I'm cuurently running seagate ES drives on my main box and everything is running nicely. I have some spare cash and would like to upgrade my box. I can't make up my mind if I should run 2 seagate ES drives in a RAID 0 config or a single WD raptor (the 150gb 16mb one without the retarded window). I would only use the drive(s) for my windows installation. all other data is kept on other ES drives.

I don't game. 90% of what I do is photoshop. I just want speed. I just want my box to be nice and snappy.

I've seen my raid 0 config push speeds faster than my old raptor.... I'd wait for a refresh on the raptor to a newer SATA spec or go raptor raid 0. but a single raptor will be beat out by two SATAII 80 GB in raid 0 in both speed and storage...

I'm tired.

If you don't game you're probably not actually going to notice any speed increase. For photoshop your weakest link is the processor followed by the amount and speed of RAM.

Well I work with 600mb files on a regular basis and I'm always waiting after my stupid drives when im saving or opening tiffs or psd files.

I was thinking of getting 2 7200.11 500gb drives in a stripe 0. From what I have seen, they seem to be giving the raptor a run for its money.

http://www.nextlev...age/barracudaraid/

I don't really know what to do. Then there is the raptor raid option but the cost is totally retarded.

too late, i pulled the trigger and got 2 Seagate 7200.11 500gb drives at 109$ each. Gonna slap 2 of them in a RAID 0.

The raptor is just way too expensive for what it really is.

I also got a P182 to replace my small and ugly SLK1650.

nice, probably better for your needs anyway.

Posted by Professor Chaos I also got a P182 to replace my small and ugly SLK1650.

getting the same case for my new rig as well. antec cases in general are nice, this will be my third. how was the transplant from old to new?

I didn't receive it yet. I ordered everything through directcanada.com

I'm kinda having second thoughts about the raid. I kinda think I should of got a raptor for my windows drive.

ahhh i dont know what to do

The raptor isn't worth it. You'll be happy with the 7200.11. They're really good drives.

Posted by Stewie The raptor isn't worth it. You'll be happy with the 7200.11. They're really good drives.

I have a RAID 0 array with three Seagate 160 GB SATA HDs that I use for data that's been online for 2+ years with no problems.
Seagates are quiet, cool running, fast HDs. I like them.

The Samsung Spinpoint is the highest rated HD currently.

The Raptor 1500 is what it is. For a single disk OS you will see faster random reads and writes, but not necessarily better overall performance.
For a RAID 0 arrays it rocks; it's a cool running, reliable HD as best I can tell (get the version with no window).
I'm running a strip array with 4 of them for my OS.
I had a 4 disk Hitachi RAID 0 too. It may have been faster.

That said, on most mobo based controllers you will get a very fast array with 4 good SATA HDs of most that are out there. You don't need Raptors.


One big thing you can do to make the system more reliable, faster, and easier to manage is to have separate drives for your OS and data. Getting the data off the OS drive is one less headache when the OS crashes.
A separate HD for the page file or the PS scratch disk can help too.

If I had two HDs I would use one for the OS and the other for data rather than making a RAID 0 array with them as your doing.
Experiment, as results vary due to equipment, needs and settings. There is no "right" way; each has advantages and disadvantages.
I won't go too nuts; you should see a nice system improvement with the Seagate.


Back up all important data daily and keep off line. As you acquire old HDs that are still good, use them for back up storage. Protect them at all times from ESD so as not to blow out the interface circuity.
-and-
Expect failures...

So I got all my parts tonight and switched case right away. I ran into a few problems :

- ATX 12V line was too short to run from behind
- ATX 20 to 24pin adaptor is too think to be behind also

Right now the wiring is a mess but I will most likely pick up some new power supply along with some zip ties to make things all nice and neat. I'm thinking of getting a Liberty 400watt power supply for the modular cables.

I'm still very excited. I moved from this :





to :





I'm going to install my new 7200.11 next week. I don't have the time to reinstall my windows at the moment. too much work to do this weekend.

Nice stuff

Those "upside down" cases look fucking awesome. If/when I build a desktop again I'm gonna get one of those for sure. wire it up nice

Yes Antec does make a sweet set up.
The main ATX harness should be able to go behind if your careful, I was able to with my Antec case, but it's tight. I may have had to "reskin" the harness with 3M Scotch 69 glass tape to get the clearance, but I did.

The vid 12V rails go up the front; that's how it was intended.

You could clone your old drive to the new to save the OS if it's not buggy. Acronis has a free trial version that works well, and others are available too.

I decided to run everything from behind. I'm just going to get some black and yellow wires, some shrink tube and sauder the wires to make them a little longer. I'll keep the noisetaker and since it's no longer covered by the warranty, it dosnt void anything.

Posted by Professor Chaos I decided to run everything from behind. I'm just going to get some black and yellow wires, some shrink tube and sauder the wires to make them a little longer. I'll keep the noisetaker and since it's no longer covered by the warranty, it dosnt void anything.

See how I ran them in my demon. Don't go too nuts with the harness; it's ok to bring some through the mobo side bulkhead.

I would however place the HDs in the lower most bay and take advantage of the forced air flow cooling. This keeps that hot air out of the mobo compartment too.
The HDs are more protected down lower from vibrations as well.
There are 4 raptors in that lower bay shown in that image, the middle fan is set to it's 2nd setting up from lowest. They run cool as do the PSs.



1. lower bay sata data cables and a power cable for side fan
2. lower bay sata power cables
3. Vid card 12V supplemental rail(s) and power for floppy.
4. main ATX cable for mobo, the others go behind and come out at the top of the mobo, towards the back.

Thats some nice wire management.

Posted by Stewie Thats some nice wire management.

Thanks, there's a lot of wires in that box!
This style Antec case is sweet, and runs very cool and fairly quiet.
The cabling options are really nice, not perfect, but damn good.
Air flow is just top notch though.
The Intels run so cool that with some good HS compound in a ventilated box, you can easily do a mild OC with no problem with the stock HS.
The PS/HD wind tunnel is a great design, prolly the best I've seen as far as air cooling goes.

I did some slight wiring re-configuration this afternoon. I really like neat cases and I'm quite happy how mine came out. I also installed the 2 new drives but the did not set up the RAID. Too busy to reinstall windows atm.

-I did what blackhawk suggested, moved the HDDs down. Great move, they run MUCH cooler. yay
-I also extended my ATX12V so it now runs from behind! YAY. I just got a Molex to ATX12V adaptor from work, cut off the Molex plug and saudered it on the existing line. Add shrink tube and voila. Looks very clean.





(dont mind the ID drive on the right, i'm using it as a screw keeper)

That came out looking excellent!

I really like that case design.