Setting Up New 3ware 9690 & Vraptors

[Guest simjunkie]

I got a 3ware 9690 controller card and also a Patriot 32Gb SDD. I also have 2 Vraptors already in use. I'm going to reinstall everything. I plan to use the SDD for my OS (XP x64) and the 2Vraptors for FSX + Addons in RAID0. I plan to plug everything into the controller card. I'm just not sure how to set up and initialize the hardware so I can install the OS. Do I need to flash drivers to a floppy before installing the OS? Thanks for the help.-jk

[Guest Nick_N]

I got a 3ware 9690 controller card and also a Patriot 32Gb SDD. I also have 2 Vraptors already in use. I'm going to reinstall everything. I plan to use the SDD for my OS (XP x64) and the 2Vraptors for FSX + Addons in RAID0. I plan to plug everything into the controller card. I'm just not sure how to set up and initialize the hardware so I can install the OS. Do I need to flash drivers to a floppy before installing the OS? Thanks for the help.-jk

Well, for one thing the card is a bit overboard unless you plan on using more than 24 SAS drives or need SAS support.But it will workBe aware you MUST have the battery backup for the card installed and working to be safe as a 'BOOT' drive card. Without it any power failure can result in complete loss of the drive/dataThere are some motherboards that require the card be in PCIe slot 1 and the video card in PCIE x16 slot 2That can be problematical if the 2nd slot on your board is only 8x max. Some boards are 2 x 16x and others are 1 16x and one 8xWith SOME of my towers I do not use a card to boot and instead only use it for the storage performance of the titles I need it for which resolves the boot card issues and allows me to place the card where ever I wish. The OS stays on a fast SATA off the motherboard ports in which I make sure I disable ALL higher SATA functions in the BIOS such as NCQ, etc before installing Windows. Some motherboards call the higher functions SATA Configuration: ADVANCED. You set it to Configure SATA as <IDE> and leave the advanced features disabled. NCQ and advanced SATA features are wonderful for network servers but terrible for 'game' and 'raw speed' storage performance that FSX likesWith Windows XP one must install Windows with the advanced SATA features disabled in the BIOS. If you try to switch them off after Windows is installed the drive will not boot. I do not know how Vista handles such things.That SSD drive is a joke. Although SSD is up and coming the first drive to overcome the primary issues with SSD was the new Intel SSD drives. Being the OS drive its fine but don’t use it for FSXAlso, 2 VRaps in RAID is WAY overkill. You wont see much if any difference at all in FSX with a SINGLE VRAP over 2 in RAID even on that cardHowever 2 1st GEN Raptors will provide a boost in RAID on that card but they still wont beat a single VRAP

[Guest simjunkie]

Thanks Nick. How about both Vraps on the card with 1 as OS drive and the other as FSX drive? Or 1 Vrap on the MB SATAII port and the other Vrap on the card? I can easily return the SDD.

[Guest Nick_N]

Thanks Nick. How about both Vraps on the card with 1 as OS drive and the other as FSX drive? Or 1 Vrap on the MB SATAII port and the other Vrap on the card? I can easily return the SDD.

either one worksThe decision to use the card for the boot drive depends on if you have the 'card' battery backup, the motherboard will not impede the video card perfomance based on the socket in use and the board/BIOS will support the card in booting