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Jay Saan
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Economical Build - Fans and RAID Questions

Jul 3, 2012 12:26 PM

Tags: #hardware #raid #fans

I am considering the following build for an editing suite (used Harm's guide as a reference). I just don't know how many more fans, if necessary, I should buy. The case comes with 4 x 140 mm fans, and I'm not looking to overclock the CPU immediately, but am considering OC'ing to 4.4 GHz in the near future.

 

Also, would a RAID 0 configuration be appropriate with 4 hard drives? The only hard drive I'd be willing to risk losing would be the output files/export drive. So, any 2 disk array combination could result in potential catastrophic data loss. Harm's "economical build" recommends raid 0 for a 5 hard drive configuration, so it seems like 5 hard drives is a prerequisite for RAID 0. Any comments would be helpful as I only recently realized what you can do with RAID configurations. Thanks in advance.

 

CPU

I7-2600k

 

CPU Cooler

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus

 

Motherboard

ASRock Z68

 

Graphics Card

nVidia GTX 560 Ti 2GB

 

Memory

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 1333

 

Hard Drives

2 x Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB 7200 RPM SATA (OS, page swap & project files)
2 x Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200 RPM SATA (source files, output)

 

PSU

Corsair Pro Gold AX850

 

Operating System

Windows 7 Professional

 

Optical Drive

Pioneer BDR-207DBK

 

Case

NZXT Switch 810

603 Views   7 Replies   Latest reply: Jay Saan, Jul 4, 2012 12:32 PM
 
Replies
  • Bill Gehrke
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    1. Bill Gehrke,
    Jul 3, 2012 1:55 PM   in reply to Jay Saan
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    GeneralN00b wrote:

     

     

    Also, would a RAID 0 configuration be appropriate with 4 hard drives? The only hard drive I'd be willing to risk losing would be the output files/export drive. So, any 2 disk array combination could result in potential catastrophic data loss. Harm's "economical build" recommends raid 0 for a 5 hard drive configuration, so it seems like 5 hard drives is a prerequisite for RAID 0. Any comments would be helpful as I only recently realized what you can do with RAID configurations. Thanks in advance.

     

    I am sure that Harm would not recommend using 5 disks in RAID 0.  I would reread his information.  If you had 5 drives and a RAID controller card it would be very advisable to use a true redundant form of RAID.  It definitely is not a prerequisite for RAID 0.

     

    The only prerequisite for RAID 0 is two identical drives.

     
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  • Harm Millaard
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    2. Harm Millaard,
    Jul 3, 2012 2:05 PM   in reply to Jay Saan
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    If you add another Samsung F3 500 GB or a Samsung 830 SSD or even a Corsair Performance Pro SSD to the arsenal, you are OK. This additional disk should be used solely for OS & programs, and all the rest on the two raid0 arrays as you intended.

     
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  • Jay Saan
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    3. Jay Saan,
    Jul 3, 2012 2:23 PM   in reply to Bill Gehrke
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    Sorry, let me clarify. Yes, two identical drives are the only prerequisite for RAID 0. I guess what I was trying to get at was whether it would be worth having only one RAID 0 array with the other two hard drives untouched, one of them being the OS drive on my build. My budget is already capped so I do not know whether to pursue a setup that has just one RAID 0 configuration or none at all. I'm assuming it depends on individual workflow and preferences for performance at this point?

     
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  • Harm Millaard
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    4. Harm Millaard,
    Jul 3, 2012 3:22 PM   in reply to Jay Saan
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    And the codec you will be using for your source material. That may well be the determining factor to decide what is wise?

     

    If you are really limited to 4 disks, 2 x 500 and 2 x 1 TB, I suggest the 3 disk setup with the two 1 TB disks in raid0.

     
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  • Jay Saan
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    5. Jay Saan,
    Jul 3, 2012 3:56 PM   in reply to Harm Millaard
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    Thank you. The codec for my source material will mainly be Canon DSLR H.264 1080p. Do you have an idea of how many fans are required to sufficiently cool a system like this? I know the four stock 140mm fans plus the Hyper 212 just won't cut it, especially with the CPU overclocked.

     
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  • Harm Millaard
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    6. Harm Millaard,
    Jul 4, 2012 12:58 AM   in reply to Jay Saan
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    I'm not familiar with the case and do not know the airflow. If you are worried about the temps, you can consider a bigger case that allows for better airflow. The case you have chosen now is not very wide, so adding fans to the side may be difficult because of the height of the fans and the height of the video card. Does the case have positive, balanced or negative airflow? Are dust filters used on the intake fans? There are so many questions, that make answering impossible.

     

    When you have built your system, measure the various temperatures at stock speed. If they are acceptable, even under stress load, it shows that cooling is OK. Now overclock and do the same test. If the temperatures rise by more than say 10 degrees C, then you need additional fans and you have to investigate the airflow closer. For some considerations about cooling, look at http://ppbm6.com/Planning.html

     
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  • Jay Saan
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    7. Jay Saan,
    Jul 4, 2012 12:32 PM   in reply to Harm Millaard
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    The case supports up to three fans for push-pull configuration, up to ten 140/120mm fans total, and has front/rear dust filters. Thanks for the help, Harm. I will look into it more.

     
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