Configuration Advice Requested - And I really will use the feedback!

[pinotnoir]

I just bit the bullet and ordered some stuff from new egg.

1 x ($329.99) VGA SAPPHIRE 100270SR HD4850X2 RT - Retail $329.99
1 x ($294.99) CPU INTEL|CORE I7 920 2.66G 45N R - Retail $294.99
1 x ($398.99) MB ASUS RAMPAGE II EXTREME X58 RT - Retail $398.99
2 x ($239.00) MEM 2Gx3|CORS TR3X6G1600C8D R - Retail $478.00
1 x ($129.99) HD 1.5T|ST ST31500341AS 7K 32M % - OEM $129.99
2 x ($89.99) HD 750|WD 7K 32M SATA2 WD7501AALS R - OEM $179.98

I thought about doing the SSD drive and then a regular hard drive. I ended up with buying 2 WD 750gig that I will setup in raid 0 and a 1.5t for data/backup. For 3T of data it cost $308. Thats about the same price as a raptor 300g or a nice SSD. If you have money to spare go for the SSD but if you want to save some money and not worry about the very small performance increase of a SSD go with raid 0.

[-silencer-]

In what I read from the forums, it seemed the consensus that two decent HHDs in a Raid 0 configuration was superior to an SSD. Or at least very competitive with the SSD while costing less. If the SSD is actually superior, I would probably just get a single HDD, ignore the Raid 0 config, and use the SSD for my WoW folder. Anyone care to weigh in on which is better (2 HDDs with Raid 0 vs 1 HDD for Windows and other files and 1 SDD for WoW)?

Read my SSD review in my sig..

I have now played with 5 configurations of hard drives with an SSD, with all other components of the machine the same:
2 36GB Raptors in RAID0 (host OS/swapfile, apps, games) with SSD (host WoW/data directorly via symlink)
1 36GB Raptor (host OS/swapfile), 1 36GB Raptor (host apps/games), with SSD (host WoW/data directory via symlink)
1 300GB Velociraptor (host OS/swapfile), 1 7200rpm WD black 500GB drive (host apps/games), with SSD (host WoW/data directory via symlink)
2 300GB Velociraptors (host OS/swapfile, apps/games) with SSD (host WoW/data directory via symlink)
1 7200rpm WD black 500GB drive with SSD (host WoW/data directory via symlink)

I've also tested configurations without an SSD, with all other components of the machine the same:
2 36GB Raptors in RAID0 (hosting OS/apps/games)
36GB Raptor (host OS/apps/games), 36GB Raptor (host WoW/data via symlink)
300GB Velociraptor (host OS/apps/games), 2 36GB Raptors in RAID0 (host WoW/data via symlink)
2 300GB Velociraptors (host OS/apps/games), 2 36GB Raptors in RAID0 (host WoW/data via symlink)

Since I did all this before WotLK came out, I was looking for playability of 6-boxing in Shatt.. my conclusion::
If you're extremely limited on cash, get one inexpensive 7200rpm drive for the OS & games and one small SSD to host the WoW/data directory via symlink.
If you're limited on cash, get one fast drive (Raptor or Velociraptor) for the OS & games and one small SSD to host the WoW/data directory via symlink.
If you've got plenty of cash, get one fast drive (Raptor or Velociraptor) for the OS & games and get two small SSD's in RAID0 for hosting the the WoW/data directory via symlink.

Raptors/Velociraptors are great, but even in RAID0, they can't compete with a single SSD's ultra-low seek times. Even the slower MLC SSDs are vastly superior to 10k drives for fetching many small files.
Raptors/Velociraptors in RAID0 will usually be a little faster in loading a zone/instance, but they fall short on the multitude of thousands of small fetches - the main cause of hard disk lag in cities / busy areas.

[-silencer-]

If you have money to spare go for the SSD but if you want to save some money and not worry about the very small performance increase of a SSD go with raid 0.

That's simply inaccurate, especially now that there are many sub-$200 options available for 30-64GB SSDs. OCZ even has 30GB models for $75. Even slow MLC SSDs are going to be much faster than RAID0 10k rpm drives for fetching thousands of small files. We're not using writes during gameplay, so the main fault of an SSD is not an issue for us.

