Upgrade: RAID 0 and PC2700 kept in new system

[RAQ]

Im using an amd +2200
on a motherboard "kt333 gigabyte 7vrxp v2",
with 2*512 mb pc2700 ram,
80 gb for windows xp (C
2x80 gb RAID 0 (using the buildt in raid with "promise" chip) for d:

Id like to upgrade to a 3.2 GHz eq. processor and a new motherboard.
However id like to keep the RAM and the RAID 0.

1) What other raid controllers will support my raid disk?
2) If I use the pc2700 RAM in a new system - will I have to underclock
the cpu? Or can the RAM operate at a different frequency than the bus?
(This I find most confusing)

Thanks

 

[Robert Myers]

Im using an amd +2200
on a motherboard "kt333 gigabyte 7vrxp v2",
with 2*512 mb pc2700 ram,
80 gb for windows xp (C
2x80 gb RAID 0 (using the buildt in raid with "promise" chip) for d:

Id like to upgrade to a 3.2 GHz eq. processor and a new motherboard.
However id like to keep the RAM and the RAID 0.

1) What other raid controllers will support my raid disk?

Dunno what to do about your memory, but I kept my Promise TX2 Raid
array intact by buying a Promise TX2 Raid card for the PCI bus when I
bought a new motherboard.

2) If I use the pc2700 RAM in a new system - will I have to underclock
the cpu? Or can the RAM operate at a different frequency than the bus?
(This I find most confusing)

Buy a 3.0GHz processor, use the hundred bucks you save to buy 512M of
400MHz DDRAM. Find another hundred bucks and buy another 512M of
400MHz DDRAM. Or go to two sticks of 256M. Don't be cheap about
memory.

RM

 

[Anonymous Joe]

Im using an amd +2200
on a motherboard "kt333 gigabyte 7vrxp v2",
with 2*512 mb pc2700 ram,
80 gb for windows xp (C
2x80 gb RAID 0 (using the buildt in raid with "promise" chip) for d:

Id like to upgrade to a 3.2 GHz eq. processor and a new motherboard.
However id like to keep the RAM and the RAID 0.

1) What other raid controllers will support my raid disk?
2) If I use the pc2700 RAM in a new system - will I have to underclock
the cpu? Or can the RAM operate at a different frequency than the bus?
(This I find most confusing)

Thanks

The RAID drives (since I just went through this myself) will *only* work on
the exact same controller chip. This would severly limit your choices, so
you're going to have to do a backup & restore with some sort of media (DVD,
CD, external hard drive, 2nd PC with lots of free space, etc).

The two chips that can compete with Intel's P4 3.2GHz and are Socket A are
the 3200+ and 3000+/400 (if overclocked to the 2.2ghz mark [100mhz
increase]). Since both of these are 400MHz bus CPUs, you're PC2700 RAM
wouldn't be supported. What you'd need to do is either use the 3000+/333
(2.16GHz [but its not that close to the 3200+ in benchmarks; often a
3000+/400 at 2.1ghz beats it]), and use a higher multiplier (13.5x =
2250MHz, 14x = 2333MHz), or get the 3200+ and use a setting of probably
13.5x166 (50MHz overclock).

The other option you have is to get a board without built-in RAID, and get a
controller card with the same promise chip. That should work. You still
have to get around the PC2700 thing, though. 1GB of PC3200 RAM (or higher)
isn't exactly cheap, so it makes sense to want to keep your 1GB of PC2700
RAM. I just bought 512MB of PC3200 for $110, so I'd imagine a gig is well
over $200, and much more if you want to keep it for your next system (ie
PC3500, PC4000, PC4400).

 

[Gary L.]

Im using an amd +2200
on a motherboard "kt333 gigabyte 7vrxp v2",
with 2*512 mb pc2700 ram,
80 gb for windows xp (C
2x80 gb RAID 0 (using the buildt in raid with "promise" chip) for d:

Id like to upgrade to a 3.2 GHz eq. processor and a new motherboard.
However id like to keep the RAM and the RAID 0.

1) What other raid controllers will support my raid disk?

Unless you use the identical RAID controller (both controller and
BIOS), you wil probably not be able to access the existing RAID
configuration. Most likely you will need to back up your data and
create a new RAID set. This is one of the drawbacks of RAID 0.

2) If I use the pc2700 RAM in a new system - will I have to underclock
the cpu?
No.

Or can the RAM operate at a different frequency than the bus?

Yes.

Most of the better Athlon boards allow you to run the CPU and memory
at different speeds. For example, the Asus A7N8X-E automatically sets
the CPU frequency based on the CPU installed, and sets the memory
speed based on the module speed as reported by the SPD. Look at page
4-19 in the manual (p. 79 in the .pdf):

http://www.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socka/nforce2/a7n8x-e/e1322_a7n8x-e_deluxe.pdf

So you can use your PC2700 RAM at 2x166, while running the CPU at 400
FSB. While there will be a slight performance hit, it shouldn't be
noticable except on synthetic benchmarks. You can always buy PC3200
later if you want.
- -
Gary L.
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