Hi Ray,If you get two Raptor's at the outset then there is no reason why you can't use RAID right from the start. If you get one Raptor now and one later you'll have to format and re-install windows - choosing whatever RAID setup you want to go for. One important thing to mention here - if you only get one Raptor now and get another in the future make sure it is exactly the same size and spec. RAID will take the size of your smallest drive and multiply it by two. For example, if you get a 100 GB drive and add a 70GB drive then you'll only have a maximum size of 140GB - you'll lose a lot of disk space! Just something to keep in mind!PC3200 is 400MHz (DDR) RAM. You can get faster RAM - your choice of course. Your mobo will default along with the RAM default. Giving you 200MHz memory speed (400MHz DDR). If you get faster RAM it gives you some scope for overclocking - not something you said you wanted to do. The next fastest RAM from the PC3200 is 434MHz DDR running at 217MHz memory speed (434MHz DDR). Personally, I'm not sure you'd see one hell of a difference in performance as far as FS is concerned. You'd get a higher score with 3D proggies though ;-) Depends on how much you want to spend - you've already decided on SATA drive(s) which have probably taken you over-budget somewhat!Hope that helps!Rich.

Hi Rich,The need to reformat and start afresh should I decide to add a second Raptor at a later date will certainly concentrate my mind on the best decision to make. Thanks for the info.Thanks too for an explanation of memory speed. That clarifies the position on PC3200 memory. Overclocking is not something I'm contemplating.Hope that helps!It helps a lot - thanks!Cheers,

Hi Ray,Having to format is never nice - just another thing to think about. You could obviously always add another Raptor at anytime without any worries. If backing up your data is important you could do just that and make an 'image' of your FS drive every so often (there is software that can do this). Obviously mirroring is the superior way to do that - much less hassle. If speed is your thing then you can't get much better for your money than to stripe a couple of SATA 10,000RPM drives (as we already mentioned). I can certainly understand that you'd need to think carefully about this. No problem explaining the memory speed. I can understand you not wanting to overclock - wish I could follow that path!Whatever you do you're gonna see one hell of a difference!Rich.

Hi Rich,If backing up your data is important you could do just that and make an 'image' of your FS drive every so often (there is software that can do this). Obviously mirroring is the superior way to do that - much less hassle.Well, I don't have any really critical stuff (i.e. work related) but I just wanted to avoid the general hassle if a drive crashes. RAID-0 is definitely a no-no because if one drive goes both get corrupted :-( I do have a SCSI DAT drive so that should take care of important stuff but with drives getting ever larger the backup hardware struggles to keep pace.In 11 years of owning PCs I've only ever had one drive failure so maybe I'm being over cautious about integrity. Anyway, I now know what the options are and what's involved for each so I can now make an informed judgement.I see from the number of posts you've made that you're a relative newcomer to the Forum. The wealth of knowledge you bring has made this a very educational thread and I hope others have learned from it too.Thanks for all your help and have a happy Christmas and prosperous 2004. I'll be back once I have the new system up and running.Cheers,

Hi Ray,Glad to help! I've been around a long time but let my account expire once because I was too busy elsewhere - hence the newcomer appearance. I've been involved with PC's and flight sims since the early - mid 80's I guess (so I guess I've been there and done that).It sure was nice talking to you and it's nice that someone stops and thinks carefully before they spend their money. This has been an interesting and educational thread for us both.Happy Christmas and a prosperous new year to you too!Rich.

One thing to keep in mind is that if you get PC3500, although you have it, it will only run at it's rated speed if you up the FSB to match it, which would be overclocking. So for you PC3500 is completely unnecessary.

Greg,I have no intentions of overclocking so I'll stick to PC3200 memory. Thanks for the info.