I'd build a system with a cheap main drive ($60-$70 500GB 7200rpm drive) and an OCZ Core V2 60GB SSD ($195) for less than $300 than waste time with RAID'ing 7200rpm drives. I tested using an old 7200rpm drive as my main OS/gaming drive with a 64GB OCZ Core SSD hosting WoW/data, and it had far less lag in busy areas like Shatt than using RAID0 Raptors. Storage space is cheap to add when you need it later - we're talking about what's an cost-effective way of reducing lag while multiboxing WoW. It's proven time and again that SSDs are far superior for our use over any 10k/7200rpm RAID0 arrays.

[pinotnoir]

If you have money to spare go for the SSD but if you want to save some money and not worry about the very small performance increase of a SSD go with raid 0.

That's simply inaccurate, especially now that there are many sub-$200 options available for 30-64GB SSDs. OCZ even has 30GB models for $75. Even slow MLC SSDs are going to be much faster than RAID0 10k rpm drives for fetching thousands of small files. We're not using writes during gameplay, so the main fault of an SSD is not an issue for us.

I'd build a system with a cheap main drive ($60-$70 500GB 7200rpm drive) and an OCZ Core V2 60GB SSD ($195) for less than $300 than waste time with RAID'ing 7200rpm drives. I tested using an old 7200rpm drive as my main OS/gaming drive with a 64GB OCZ Core SSD hosting WoW/data, and it had far less lag in busy areas like Shatt than using RAID0 Raptors. Storage space is cheap to add when you need it later - we're talking about what's an cost-effective way of reducing lag while multiboxing WoW. It's proven time and again that SSDs are far superior for our use over any 10k/7200rpm RAID0 arrays.

Dude your post count is 666 the number of the beast!!! :evil: You need to screenshot that.
SSD's are super expensive. If you figure $ per gig its hella expensive vs a normal hd. I am going to use 2 pc's to box once I get my new stuff setup. SSD are good but they cost you. I will only be running 3 wows off this new system so 2 7200 drives in raid 0 with 12gig ram it should fly. If I stuck with 1 pc for 5 accounts I would prob spend the money for the SSD. I think breaking it up to two pc's is going to be the best thing for me in the long run.

[Tsunami]

one suggestion I have is to make your data drive larger than your raid0. e.g. 500gb raid0 w/ 750gb data drive. use the data drive as a backup drive and storage of data that is not accessed often, e.g. music and photos.

the core i7 supports raid0 on the motherboard, since using a raid0 is much cheaper today than an ssd i would wait 6-9 months, prices of SSD's will come down and the capacity will go up. if you use SSD's or not you will still need the data drive so that is not wasted money. 2x 250gb HHD's are pretty cheap, I would go this route until you can go SSD raid0.

[Mercurio]

Thanks a ton for all the configuration advice - this is the system I ordered:

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-920 2.66 GHz 8M L3 Cache
CD: LG 20X DVD+/-R/+/-RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (SILVER COLOR [+7])
FAN: Thermaltake V1 Gaming CPU Cooling Fan (Excellent Overclocking + Silent Proof + Smart CPU & System Thermal Monitor)
HDD: Single Hard Drive (500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
HDD2: 64 GB Ritek RiDATA 2.5 inch SATA Gaming MLC Solid State Disk (Nearly Instant Data Access Technology)
MOTHERBOARD: Asus P6T Intel X58 Chipset SLI/CrossFireX Mainboard Triple-Channel DDR3/1600 SATA RAID w/ eSATA,GbLAN,USB2.0,IEEE1394a,&7.1Audio
MEMORY: 12GB (6x2GB) PC1333 DDR3 PC3 10666 Triple Channel Memory
OS: Microsoft(R) Windows Vista(TM) Home Premium w/ Service Pack 1
POWERSUPPLY: 650 Watts Power Supplies (Corsair CMPSU-650TX - Quad SLI Ready)
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX260 896MB 16X PCI Express [+214] (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)

As you can see, I decided to go with a regular HDD for the OS and a cheapish ($185) SSD drive that I'll use for WoW. Hopefully everything else is up to par.

The total came up to almost $2000, so with that expenditure I really appreciate your guidance. In 2 weeks or so I should be playing in style!

[Yo-Yo Freak]

Grats, i hope the computer works out well for you. ^_^ don't forget to keep us updated!

~YYF