RAID on laptops = kick ass gaming rig - bit-tech.net Forums

WilHarris · 25th Aug 2005, 00:14

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2005/08..._intel_matrix/

GigantoR · 25th Aug 2005, 01:08

Wait, so...multiple hdd's in a lappy? Size constraints aren't a problem?

Sorry if this is rather noobish, i don't know much about laptop innards as i can't buy them and tweak them as easily as I can desktops.

LoneArchon · 25th Aug 2005, 01:28

it just make for a larger laptop but for that type size doesn't matter much as it will not last very long away from a outlet while gaming. Also it goes along with the 17" screens too.

Zidane · 25th Aug 2005, 02:14

Quote:

Anyone for 2.5GHz Pentium M, GeForce 7800 Go graphics and a 200GB RAID array? I'll take mine to go, please...

i'd carry 300metres of power-cord if i had to, just to have that.

The_Pope · 25th Aug 2005, 02:47

Many laptops can take two hard drives - I have a 15" HP NW8000 that has hard drive, DVD combo drive, and a floppy in what HP call the MultiBay. You can remove the floppy and replace with a second hard drive.

If you had a smaller notebook with just hard drive and DVD drive, the latter could be swapped out for the second hard drive, and you could use the DVD drive externally if & when you needed it.

I'm not saying the battery life wouldn't suffer, but it's doable. GigantoR: this story will show you how tiny notebook hard drives are these days: http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2005/08...60_hard_drive/

and possibly some vendors might move to the new 1.8" drives in order to offer RAID...

GigantoR · 25th Aug 2005, 03:50

Ah, I knew the drives were smaller but I didn't figure on the larger size required by a gaming machine with a larger display.

Firehed · 25th Aug 2005, 04:22

I remember seeing a laptop that could have three hard drives and two opticals. Musta been a fatass of a laptop, to be frank, but you've got possibilities there.

Honestly I wouldn't want it, just because it's more expensive and lowers battery life. But I wouldn't want a laptop for LAN use at all, because I have a powerhouse desktop I'd happily tote along. Now if it was possible to have something like 5-6 hours battery life and be at the same price point as a non-gaming laptop, I'd be all over it, but I'm too strong of a believer in specialization to ever consider a gaming laptop. "Do it right or don't do it at all".

If you find a laptop with 5 hours of battery life at $999 with RAID0/Matrix RAID of 200+ GBs and the power of high end desktop graphics with a screen that can do 1600x1200 or a widescreen equivalent, let me know because I'm all over it. Chances are... not so good.

Migishu · 25th Aug 2005, 04:34

Question:

What's the diffrence between this and what Alienware are currently offering on their laptops? Imean, they've got 2 diffrent RAID setups available...

stephen2002 · 25th Aug 2005, 11:59

Personally I would rather see smaller, lighter laptops. Brickputers are not my idea of portable.

Guess it would make a slick LAN rig though

Stompy · 25th Aug 2005, 12:44

I assume theres an optional fork lift truck to transport your new notebook?

Godboy_g · 25th Aug 2005, 12:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stompy

I assume theres an optional fork lift truck to transport your new notebook?

I don't think that the laptop will be that much heavier. Of course, you may need that fork lift for the battery though....

Wolfe · 25th Aug 2005, 21:43

It's already avialable, in clevo laptops, such as the alienware mentioned above.

I've got the Sager version - Pentium4 3 Ghz, Geforce go 6800 ultra, Kicks ass. Can handle Raid, though i've only got one Hdd right now. It;s definitely a brickputer, but it can run any game on the market at near maximum graphics settings.

http://www.pctorque.com/sager-9880-gaming-computers.php
http://www.alienware.com/product_det...de=SKU-DEFAULT

Kipman725 · 29th Aug 2005, 15:52

raid in a laptop is stupid when you can have a flash based hard disk which is faster than any laptop disc based raid and uses less power, admitedly it is 16gb... but thats what external drive caddies were made for (keep all your games on it and just copy them over when you want to play)

TurboFlush · 27th Dec 2005, 10:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolfe

It's already avialable, in clevo laptops, such as the alienware mentioned above.

