New comp/HDD config.

Nacht · Jul 4, 2004, 10:00 PM

Im getting all of these parts this week, and putting together the following computer this coming weekend:

Asus p4p800-e deluxe
p4 2.4Ghz @ 533fsb
1024MB pc2100 ddr ram
eVGA 6800GT
NEC DL 8x dvd-rw
Cooler Master centurion w/ 350W psu

My question is concerning the two HDD I'm going to be putting in it. They are the same ones I use now: a 200GB western digital 8MB cache, and a seagate 80GB HDD that is SATA compatible (the WD might be as well, but i'm not sure). They are both currently running on IDE.

I was thinking that I partition the 80GB into two sections, one for windows, and the other for the page file...and have that be my system drive. Then, I would use the 200GB for all of my programs, applications, and downloads...but it seems like a waste to have just windows and the page file on the 80 GB drive, because I wont even be using half of it. What configuration should I take with the drives and using paritions?

Also, can somebody instruct me on SATA? does it use a different kind of cable and go in a different slot on the mobo than IDE? and how much faster is it then running the HDD in IDE?

thanks

grog · Jul 5, 2004, 01:58 AM

Since you did not include the model numbers for your drives I can not comment on if they are SATA or not.

SATA does use a different connector. Actually that is the main benifit of SATA right now. The SATA connection is round and small.
So the benifit is case cooling since the SATA cable has very little chance affecting air flow.

The WD SATA drive line for example does not have a ATA connector at all. Unless you bought a SATA card to use the drive before it is not SATA it is only ATA.

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc....ted=1050530240

No big deal with your board though. The benifit of SATA is mainly the connector right now. Although the SATA spec is 150Mb/s and ATA is 133Mb/s the drive itself is not able to transfer data fast enough for it to matter.

You do have both SATA and ATA controllers on your motherboard. Almost the same setup as my ASUS K8V. You can even run RAID on both the SATA and ATA channels. Some claim RAID-0 increase in data transfer rate to be overrated for desktop usage. For many applications this does hold water.

See "Stop the RAID0 Insanity!"

http://www.storagereview.com/

I do see a difference but I do a lot of video editiing where sequential transfer rate does matter.

SiSoftware Sandra Drive Benchmark
Drive Index: 57669kB/s -> SATA RAID-0 MAXTOR 120GBx2
Drive Index: 33631kB/s -> ATA MAXTOR 160GB

Single SATA would have near the same performance in my case as ATA. The drives above have the same transfer specs less the interface being used.

I would recommend you put the fastest drive as your boot drive.
If you want more performance for video editing or other sequential type work then get a second drive of exactly the same type and make it RAID-0. Game performance may actually suffer from RAID-0 a bit over non-raid, so don't do it for gamming performance.

Greg

Quote:

Originally posted by rob13800
Im getting all of these parts this week, and putting together the following computer this coming weekend:

Asus p4p800-e deluxe
p4 2.4Ghz @ 533fsb
1024MB pc2100 ddr ram
eVGA 6800GT
NEC DL 8x dvd-rw
Cooler Master centurion w/ 350W psu

My question is concerning the two HDD I'm going to be putting in it. They are the same ones I use now: a 200GB western digital 8MB cache, and a seagate 80GB HDD that is SATA compatible (the WD might be as well, but i'm not sure). They are both currently running on IDE.

I was thinking that I partition the 80GB into two sections, one for windows, and the other for the page file...and have that be my system drive. Then, I would use the 200GB for all of my programs, applications, and downloads...but it seems like a waste to have just windows and the page file on the 80 GB drive, because I wont even be using half of it. What configuration should I take with the drives and using paritions?

Also, can somebody instruct me on SATA? does it use a different kind of cable and go in a different slot on the mobo than IDE? and how much faster is it then running the HDD in IDE?

thanks

Vampyromaniac · Jul 5, 2004, 02:17 AM

I'd put Windows and programs on the 200, and the pagefile on the 80, and split the rest of you files between them. Really a lot of space to deal with, and kind of awkward HD sizes. But, since the WD2000JB should be faster than the Seagate, I'd want Windows and programs/games on there.

