SSD with or without raid 0 HDD?

[Solarifur]

well I'm thinking about getting an SDD and having 2-3 HDD in raid 0 for performance. Redundancy is something i don't worry about as I save most important work to a few external hdd, and I have an internal backup drive just in case. I work mainly with Adobe products like Photoshop, after effects, and premiere pro, so a lot of photo editing, and HD video editing. I also dabble in 3d like maya, realflow, and ZBrush.

The idea behind this is that, my SSD would have the OS installed, with all my programs as well. I also would import my media EG; videos, Photos, e.t.c. so that I can grab them quickly. I then would have my cache on the SSD as well. My Scratch disks for after effects, premiere, and photshop would now go all into the Raid 0 array of my HDDs.

the biggest gain I would be looking for is mostly video performance in after effects and premiere. things like scrubbing, and color correction with smooth, fluid playback.

my comp specs are;
intel i7- 2600k @ 4.5Ghz
16GB rRAM Corsair vengance 1600 MHZ
1x Nvidia GTX 580
1x 320gb 7200 rpm WD, and 1x 1tb WD
850W Thermaltake

An example of the set is 1x SSD OCZ Vertex 4 256GB, with 3-4 500gb HDDs at Raid 0.

So the question is mainly; Should I just get a 1TB HDD for storage, and throw all of my cache, scratch disks, and work media onto the SSD?

Or should I get a couple HDDs in raid 0, and have the cache and media on the SSD, with the scratch disks on the HDD?

Which is better for performance? and is it a big difference between the two?
The only other thing I'm worried about besides performance, is that if 256GB is enough for my SSD needs if I just throw all of the cache, and media, onto the SSD.

What do you think I should do?

 

[RetiredChief]

Just some food for thought.
1) Raid0 only really improves on Sequencial reads/writes. Does Nothing for access time, nor the small 4 K random performance. Normally do not recommend raid 0 since SSDs have come down in price. In your case reading and writting large files, yes raid 0 will provide some performance boost. Since you are limited in # of INTEL sata III you will need to verify since I did not see reference to MB. The SSD should be on the Intel SATA III port, O NOT put on a 3rd party SATA III port. The HDDs (in raid0) can go on a Sata II port as Mechanical HDDs will not saturate a SATA II interface, even a raid0 using 3 x disks, (not sure about with 4x).

If Really concerned about performance, go with a 128 gig SSD for Programs + OS and a 256 gig SSD as a "overflow/work/temp" drive. and scratch Raid0.

Another alternative is dependent on max size of working files. And that is if single file is less than say four gigs, you might consider using some of your Ram as a Ramdisk
Ramdrives are much improved from older versions and are about 10x faster than a SSD (quess that makes them about 500 times faster than a HDD- LOL)
Any way can try as upto a 4 gig ramdisk is free, >4 gigs is under $20, Then Ram is not cheap, ie to go above 16 gigs must use higher version of windows 7, ie need pro or ultimate, then the cost of adding ram, dependent on replace or add to.
http://memory.dataram.com/products-and-services/software/ramdisk
Have 16 gigs of ram and have played around with using 8 gigs as a ramdisk. They are FAST, but Boot time is slowed down and power off time is higher, Somewhat dependent on Ramdrive configuration.

 

[Solarifur]

Very informative answer!
The Mobo is an Asus P8P67 EVO

I think I'll go with the 2 SSDs or a single 512 gb SSD for multiple projects.
for the HDD I'll get just another 1tb for storage.
The ram drive is also a good idea, but I'm thinking
The SSD should be sufficient.

 

[RetiredChief]

My systems are configured:
i5-2500k - 128 gig Samsung 830 for OS + programs, 256 gig 830 for my files/data and a 1 TB HDD
i5-2510m Laptop - 128 gig Curcial M4 for OS + programs, 256 gig M4 for my files/data and a 1 TB HDD
i5-750 - 1 120 gig Pheonix Pro for OS + program, 80 gig Intel M4

 

[dingo07]

FYI - If you're using Adobe Premier Pro CS5-6...

CS5 Classroom in a Book: Page 3
"Optimizing performance - Editing video is memory- and processor-intensive work for a desktop computer. A fast processor and a lot of memory will make your editing experience much faster and more efficient; 2 GB of memory is the minimum, and 8 GB or more is better for high-definition (HD) media. Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 takes advantage of multicore processors on Windows and Macintosh systems and will run on Macintosh computers with multicore Intel processors.

A dedicated 7200 RPM or faster hard drive is recommended for standard-definition (SD) or high-definition video (HDV) media. A RAID 0 striped disk array or SCSI disk subsystem is recommended for HD. Performance will be significantly affected if you attempt to store media files and program files on the same hard drive.

The Mercury Playback Engine in Adobe Premiere Pro can operate in software-only mode or GPU acceleration mode. The GPU acceleration mode provides significant performance improvement. The GPU acceleration is possible with select video cards. You can find a list of these video cards on the Adobe website at http://www.adobe.com/go/premiere_systemreqs."

On the side bar there's a Tip:
"A common disk configuration is to put the operating system and applications on drive 1, video and audio files on drive 2, and export files on drive 3. For HD work, drive 2 should be a RAID 0 striped disk array or SCSI disk subsystem."


----
Don't forget the memory specs in the first paragraph are what's to be dedicated to the program, not physically installed for Windows to use, so your 16GB will be good, however it should be fast memory and not your standard 1600. The faster the RAM and the faster effects are processed like wipes, blurs, lighting, etc.

The link above is broken, so here's what the information is really intended to be...
http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/policy-pricing/system-requirements-premiere-pro.html