when I do my next upgrade. Right before BF3. And it's also the most complicated computer part I have ever had to install or uninstall... and reinstall again. It came with Thermal paste already on it, ok? But after I install it I went "Oh crap, I forgot the paste." So I uninstalled it. Turns out there's already paste. Fine, the I was too lazy to remove the paste again and reapply paste so now I'm running hot. I don't find it to be much of a problem. It's just THAT annoying to reinstall it again that I gave up on it.


BEFORE:



AFTER:



HDD tune test:



Current Specs:
Intel i7 930 @2.8Ghz
Corsair Dominator 12GB DDR3 1600Mhz
2x Crucial 128GB SSD SATA III RAID 0
eVGA Quad SLI SATA III USB 3.0 LGA 1366 Socket
eVGA GTX480 Superclocked
Corsair H70 Hydro CPU Cooler
Cooler Master HAF 932 Case
Cooler Master SilentPro 1000W PSU

And a very happy useless-at-computer-building-person-who-uninstalled-the-CPU-cooler-twice-because-he-forgot-the-thermal-paste-twice.

[Duke{CLR}]

Look good K phantom, just be sure if there was a piece of plastic the said "remove before installing" over the pre applied paste that you removed it. The paste may also take some time to set so you temps may drop. I also like how you tidied up the wires.

Now all you need is another GTX 480 and you will in business.

[DougBob]

Very nice looking setup K.

[K PhaNTOM]

Lol no I took out that cover. I just haven't had a CPU cooler with paste already on it before. I'm still deciding if I should get another 480 or ditch the hot noisy thing and get a 580 which runs a lot cooler and quieter. However now, my entire set up can only be heard if you turn off everything in the room and put your ears right next to it. All you hear is the lonely bzzzzing noise of the water going through the H70's pipes.

Thanks guys

[Duke{CLR}]

Well you definitely hear the fans on my twin 470's when they kick in, thank god for my headsets.

The longer you wait for the video cards the better deal you will get, I bet a pair of 560's will be had for a good price in November, heck you could toss three in there.

[WalkinTarget]

As far as I know, they haven't resolved the lack of TRIM support when you are running SSDs in RAID, so you will gain a crapload of performance at first, but as you install stuff and the drives build up some fragmentation, your performance will slowly decrease. Without the TRIM doing its garbage cleanup, you will see degradation, unless your drives support their own internal cleanup.

Two things you do NOT want to do to an SSD rig: defrag it, and run drive benchmarks frequently, as they are only designed for so many write passes before they start to deteriorate, and both of the above things will seriously decrease your drives lifespan.

Enjoy the speed, they are just insanely fast. An Acrobat Reader X install that would take 40 seconds can now take about 8. Doesn't help out so much in games, but everything else flies.

[Skud]

Nice rig, KP!...although I have my doubts that it is yours as upon closer examination I detect not a trace of neither hair nor fingernail.

[BlackArrow]

nice upgrade Phant

[Dead...Again]

As far as I know, they haven't resolved the lack of TRIM support when you are running SSDs in RAID, so you will gain a crapload of performance at first, but as you install stuff and the drives build up some fragmentation, your performance will slowly decrease. Without the TRIM doing its garbage cleanup, you will see degradation, unless your drives support their own internal cleanup.

Two things you do NOT want to do to an SSD rig: defrag it, and run drive benchmarks frequently, as they are only designed for so many write passes before they start to deteriorate, and both of the above things will seriously decrease your drives lifespan.

Enjoy the speed, they are just insanely fast. An Acrobat Reader X install that would take 40 seconds can now take about 8. Doesn't help out so much in games, but everything else flies.

Having an SSD helps with game load times. In BC2, my new rig loads the new map a TON faster than my old one did.

[Furryappleseed]

Since you got the itch, why don't you upgrade that keyboard?

Nice system though.

[K PhaNTOM]

Having an SSD helps with game load times. In BC2, my new rig loads the new map a TON faster than my old one did.

True. I used to load up BC2 maps in under 40 seconds. Which is long. When I used to join, our team was already losing. Now that I have these, I load up in under 15 seconds. However, an update on my upgrade- it seems that I killed my 480. I can't play 10 seconds in BC2 before it crashes. I can't even play black ops without artifacting. I think that little air can I used to clean the Video card's fans might have gotten some dust into something it shouldn't have. It is registered with eVGA so I will RMA it soon. Good thing I have my old 8800GT sitting in my closet.

One more thing, I forgot to set SATA to ACHI. After I reformatted my computer I thought "CRAP!" but I plan on reformatting again on my next upgrade. Apparently ACHI can give some serious speeds.

[Dead...Again]

True. I used to load up BC2 maps in under 40 seconds. Which is long. When I used to join, our team was already losing. Now that I have these, I load up in under 15 seconds. However, an update on my upgrade- it seems that I killed my 480. I can't play 10 seconds in BC2 before it crashes. I can't even play black ops without artifacting. I think that little air can I used to clean the Video card's fans might have gotten some dust into something it shouldn't have. It is registered with eVGA so I will RMA it soon. Good thing I have my old 8800GT sitting in my closet.

One more thing, I forgot to set SATA to ACHI. After I reformatted my computer I thought "CRAP!" but I plan on reformatting again on my next upgrade. Apparently ACHI can give some serious speeds.

1. sounds like your video card has temperature problems.
2. You definitely should enable AHCI if you are installing on an SSD.

[{CLR} Cobalt]

Phan, I was gonna offer you $35 for the 480, but now you done messed that up.