This is a good setup. Add at least 1Gb of DDR400 memory though.

If the 2 SATA Raptors are going to be you're only HDD's then I wouldn't run this in RAID. RAID in a striped config is super fast, but windows see's the 2 drives as one (in this case 148Gig). It will work however!

The other alternative is to get a third ATA100 7200rpm drive for windows and programs and samples ect. and use the Raptors in RAID for your Audio drive.

Whichever way you go it'll be fast, these Raptors are SUPER quick HDD's. :D

Thanks for the reply! I forgot to mention that I also purchased 1 g of kingston ddr ram.

So your suggestion is that I get a 7200rpm hard drive for to run windows on. And use the raptors in a Raid configuration for audio.

So would I have been better off saving a couple of hundred bucks if I got 2 36 gig Raptors and used them in raid for my audio?

I have not received them yet and I can always send them back and get 2 36 gig raptors.

I just thought that there was a super duper performance boost if I got the 2 74 gigs. Because from the posts I have read the 74 gigs are quieter than the 36 gigs.

In your opinion if this were your system that you were getting ready to build how would you set it up.

Thanks John

It all depends on how much space you need really. You have to remember also that with a striped RAID config as opposed to a mirrored RAID config, that because Windows sees your 2 drives as one bigger one (hence speeding things up by writing data anywhere across the two) if one of the drives has a failure you'll lose data from both.

As for the 36G model being noisy, I have one for my audio drive and to be honest I wouldn't know it's even there.

Incidentally I used 'Diskbench' utility to benchmark this drive and it gave figures of over 300 tracks in every cluster size tested @ 16 bit 44.1 !!!!!!!!!! :D

does the p4p800 delux mobo allow striped w/ redudndant data i believe its raid 5?

I hadda ad some cent if I can, as this also is my mb &2

In a raid "0" array I have the pair of 37 gb 10,000 rpm Raptiles, if In fact if feel the extra speed is not yet de bottled, somewhere somehow, although I have no complaints for audio fidelity,so I am contented for the time being, so to speak, although I have a new build thats trying to give me trouble with monitor show or something, i will post somplace,
But I know of no benchmarks to speak of but if there been a vast difference in speeed between the 37 and the 74 I bet i'd heard or read /noticed something about it as i do some pc news watching from time to time.But that surely doesn't mean there's not a diff, i just doubt it.
I wanted to be in touch with any fellow owners of any of my pc components especially the motherboard, I would think. So thats one reason I chimed in also.
luck!

I'd like to add to that some more to the qestion asked-response-
You should use what you already get comin I would think, unless some dirt on the speed of the larger Raptor can be found which I doubt, you are lookin good sounds like, as far as the sounds of gear you got
I need some advice about setup but its alittle more in the booting/bios etc. area or thereabouts anyway
luck a much...If I learn anything I'll get it back; ciao