Nacht · Jul 5, 2004, 02:24 AM

yea, that makes since vamp....do you think i should just run both of them in IDE and put downloads/page file on the 80 and windows and programs/games on the 200? also, should i partition the drives in any particular way? (i.e. 10 for page file and 70 for downloads on the 80....20 for windows and rest for programs/games on the 200)

Vampyromaniac · Jul 5, 2004, 03:01 AM

Hehe, there's so many ways to go, and you have an insane amount of space to play with.
I tend to go overboard with partitioning, I might not be the best person to ask, but hey that's me.
Anyway, the main things people have are Windows (and pagefiles), Games, Programs, and Personal files (dowloads, documents, music, etc. which you can even separate by those types if you wish 1 music partition, 1 downloads, etc)

I usually put Windows and Programs together in a 10 GB partition. If you use a lot of programs, or big ones, you can go with 15 or 20 (you have 200GB anyway, heh) Then I put Games on a separate partition, the size just depends on how many you want to have installed and how big they are, maybe as little as 10 GB or maybe up to 50 if you spend your life playing games, heh. The pagefile I'd give no more than 1GB to. 4GB is the max anyway, and you really don't need that much with 1GB of RAM. The personal files, I'll leave to you. You can put em all on the 80, speed isn't as important for these files. You have plenty of room to put things, there's just infinite configurations possible.

If you want, I can post my partitions, then you'll see how crazy you can get with partitioning!

Nacht · Jul 5, 2004, 07:45 AM

ok...I think im gonna leave it basically the same as I have it now... the 200 with windows/programs/games, and the 80 with downloads/misc files. just one more question, with the pagefile, will i notice any performance increase or decrease by giving it it's own partition on the 200?

Vampyromaniac · Jul 6, 2004, 08:03 AM

Not really. Normally, I'd want it closest to the beginning of the drive as possible, which means in there with Windows (if not on hte second drive). But, you're hardly ever going to use the pagefile when you have that much RAM anyway (unless you do high-end media work). When I had 768 MB of RAM, I did some testing and logging of the pagefile, with games and apps, etc. ... it never used more than 70MB of pagefile. So, it prob won't really matter where you put it

Jul 4, 2004, 10:00 PM	#1
Nacht ein Krieger Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Clemson Uni Posts: 3,127 Rep Power: 0	New comp/HDD config. Im getting all of these parts this week, and putting together the following computer this coming weekend: Asus p4p800-e deluxe p4 2.4Ghz @ 533fsb 1024MB pc2100 ddr ram eVGA 6800GT NEC DL 8x dvd-rw Cooler Master centurion w/ 350W psu My question is concerning the two HDD I'm going to be putting in it. They are the same ones I use now: a 200GB western digital 8MB cache, and a seagate 80GB HDD that is SATA compatible (the WD might be as well, but i'm not sure). They are both currently running on IDE. I was thinking that I partition the 80GB into two sections, one for windows, and the other for the page file...and have that be my system drive. Then, I would use the 200GB for all of my programs, applications, and downloads...but it seems like a waste to have just windows and the page file on the 80 GB drive, because I wont even be using half of it. What configuration should I take with the drives and using paritions? Also, can somebody instruct me on SATA? does it use a different kind of cable and go in a different slot on the mobo than IDE? and how much faster is it then running the HDD in IDE? thanks

Jul 5, 2004, 02:17 AM	#3
Vampyromaniac confutatis maledictis Join Date: May 2002 Location: somewhere dark Posts: 5,974 Rep Power: 77 System Specs	I'd put Windows and programs on the 200, and the pagefile on the 80, and split the rest of you files between them. Really a lot of space to deal with, and kind of awkward HD sizes. But, since the WD2000JB should be faster than the Seagate, I'd want Windows and programs/games on there. __________________ *Digitalis 3.3* Athlon 64 3000 // ASUS K8V SE Deluxe // 1024MB PC3200 (2-2-2-10 1T) ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro // 20" Dell 2005FPW (DVI) M-Audio Revo 7.1 + Philips Acoustic Edge // Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 320/16 Western Digital WD3200KS + 120/8 Seagate 7200.7 NEC ND-3550A 16x DVD±RW + Lite-On 52x24x CD-RW Antec Sonata case // 480W Antec TruePower personal bests \|\| Aq'3: 46796 \| 3D'01: 20461 \| 3D'03: 6336 \| 3D'05: 2677 \| PC'04: 4605 \| PC'02: 7691,9092,1250

