Hi,

Any help would be appreciated.

I currently have a custom made system with an Intel motherboard (with RDRAM) and a 2.8GHz CPU, two hard drives running on ATA133, a DVDROM drive and a CDRW drive, Audigy 2 drive and ATI All in Wonder 9700 Pro.

Here's the thing, I want to upgrade:
I have a 160GB Maxtor drive and a 40GB drive. I keep the OS and crucial files on the 40GB and all the other programs, games, videos etc on the other.
1. Will I see a significant speeed increase if I get a motherboard or buy a controller card that will give me SATA and buy the raptor drive for OS and main files, and then be using this other drive for everything else?

Secondly, right now I have a motherboard with RDRAM and since DDR is the mainstream type now, should i just stick with this motherboard or should I go with DDR and can you recommend one for me?

Lastly, I want to get rid of ATI, their support is terrible and the Tuner hasnt worked in months so I want a nVidia based card. It doesnt need a TV tuner but would be nice. Any suggestions?

Thanks so much for any helpful answers :)

There is no noticeable speed difference between SATA amd IDE drives.

You have a very nice motherboard now, no reason to change.