SAS RAID 1 - Vista - Pre-loading

clansman

I'm looking to to make a new machine with SAS drives. I want to put the SAS
drives in a RAID 1 so i get better read performance. also I would like to be able to pre load programs on to ram from the SAS drives(eg firefox, steam...etc) I dont mind boot up times,
the problem is that I have never worked with SAS(so i dont know any thing about the power or cabling) nor have i ever done any pre loading.

i know i must get a SAS controller but i haven't a clue as to what to get. All i know is that the bigger the buffer the better....
Reading for wiki in need multi-threaded operating system that supports split
seeks to increase read times. So how to i do this. Is it down to the OS,
Controller, CPU or all of them. I have a Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz and win XP 32bit.

I was thinking of getting vista cos it might solve the above problem but also
for preloading. I would like to have 4+ GB of ram on my system so i need vista. However i don't know if i need a 32bit or 64bit? Also I have no idea how easy/hard it is to pre load and if there are any benefits in doing it...

I might also look into getting a new mobo any ideas? this is my old one http://www.dabs.ie/productview.aspx?QuickLinx=4R91

PSU: I think that this should be all right
http://www.dabs.ie/productview.aspx?QuickLinx=4B0R

RAM: I might consider faster or maybe DDR3???
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=335299

Cheers

Cuddlesworth

I think you need to take a step back. Your going at this the wrong way.

Raid 0 has better read speeds.

If you want to use SAS drives effectively you will need a good pci-express controller, your talking 400+ euros at the minimum. Plus the fortune the drives will cost you.

Ram pre-fetching is done automatically by Windows Vista, if you go 64bit and get 8 gigs of ram you can garruntee Vista will pre-fetch pretty much everything you use.

Could you make it clearer what exactly is is you want? Faster app load times, games? Windows boot?

clansman

I'm looking for fast appz loading and that includes games. Iam not to worried about boot
time. A few minutes in a mans life is nothing. I have the SAS drives so i'll all
i would be buying is the controller(PCIe). so around 400 is not the end of the world if it does the job.
i will probably get a new mobo and as you said 8GB+ ram. As for vista and pre-fetching, can the user controll what is fetched? as in can i tell vista i want that program in ram and not that one...etc... also i take it that the quad core is 64bit.
iam asking so much questions cos i want to get it right first time. This system will cos a lot once its finished...

Spiritine

clansman wrote: »

I'm looking for fast appz loading and that includes games. Iam not to worried about boot
time. A few minutes in a mans life is nothing.

Isnt that a contradiction?

clansman

Murray135 wrote: »

Isnt that a contradiction?

well for me its not. when i boot up my computer I don't sit down in front of it
and wait.... I would generally just in from work so I be showering, getting
something to eat etc. When i get to the PC it would be fully boot so it would be
nice to have my most frequent used programs pre-fetched and read to go...


that is why i don't see it as contradiction..

Blazer

Forget SAS and do with SSD drives.
Lightning fast at booting vista/apps and games.
Make sure you go for the SLC ones though or Intel's new MLC ones.
The Jmicron? have flaws with them..they're used in OCZ SSDs etc.

clansman

see i have the SAS drives all ready so I have no choice but to work with them...

zod

what size are they ?2.5" or 3.5" what server they out of?

clansman

zod wrote: »

what size are they ?2.5" or 3.5" what server they out of?

Form Factor is 3.5" x 1/3H and server? - have no idea what you mean