I've got the Sager version - Pentium4 3 Ghz, Geforce go 6800 ultra, Kicks ass. Can handle Raid, though i've only got one Hdd right now. It;s definitely a brickputer, but it can run any game on the market at near maximum graphics settings.

http://www.pctorque.com/sager-9880-gaming-computers.php
http://www.alienware.com/product_det...de=SKU-DEFAULT

I have found around 7 companys that can build to order this same computer (in a AMD 64 plat). however I cant find one that sells a barebone from the site.
these are awesome laptops, I have access to a couple of them. I plan on picking up a AMD version soon.

TF

specofdust · 27th Dec 2005, 11:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Article Title

RAID on laptops = kick ass gaming rig

How, exactly? I've been doing the whole "RAID 0 is useless for games" in many other threads today, so I might as well shove it in this one. RAID 1 for a laptop is rather inneficient, since you'd be cheaper and better just having an Icebox and 3.5" drive to back stuff up to.

As for RAID 0, good for image editing, and yes, no doubt some people will want to do traditionally desktop things on laptops, for style and space reasons these days, but, once more, pointless for almost all games.

Hybr1d · 27th Dec 2005, 12:18

RAID on laptops = Size + Weight + Heat + Power Consumtion

Hamish · 27th Dec 2005, 13:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by specofdust

As for RAID 0, good for image editing, and yes, no doubt some people will want to do traditionally desktop things on laptops, for style and space reasons these days, but, once more, pointless for almost all games.

its not just image editing, its great for any situation where you handle a file >8mb (or whatever your cache size is)
i like raid 0, i had a raid 0 array a long time ago, then i moved to a single raptor, i've since gone back to raid 0 because its much faster for my purposes

dunno about gaming laptops tho, at some point they're gonna end up being so huge you might aswell just carry around a shuttle + 17" tft

burnhaven · 3rd Jan 2006, 10:46

http://www.techimo.com/articles/index.pl?photo=149

I followed this and got RAID to work great on my laptop, huge jump in perforamce (I tested using http://www.sisoftware.net/ )

my problem is that if you don't do backups often you might not be able to recover your data on a dynamic drive if you have an OS problem. At least, I wasn't able to get my data back from my dynamic drives when I had an OS problem.

and yes, the battery performance was halved, but I didn't care about that

25th Aug 2005, 00:14	#1
WilHarris Just another nobody Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Oxford Posts: 2,671	RAID on laptops = kick ass gaming rig http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2005/08..._intel_matrix/

25th Aug 2005, 01:08	#2
GigantoR Supermodder Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Texas Posts: 417	Wait, so...multiple hdd's in a lappy? Size constraints aren't a problem? Sorry if this is rather noobish, i don't know much about laptop innards as i can't buy them and tweak them as easily as I can desktops. __________________ Sexy Black - a Lian Li case mod

25th Aug 2005, 01:28	#3
LoneArchon Supermodder Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Waldorf,MD Posts: 422	it just make for a larger laptop but for that type size doesn't matter much as it will not last very long away from a outlet while gaming. Also it goes along with the 17" screens too. __________________ .:NEED MORE ENERGY:. A64 x2 4800+/eVGA Geforce 8800gtx with dangerden Water Block/2GB Corsair 3200/250gb Western Digital/Asus A8N32-Sli Deluxe/24" Acer LCD

25th Aug 2005, 03:50	#6
GigantoR Supermodder Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Texas Posts: 417	Ah, I knew the drives were smaller but I didn't figure on the larger size required by a gaming machine with a larger display. __________________ Sexy Black - a Lian Li case mod

25th Aug 2005, 04:22	#7
Firehed Why not? I own a domain to match. Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: An hour north of Boston Posts: 12,576	I remember seeing a laptop that could have three hard drives and two opticals. Musta been a fatass of a laptop, to be frank, but you've got possibilities there. Honestly I wouldn't want it, just because it's more expensive and lowers battery life. But I wouldn't want a laptop for LAN use at all, because I have a powerhouse desktop I'd happily tote along. Now if it was possible to have something like 5-6 hours battery life and be at the same price point as a non-gaming laptop, I'd be all over it, but I'm too strong of a believer in specialization to ever consider a gaming laptop. "Do it right or don't do it at all". If you find a laptop with 5 hours of battery life at $999 with RAID0/Matrix RAID of 200+ GBs and the power of high end desktop graphics with a screen that can do 1600x1200 or a widescreen equivalent, let me know because I'm all over it. Chances are... not so good. __________________ hire me @ eric-stern.com - web developer and php ninja pics @ my smugmug :: Twitter @firehed :: blog @ firehed.net 40D\|580EXII\|285HV\|AB800\|70-200f/4LIS\|17-50f/2.8\|150f/2.8Macro\|50f/1.8 MacPro @ 8x2.8GHz, 10GB FBDDR2, 3TB HD :: MBP @ 2x2.2GHz, 4GB DDR2, 320GB HD

