Few questions

[MiiCK]

When I turn my PC on it loads quite fast, but it comes up with 'Loading operating system' after the first screen of stating the HDD and memory, cpu etc.

It stays on the screen from anywhere between 1 and 5 seconds. Specs in signature.

My Windows Experience Index is:
7.6 CPU
7.6 RAM
7.4 GFX
7.4 Gaming Gfx
5.9 HDD

So I know my HDD isn't the fastest (7200rpm). Could it just be that my HDD isn't fast enough? I've got partitions set on my HDD, my partitions are:
Local Disc (C:) 100gb
Backup Drive (E:) 100gb
System Reserved (G:) 100gb

And then obviously the rest is unallocated space (2TB HDD). I've got all pics, music etc on the backup drive, and just my OS on the first 100gb.

I want to set up a RAID system but i've never done it before and i'm kind of unsure how to do it, so if anyone could give me advice on how to do it, it'd be appreciated. Can i change my system to RAID without reinstalling OS? Is it okay to split my 2TB into 2x1tb's and use as raid? or would I need two separate drives? How much of a difference will it make to my system? (WEI score is 5.9 now, think it'll jump? I know WEI isn't reliable or a good judge of system but just for example)

Few other questions to follow in next posts.

[absic]

Hi MiiCK,

the loading OS screen in BIOS is normal and even with an SSD it'll take few seconds to move on if my own experience is anything to go by and it doesn't really matter how you configure things.

WEI, as you said, is not that great but when you change from a standard HDD to an SSD you should see the number jump from 5.9 to 7.7 or above, depending on your drive.

[Dark Mantis]

If the speed of the hard drive is actually causing you a problem during boot up there is a setting in the BIOS to add a delay to the system to allow the hard drive to catch up. HDD Delay.

[MiiCK]

Thanks guys. I've never seen it come up before on any of my friends systems etc.. just wondered.

Any recommendations for a decent SSD? I've had in mind Crucial M4, Corsair Force GT.. any better/cheaper? (£150 max i'd say), no need for huge size..

[Gloup_Gloup]

Hi Miick,  

About good price for SSD : Crucial M4  . Good performance, Good price.

Gloup_Gloup

[Dark Mantis]

Basically the Sandforce based cards are good especially for the mainstream SSDs. Crucial C300 or M4 are good. OCZ Vertex 3 or Agility.

[teknology9]

Hi All,

Just purchased, finally, an Crucial M4 128GB SSD with the latest firmware.....as soon as they hit the shelves they are sold out.

Teknology9

[Dark Mantis]

Nice. I am sure that you will be very pleased with it. After using the old drives it is a revelation!

[MiiCK]

If you had £150 to spend on an SSD, what would you get? M4's seem to be really popular, see that corsair have higher IOPS then some OCZ + M4's but would you choose a drive based on a tiny bit higher iops? Just so I know for my final decision

[MiiCK]

Also, I'm looking to buy a good cpu fan to replace the stock fan that came with my i7-2600k, any recommendations?

[Gloup_Gloup]

Hi Miik, 

Have you idea to overclocking cpu or Ram?

If yes , the choice of Heat Sink Fan is more complexe.

Gloup_Gloup

[Dark Mantis]

On the whole you would have a hard job to beat the Noctua NH-D14 on both pereformance and quietness. Not cheap but you get what you pay for and an excellent after sales service that is second to none.

[Gloup_Gloup]

Hi MiiCK,  

Wow, I do not disagree Dark Mantis. I have the Noctua NH-D14.
http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&setlng=en&products_id=34

I would tell you to carefully check the size of your tower.
The distance between the cpu and the side panel, specially.
If in addition, there is one fan to the side panel ... you should consider it.

So, check again distance between top of stick of Ram AND Fan.
But you have a posibility to move Fan to Up... See the Diagram picture...

http://www.xclio.com/products/case-godspeed-two-adv.htm
480 x 210 x 440MM (DxWxH)

I think it should go well.

I add a diagram picture:



Source :  http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=faqs&step=2&products_id=34&lng=en

Gloup_Gloup

[MiiCK]

Thanks for all the info guys!

That does look like it'd be fantastic but the fan colours look very.... bland? I don't like 

I previously looked at the Zalman fan pictured here:

With the link HERE.. Which seems cool.. would you recommend the Noctua NH-D14 over the Zalman?

When the room is silent I can hear a loud noise coming from my PC, not entirely sure what the noise is coming from, either my 550ti, 9500gt, my Corsair TX850, or my cpu fan.. Either way it's quite annoying, as you see from Gloup's link to my xClio case, I have 2 side fans and 2 top fans, the side ones are currently broke (need to solder one of the connections back together as it as pulled away from it's connection) so it can't be those fans as they're off, and one second... (just checking if the top fans are making the noise and turning them down/off)..... the top fans and cpu are quiet, i removed my 9500gt and the sound has reduced by half, but still 50% still there.. my tx850 is the culprit! so looks like i'll need a new psu. any recommendations on that? needs to be quiet, yet powerful and reliable.. (i went for the tx850 as corsair are reliable and the 850 would easily power my gaming needs) i've seen 1000w psu's etc but I doubt i'd need one that big tbh!

thx for all the help so far!

[Gloup_Gloup]

Hi MiiCK,  

I answer quickly, because my English is not very good.
But I will carefully reread your last message.

Maybe you can remove all of Noctua fans and see if you like it at temperature.
Nothing prevents you from change the Noctua fans supplied by others brands (and colors).

Here you have another model:
http://www.nofancomputer.com/kor_/products/CR-95C.php
(top of the webpage, you can choose the English language, but you will not have access to information of this model).
This model of HeatSink is suggested by Dark Mantis for me, in past time.

Tanks a lot, for Karma.

EDIT01:
NesteQ ASM Xzero
http://www.nesteq.net/gb/products/powersupplies/asm_xzero/index.html
This model of PSU is suggested by Dark Mantis for me, in past time.

EDIT02:
Nofan CR-95C IcePipe 95W Fanless CPU Cooler
http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/ultragrade/nof-cr-95c

Gloup_Gloup