Building New PC: Interested in SSD's in Raid 0 and the Prospect of SLI'ing with an i5-760

[Lochnessmonster]

I'd hate to burden BGTech with another PC build, but my simple, $1,400 budget build became much more complicated.

I started this first build of mine around the i5-760 and the GTX 460, but I became interested in the prospect of using two SSDs in Raid 0 and future SLI use. As a result, I've developed a couple of concerns about the build's performance.

Here's the setup I'm looking at:
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Intel Core i5 760 Processor Boxed

Corsair Obsidian Series 700D CC700D Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power ...

ASUS P7P55D-E Pro LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

MSI N460GTX Hawk GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL

Corsair Force F40 CSSD-F40GB2 2.5" 40GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) X 2

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive x 2

ASUS VH242H Black 23.6" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor
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After Combos and Instant savings through Newegg, I'm looking at a pricetag around $1,500. Not to mention I'll have around $100 in rebates. I also already purchased the monitor and HDDs as their deals were expiring over labor day.

One of my issues with the build is that I intend to have the HDDs in Raid 1 and the SSDs in Raid 0, but I have no experience in setting raid up. I'm curious what would be the ideal raid setup for what I have listed.

My other issue is that I intend to SLI eventually but I'm unsure of what kind of performance I can get with the i5. I also don't know if the power supply I currently have would be adequate.

I'd appreciate any advice I can get. Thanks.

[Adajer]

I think the LGA 1156 proccessors can only handle up to 2x SLI, not 100% sure, you should be fine though. If you aren't going to watercool I would go with a different case with better airflow. I have yet to set up a RAID but I will be as soon as I order my build. From my understanding you can do it through bios or in windows. Seems pretty straight forward. That's my 2 cents.

[evilpaul]

I wouldn't use an SSD without TRIM support and no current RAID controller will pass TRIM commands to an SSD.

The 750W PSU should be fine.

[shaddix]

sandforce drives are fine without trim, which the corsair force drives are

[Lochnessmonster]

Here's the article that really made me interested in this more complicated build. $1250 Gaming PC: How does two Geforce GTX 460 1GB in SLI sound to you?

And yeah, diving straight into water cooling with this initial build has scared me, but I did pick that case with the intent of eventually investing in one. I have to admit that I wanted it mostly for its aesthetics along with its decent rating. (Also combo'd with PSU would drop the price of the two by $50.)

I could shave a couple bucks off the final price by opting for an Antec 1200 or an HAF 932. The legion of stock 230mm fans in the HAF 932 has definitely put me off since its not a typical aftermarket size. I'd prefer to have the option of adding quieter fans.. that aren't glorified Christmas trees.

And after researching sandforce SSD's, I feel somewhat comfortable with foregoing Trim. Unfortunately, there hasn't been a lot of personal experience detailing their deterioration, which has put me off slightly.

[Boyiee]

After seeing your OP I took my 80gb SSD out of my cart on newegg and threw in these 2 40gb. With MIB I get RAID0 for the same price. I'll let you know how it works out, should be in by saturday.

[Lochnessmonster]

Be quick! Rebate offer ends on the 13th.

[Boyiee]

It'll be here tomorrow. Newegg ships 99% of what I order from about an hour away in northern NJ. Ended up with a total of 100$ in mib's on this build.

[Lochnessmonster]

I really appreciate it. Here's an article detailing the performance of the Corsair Force F40 in RAID0 if you haven't looked it up already. Some of the numbers are just appalling.

[Knyghtmayre]

There really is no point in getting the Hawk 460 when you can get a 470 for the same price/cheaper. I'd also consider looking at Samsung F4 2TBs for storage, if you even need that much. They have 667GB platters and are part of the EcoGreen line, but should still have comparable performance to F3s. They also cost less per GB than F3s.

[Lochnessmonster]

Good point on the 460. I started the build around the Cyclone and saw the Hawk introduced recently so I jumped at it. I think I'll opt for the EVGA 012-P3-1470-AR GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card for another $40.

I've already purchased the F3's unfortunately, but I managed to get them on sale for $60 each so I feel comfortable with the decision.

[Boyiee]

Took me a few tries to set it up, but I got it going.

2SSD's in RAID0 with a 150gb 10,000RPM HDD for my steam folder and games as well as a 7200rpm 640gb storage drive.

Bios wouldn't let me set the ssd's up in RAID on the 6gb/s sata connectors, but worked when I went to the 3gb/s ones. Trial and error, dvd drive wasnt recognized at first, then the one HDD wasn't recognized, etc.

As far as speed, I have my dvd drive now in the 6gb/s drive, and vanilla wow installed retardedly fast. Windows installed pretty quick, nothing amazing, but programs and boot time is fantastic.

[Lochnessmonster]

Thanks for the update. Certainly looking forward to getting these set up even if it may require a bit of trial and error. (Just as long as it doesn't call for "creative solutions.")

[Lochnessmonster]

Thank you, everyone, who offered their advice. I finally finished building the computer and, boy, does it run like a dream. I strayed a bit from my original specs. I opted for an i7-930, 6GBs of Corsair Dominator 1600 DDR3, an EVGA-X58 motherboard, and an MSI GTX470 Twin Frozr II, most notably. I'll post some pics when I get around to it.

Next step is for me to get comfortable overclocking. Wish me luck!

[Lost]

No SSDs?

[Lochnessmonster]

Oh, they're there. I feel like their performance is wasted on me since any jump in speed would have blown my mind since I've never owned a powerful computer. Now I'm tempted to find some good benchmarking software to really get a grasp of what my computer can handle.

[Boyiee]

It can handle some games

[Eckskalibur]

I didn't want to start a new thread just to put up another computer build.. But opinions on this build please. I know I don't have an SSD drive on here. But that'll be something for the future if this doesn't work well enough for me. I'm upgrading from a piece of shit Gateway FX.

Thanks in advance.


EVGA 01G-P3-1373-AR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) Superclocked EE 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

ASUS VE276Q Black 27" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor w/Display Port & Speakers
Rosewill - Select HDMI cable (6 FEET)

SAMSUNG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black EIDE/ATAPI Model SH-S222A

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601950

Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ

Antec TruePower New TP-750 Blue 750W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply

Grand Total: $1,465.87

[chiyio]

Looks fine to me. Though, if you still play ffxi it doesn't work very well on the 400 series nvidia cards.

[SaviorSelf]

Which Gateway FX did you have? My 8020 was and still is a champ. :Q