About the matching hdd's, is it okay to add a new hdd of the same size, but slightly (barely) faster than the old one for raid0?

And about the hardware, I installed a new driver for it, and the name just changed, wich I think is kind off odd.

But a requirement to install it was that hardware is present on the mobo, so does anyone know if I could install the software (http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=2101) without tht hardware? Or would anyone, who is sure that the hardware isn't present on his mobo, try to test it to see if you can install it?

I've found a hint that supports my suspicion that I have that hardware, but I'm not sure.

So does anyone know how I can have a definitive answer on how I can know for sure that I have a raid0-supporting chip or not?

When I boot my pc, something about an Intel raid controller apperas on the screen for a short time before Vista boots.

So I've looked it up and Vista lists an 'Intel(R) ICH8R/ICH9R SATA RAID Controller' as a storage controller. There's software installed to control it and to stripe my hdd's, but I'm wondering if it'll give me the performance increase that real striping gives.

In my boot menu (I think it's the bios menu) there's nothing about raid or striping, not even in any subcategory.

My pc is an Acer M5500-1E77. I don't know what mobo's in it and I don't have a manual of it and I don't find anything of it on the internet.

So I just don't know if there's hardware to increase performance, or weither it's just software that makes two hdd's in one volume and that it so doesn't give me any performance increase what so ever.

Does somebody know how to find this out without having to buy another hdd to test it?

First, my system:
q6600 @ 2.4GHz
4GB DDR2-ram @667MHz
ASUS EAH3870 @GPU:777MHz, DDR4-RAM:2252MHz on a PCI-E1.0-slot with custom cooling already installed (I'll take a picture later)
A very bad Acer-mobo, probably custom, 'cause I can't find its specifications anywhere

Actually, I only want to overclock my GPU and I want it to have quite a long lifespan (at least four to five years).

1. Should I oveclock?
2. I read that it could damage your GPU and shorten its lifespan. What causes that? The extra stress on the card or the higher temps?
3. How high should the temp go on my GPU? Its peek is currently 68°C (~154°F). I tried to overclock it a bit and the temp stayed the same, but my fan speed went up automatically.
4. How much should I overclock my GPU? When I run the Catalyst Auto-Tune, it went up to 900 and rising when I manually stopped it (it would've gone to 100% fan speed and then it would probably begin smoking, but I don't like that)

[QUOTE="liszt_rhapsody"]

I'm just looking for a game that looks as 'pretty' as this:
http://image.gamespotcdn.com/gamespot/images/2007/261/942026_20070919_screen002.jpg

My brother doesn't believe me when I say Crysis is extremely demanding and most console-games aren't. So I'm looking for a pc-game that isn't very demanding, but is 'pretty', so hopefully he'll believe me.

Jamiemydearx3

This one then?
http://image.gamespotcdn.com/gamespot/images/2008/071/942026_20080312_screen025.jpg

I'm just trying to convince a console-fanboy that a pc is good too.

I'm just looking for a game that looks as 'pretty' as this:
http://image.gamespotcdn.com/gamespot/images/2007/261/942026_20070919_screen002.jpg

My brother doesn't believe me when I say Crysis is extremely demanding and most console-games aren't. So I'm looking for a pc-game that isn't very demanding, but is 'pretty', so hopefully he'll believe me.

Run oblivion and show him the load times, must be blazing fast on that setup. Plus the mods make it look sublime.

hongkingkong

That's true. I just need to find out how to enable AA and wich mod made the ground look purple... Quite annoying, really.

I didn't really know where to put this topic, but I thought this is the best place.

My brother doesn't believe my pc (q6600, 4gb RAM, HD3870) is better than a ps3 or xbox360.
What is the best demo game to show him that my pc really is better than a ps3 (even if it's not). So I'm looking for a demo game that doesn't render much at the same time (so not crysis) but that has about the same graphical beauty as the PS3's gran tourismo 5.