Running a single IDE HD on a RAID controller

[K.I.L.E.R]

First off I would like to say after Mr/Mrs M's recommendation about 3 partitions I had attempted to create 3 partitions.

1 partition for swap, 1 for patches and backups and another for Windows and apps. I know it differs a little from his rec.
Anywho, everytime I tried to boot off my XP CD it didn't work. It said it couldn't find a file. My CD-ROM worked off the RAID controller normally, it just wouldn't format.

Personally I didn't want to bother with it and I switched my HD and CD-ROM over.

It was successful.

However, this isn't the reason for this post.

When I booted into Windows the time it had taken to load up SQLServer, Ati's CP, nVMixer and Steam all together was near instant.
Previously I had to wait at least 1 minute before Steam's login popped up(I don't store my password on my PC. I'm believe someone may break into my house to steal my Steam account).

Windows also feels much more responsive.
This was all done before I even set my F: partition to contain the swap file.

My question is why would I get a performance boost like this with HD activities using a single HD in IDE mode on a Raid controller? It not only makes no sense but I should have had the reverse occur.

Oh and btw, how do I disable that bullshit message on drive F: saying that it's running out of space?
It really annoys me. My swap file takes up the whole drive, 2.16GB.

 

[rotten]

cannot comment on the 1 hd on a raid controller thing since i never had any experience with the thing...
but i reckon for the swap file u should put a limit to it... u do not need a swap file of 2gb, from my experience u get a more responsive system if u set the swap file at a size of (ram amount + 1/2(ram amount))...
also set the min and max size of the swap file as the same size...
hope that helps...

 

[t0y]

... from my experience u get a more responsive system if u set the swap file at a size of (ram amount + 1/2(ram amount))

So, if you have 2gb of ram you should get a 3gb swap file?

Normally, what you need is to look at Windows Task manager's Performance tab. Check the Peak Commit Charge and you'll know how much memory windows needed to run. Before looking I'd recommend running a demanding app and/or game that is known to use a lot of memory and that you use.

Next add a reasonable extra just to be safe, subtract your physical ram size (say, 100mb) and voilá: a decent swap file size. If this is not enough, windows will be kind enough to tell you!

Another good thing to do is to set the maximum page file size to this value, and the minimum without the "reasonable extra". Windows will resize the page file for you on boot if it goes over the minimum size.

This is also something good to have.

Disclaimer: I don't follow this guide at all. I just put it to 768Mb and that's it. Never had a problem.