Next best thing to RAM?

I work with digital media where scratch space is essential. I can no longer add any more RAM to my system because I've maxed out all my DIMMS. But I still consistantly require 4GB-16GB of scratch space while editing my documents.

Currently I use my data drive as scratch space. It consists of 4 x 7200RPM in RAID-0. But even though my transfer rate is steady over 200MBps for sequential r/w's, the slowdowns from random file access is killing me. As soon as my programs fill the RAM and start using the HDD I notice jumpiness, slow image rebuilding times... and when I copy selections of my work, it can take forever to cache it all. I would like to achieve scratch performance similar to what I experience when everything is cached to RAM. This would help me to continue working, as I say, at the speed of thought.

So I am looking for a solution to my current bottleneck. I have examined the Raptor and SCSI drives, but I am not convinced that speeding up my access times by 10 milliseconds is going to make a big difference.

I'm looking for suggestions on what the next best thing to RAM would be (not the second best or third best thing...)... whether it's 10 SCSI dives in RAID-0 or a couple Gigabyte i-RAMS or a few solid state drives... or something entirely unique... like, I dunno, 30 cheap USB thumb drives in RAID-0.

If you have an idea of how to create high performing scratch drives, I'd love to hear it.

 

the best way to make a really quick drive like you described is, like u stated, a few i-RAM drives

review and benchmarks: http://www.maximumpc.com/article/Gigabyte-i-RAM

im not too familiar with SCSI drives but they get really costly really quickly...it sounds like an i-ram or 2 will be enough for ya. 4 gigs per drive is quite a bit of "scratch space" though for media, it would fill up pretty quickly it seems...

maybe some raptors in raid-0? doesnt sound like $$ is an issue here though lol. good luck with your setup

EDIT: wow it appears you can run i-RAM drives in RAID...a few of those in RAID-0 is sure to be zippy

also, there SHOULD be an i-ram2 out that uses SATA2 and DDR2 rather than PCI+SATA and DDR

just checked the gigabyte site, they only have different revisions out (1.1, 1.2, 1.3) still on the PCI+SATA bus

 

The i-RAM was always a good candidate... but Gigabyte has not come out with a substantial upgrade for the i-RAM since its release 2 years ago. I've been waiting for them to release a new model that supports DDR2, more than 4GB, and at least a SATA 300 interface. Who knows why they haven't upgraded yet. Maybe we will see something at E3 this year? Hope so...

As it stands, 1GB of DDR memory is more expensive than 1GB of DDR2. In fact, 1GB modules of DDR seem disproportionately expensive compared to any other type of RAM. However, I suppose it would be possible to populate the i-RAM with 512 modules instead... they run as low as $30. I could RAID four i-RAMs stocked with 512 modules... this would provide an additional 8GB of scratch space... not as much as I was looking for, but a substantial improvement. I may have a lot of money to spend, but I would like to spend it wisely

Unfortunately, I only have 2 spare PCI slots! Is there anything I could do to add additional cards?

Alternatively... what could be the next best thing to the i-RAM?

 

Anyone?

 

Depends on how much money you want to spend, but doesn't Vista Ultimate allow up to 64 gigs of RAM. You would need a mobo that would accept that much, of course.

I read somwhere that some USB sticks will be read by Vista as additional RAM.(up to 8 gigs). Cheaper, but probably slower access way to get more RAM.

@Vista experts@ Please step in. Bazza

 

4 of something like this: http://www.pcmall.com/pcmall/search/search~id~219880480~search~4.1 GB or more.asp

And a motherboard that can support it:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813127020

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...Subcategory=302&description=&Ntk=&srchInDesc=

 

I don't know of any good substitute to RAM.

 

Wow, 16 gigs. $30,000+ Bazza

HP
16GB DDR SDRAM Memory http://image1.cc-inc.com/en_ideamall/co_pcmall/div_pcmall/div_interface/search/ship_status3_30x15.gif
Memory - 16 GB ( 4 x 4 GB ) - DIMM 184-pin - DDR - accessory of Integrity Rx4640 and Integrity Rx4640-8
PC Mall Part #609068
Mfg. Part #AB475A PC $30,729.99

 

That's incredibly expensive!

 

When you venture to the leading (or bleeding) edge of Hardware, particularly RAM and USB sticks, you pay plenty.

Look at the initial prices for all capacities of USB sticks when they were released, and compare to what they are now. Bazza