Jul 5, 2004, 03:01 AM	#5
Vampyromaniac confutatis maledictis Join Date: May 2002 Location: somewhere dark Posts: 5,974 Rep Power: 77 System Specs	Hehe, there's so many ways to go, and you have an insane amount of space to play with. I tend to go overboard with partitioning, I might not be the best person to ask, but hey that's me. Anyway, the main things people have are Windows (and pagefiles), Games, Programs, and Personal files (dowloads, documents, music, etc. which you can even separate by those types if you wish 1 music partition, 1 downloads, etc) I usually put Windows and Programs together in a 10 GB partition. If you use a lot of programs, or big ones, you can go with 15 or 20 (you have 200GB anyway, heh) Then I put Games on a separate partition, the size just depends on how many you want to have installed and how big they are, maybe as little as 10 GB or maybe up to 50 if you spend your life playing games, heh. The pagefile I'd give no more than 1GB to. 4GB is the max anyway, and you really don't need that much with 1GB of RAM. The personal files, I'll leave to you. You can put em all on the 80, speed isn't as important for these files. You have plenty of room to put things, there's just infinite configurations possible. If you want, I can post my partitions, then you'll see how crazy you can get with partitioning! __________________ *Digitalis 3.3* Athlon 64 3000 // ASUS K8V SE Deluxe // 1024MB PC3200 (2-2-2-10 1T) ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro // 20" Dell 2005FPW (DVI) M-Audio Revo 7.1 + Philips Acoustic Edge // Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 320/16 Western Digital WD3200KS + 120/8 Seagate 7200.7 NEC ND-3550A 16x DVD±RW + Lite-On 52x24x CD-RW Antec Sonata case // 480W Antec TruePower personal bests \|\| Aq'3: 46796 \| 3D'01: 20461 \| 3D'03: 6336 \| 3D'05: 2677 \| PC'04: 4605 \| PC'02: 7691,9092,1250

Jul 6, 2004, 08:03 AM	#7
Vampyromaniac confutatis maledictis Join Date: May 2002 Location: somewhere dark Posts: 5,974 Rep Power: 77 System Specs	Not really. Normally, I'd want it closest to the beginning of the drive as possible, which means in there with Windows (if not on hte second drive). But, you're hardly ever going to use the pagefile when you have that much RAM anyway (unless you do high-end media work). When I had 768 MB of RAM, I did some testing and logging of the pagefile, with games and apps, etc. ... it never used more than 70MB of pagefile. So, it prob won't really matter where you put it __________________ *Digitalis 3.3* Athlon 64 3000 // ASUS K8V SE Deluxe // 1024MB PC3200 (2-2-2-10 1T) ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro // 20" Dell 2005FPW (DVI) M-Audio Revo 7.1 + Philips Acoustic Edge // Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 320/16 Western Digital WD3200KS + 120/8 Seagate 7200.7 NEC ND-3550A 16x DVD±RW + Lite-On 52x24x CD-RW Antec Sonata case // 480W Antec TruePower personal bests \|\| Aq'3: 46796 \| 3D'01: 20461 \| 3D'03: 6336 \| 3D'05: 2677 \| PC'04: 4605 \| PC'02: 7691,9092,1250

Jul 5, 2004, 02:24 AM	Thread Starter #4
Nacht ein Krieger Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Clemson Uni Posts: 3,127 Rep Power: 0	yea, that makes since vamp....do you think i should just run both of them in IDE and put downloads/page file on the 80 and windows and programs/games on the 200? also, should i partition the drives in any particular way? (i.e. 10 for page file and 70 for downloads on the 80....20 for windows and rest for programs/games on the 200)

Jul 5, 2004, 07:45 AM	Thread Starter #6
Nacht ein Krieger Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Clemson Uni Posts: 3,127 Rep Power: 0	ok...I think im gonna leave it basically the same as I have it now... the 200 with windows/programs/games, and the 80 with downloads/misc files. just one more question, with the pagefile, will i notice any performance increase or decrease by giving it it's own partition on the 200?