Ocz Force Extreme 840 & Raid

Here's the situation. I am planning on buying one of these from Xotic and was curious as to how difficult it would be to just get 1 hard drive and buy another one, same size and hook up RAID myself. I checked out newegg and the prices for a 320GB drive are cheaper than the $114 that Xotic is asking for a 2nd drive.

I was also wondering about Turbo Memory and if it is worth it. I have heard some people say that when it was first introduced it wasn't all that great but that it has improved since then.

I plan on buying this in probably a week or so and was just hoping for some advice for applications and programs I should install and some advice on some of the first things I should do when I get it. I know like cpuz and gpuz along with 3dmark06.

I know this got kinda long, but with the dual 3870's, would I be able to put 4870's in when they come out?

Any help is appreciated.

 

4870's are up in the air. Never know what the requirements will be, however its a general consensus that it will be upgradeable.

Turbo Memory, I would get it because it shouldnt be that much more.

Raid you should be able to do yourself.

When you get it play with it.


This is just a suggestion im not swaying you to buy from anyone else etc.

1 suggestion when buying from Xotic is the temps seem a little high so I would plan on doing some heat adjustments such as new thermal pads etc. As ASI (their distrubutor and person who builds and ships their barebones from what I have read) doesnt offer alot of upgraded cooling solutions at this time.

 

Setting up a RAID Array by yourself is pretty easy. You just have to enable RAID support in the BIOS and hold Ctrl+I to access the Matrix manager boot screen. Then just look at the options and it should be self-explanatory from that point.

I originally thought Turbo Memory was a gimmick, but since the 2nd iteration of it with User Pinning, people have been seeing improvements. However, Turbo Memory becomes relatively pointless if you have SSDs.

Support for the ATi 4xxx series hasn't been confirmed and set in stone, but there are a lot of signs showing its likelihood. For instance, the Mobility 4850 that has been tested looks almost exactly like the 3870 cards in these machines, except the board is red. Secondly, OCZ themselves advertised "Upgradeable MXM 2 Graphics Slots" as seen here.

 

First, thanx for the quick responses.

Second, I've used Arctic Silver 5 before, but that was a little while ago. So any recommendations about thermal pads, how-to guides, etc would be great.

You guys seemed to answer most of my questions. I would just like to know recommendations for utilities and stuff like that. I know of ATI Tool and ATI Tray Tools but not sure if they work with these cards or with Crossfire. Really appreciate the help.