25th Aug 2005, 02:47	#5
The_Pope Geoff Richards Moderator Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: UK Posts: 2,089	Many laptops can take two hard drives - I have a 15" HP NW8000 that has hard drive, DVD combo drive, and a floppy in what HP call the MultiBay. You can remove the floppy and replace with a second hard drive. If you had a smaller notebook with just hard drive and DVD drive, the latter could be swapped out for the second hard drive, and you could use the DVD drive externally if & when you needed it. I'm not saying the battery life wouldn't suffer, but it's doable. GigantoR: this story will show you how tiny notebook hard drives are these days: http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2005/08...60_hard_drive/ and possibly some vendors might move to the new 1.8" drives in order to offer RAID...

25th Aug 2005, 04:34	#8
Migishu Multimodder Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Montreal, Canada Posts: 167	Question: What's the diffrence between this and what Alienware are currently offering on their laptops? Imean, they've got 2 diffrent RAID setups available...

25th Aug 2005, 11:59	#9
stephen2002 Multimodder Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 182	Personally I would rather see smaller, lighter laptops. Brickputers are not my idea of portable. Guess it would make a slick LAN rig though

25th Aug 2005, 12:44	#10
Stompy Ultramodder Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Suffolk, England Posts: 1,097	I assume theres an optional fork lift truck to transport your new notebook? __________________ PC (Now out of use): Athlon 64 3000+ Winny \| Asus A8N-SLI \| 1024mb OCZ Premier \| 6600GT 128mb \| 160GB WD \| NEC 3520 DVDRW \| Coolermaster Centurion 530 \| Hiper Type-R 480w Laptop: Dell Studio XPS 13 \| Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4ghz \| 4gb Ram \| GeForce 9500M 256mb \| 320gb 7200rpm \| DVDRW \| 13.3" LED WXGA

25th Aug 2005, 21:43	#12
Wolfe Hypermodder Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: /root Posts: 768	It's already avialable, in clevo laptops, such as the alienware mentioned above. I've got the Sager version - Pentium4 3 Ghz, Geforce go 6800 ultra, Kicks ass. Can handle Raid, though i've only got one Hdd right now. It;s definitely a brickputer, but it can run any game on the market at near maximum graphics settings. http://www.pctorque.com/sager-9880-gaming-computers.php http://www.alienware.com/product_det...de=SKU-DEFAULT __________________ User subject to random acts of normality.

29th Aug 2005, 15:52	#13
Kipman725 When did I get a custom title!?! Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: UK Posts: 1,753	raid in a laptop is stupid when you can have a flash based hard disk which is faster than any laptop disc based raid and uses less power, admitedly it is 16gb... but thats what external drive caddies were made for (keep all your games on it and just copy them over when you want to play) __________________ Sn45g game server mod My Electronics Site Hardware: 3400+ Sempr0n, 1GB RAM, 1.28TB local storage, x1950pro,Razer Viper,M$ comfort curve 2000,L70S + 17", Fujitsu 17" CRT Audio: HD-650's, PE congress amp, Sound Blaster AWE64, Soundblaster 24bit

27th Dec 2005, 12:18	#16
Hybr1d Bаnned Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 883	RAID on laptops = Size + Weight + Heat + Power Consumtion

3rd Jan 2006, 10:46	#18
burnhaven What's a Dremel? Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Corona del Mar, CA Posts: 1	RAID 0 striped on my laptop http://www.techimo.com/articles/index.pl?photo=149 I followed this and got RAID to work great on my laptop, huge jump in perforamce (I tested using http://www.sisoftware.net/ ) my problem is that if you don't do backups often you might not be able to recover your data on a dynamic drive if you have an OS problem. At least, I wasn't able to get my data back from my dynamic drives when I had an OS problem. and yes, the battery performance was halved, but I didn't care about that