New system, 2 SSD in RAID or Separate drives?

[drbyq9]

Hi guys,

I have been more of an observer than contributor in Tom's Forums over the years, but this is ALWAYS the first place I come when I need answers to my computer related questions and almost always find them without having to even ask myself, but I wanted to see if you guys could provide an answer specific to my hardware and such since i respect the Tom's community greatly.

I have been an interested follower rather than active participant in the computer world for a while now but decided to get some hardware to bring my machine up to respectable standards and couple the new parts with existing parts. I have 2 ssds i have had for a few years that have seen relatively light usage, my question is: Should I run the SSDs in RAID or as a system drive and applications drive? No particularly sensitive data will be on either drive, so if one fails or the raid fails, no big deal really...

Existing hardware:

2 x G.SKILL Phoenix Pro 120gb sata 2 SSD

Antec 300 case

PNY GT240 512mb GDDR5 video card

New hardware:

GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD7 AM3+ mobo

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition

G.SKILL Ares Series 16GB DDR3 1600

I think that should be enough pertinent hardware info

So please let me know what you think! Do you think performance would be better with a RAID setup holding OS and applications or would I be better off with 2 separate volumes?

Mainly I will be doing normal web browsing and the like, some light gaming, mostly of the strategy variety with mostly older titles, and using the Vizterra 3d design software for modeling back yards and the like. I think at the most demanding settings Vizterra should basically mirror a somewhat modern fps(hl2?), judging by the i5 machine with a 640gt video card and 6 gb of ram I have been using at the office.

Thank you greatly for your advice in advance, and please, if you have any other suggestions or comments about my new build they are definitely welcome! I haven't really built a machine from scratch in a while and definitely not with the caliber of motherboard I got and you may see me seeking more help with setup and overclocking and such

Again, thanks

Dave

 

[drbyq9]

true, I've never had to rma, do you know if newegg will replace just one stick if I got a 2x8gb kit? or will I have to send the whole thing back

 

[HoboCannibaL]

honestly, they'll probably have you go through the manufacturer and they'll just mail one to you, thats how it usually works...ram is so cheap that they typically don't even ask for it back lol

 

[drbyq9]

awesome lol

 

[Idonno]

true, I've never had to rma, do you know if newegg will replace just one stick if I got a 2x8gb kit? or will I have to send the whole thing back

Both Newegg and G.Skill will require you to send the entire kit back for an RMA. No exceptions, neither G.Skill or Newegg will break up a kit. If it's under 30 days you can send it back to Newegg. If it's over 30 days you will have to RMA to G. Skill. Either way, both are very good about RMA's

 

[HoboCannibaL]

i dunno, i guess it depends, i've never had to return defective ram in order to get a replacement, but its been years since i've had defective ram

 

[Idonno]

i dunno, i guess it depends, i've never had to return defective ram in order to get a replacement, but its been years since i've had defective ram

When I built this PC I went through 3 G. Skill kits before finally settling on a Corsair kit that just works. As a matter of fact I still have a G. Skill 24GB 6 module kit that needs to be returned due to two bad modules and yes I have to return the entire kit.

G.Skill will not accept partial returns on ram kits since all kits are matched and tested to work together. The same goes for Newegg.

Been there / Done that!

 

[drbyq9]

with the capability of this beastly motherboard do you guys think that since I will have to send both sticks back anyway I may be better served getting faster memory or is it really moot beyond 1600 with am3+?

 

[HoboCannibaL]

nothing wrong with 1600....and most ram can be overclocked (not recommended without some sort of ram cooler)

if you can find faster ram for a good deal (maybe newegg or somewhere has a sale for some) then i would....but most people use 1600, thats the most common

 

[Idonno]

There is nothing wrong with going for faster ram if you want to. The difference between 1600 and say 2133 is not very noticeable. It's there but, whether you will notice it of not is debatable.

If you were going All out with a $1,000 CPU, a $500 motherboard, the best video card(s), etc. I'd say go for it but, other than that my recommendation is to just keep what you already have.