WD Raptor, worth it?Post Date: 2007-11-23 |
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mrausche 
Newbie 
Joined: 22 Nov 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 6 |
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 Topic: WD Raptor, worth it?Posted: 23 Nov 2007 at 6:22pm |
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Hello, I've been configuring DS systems over the last few days and generally doing research into a new PC that I will be purchasing early in the new year. First I have to say that these forums are amazing for digging out useful information, and second that DS looks like an outstanding company and I look forward to buying a PC from them.
Now onto my question: Is buying a WD Raptor HDD worth it? will I see a noticeable speed difference compared to to a higher capacity lower RPM drive? The PC will primarily be used for RTS and MMORPG gaming (not a big FPS fan). Thanks! |
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skyR
Newbie
Digital Storm Apprentice 
Joined: 08 Oct 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2220 |
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Posted: 23 Nov 2007 at 6:35pm |
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Well for your needs, the extra $200 isn't worth it. In most cases, there is really no point in having faster load times in online gaming when you have to wait for everyone else to finish loading...
But if you have money growing on trees, sure go for raptor raid 0 or raptor & cavier in raid 1 |
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ed1371
Groupie 
Joined: 11 Sep 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 350 |
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Posted: 23 Nov 2007 at 11:39pm |
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I disagree with skyr 100%
The raptor makes a HUGE noticeable difference in how your computer performs in everything. From intital boot to simple maintenance... you really see the differance.. I started buyin them back when the 36 gig was the only thing short of SCSI to get those speeds and will NEVER have a puter without one (or more) now... heck even my 10 year old son has one in his. With the price of big drives so cheap, it only makes sense to get a fast drive as a main and a large one as storage |
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Silverstone TJ-10
INTEL 4790K 16 gigs ddr3 ssd and such liquid cooled cpu 2080 RTX Super |
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thecomplex
Senior Member 
Joined: 18 Sep 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 230 |
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Posted: 27 Nov 2007 at 12:33pm |
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I think the Raptors are definetely worth it. My rig screams. In systems like ed's or mine, which could both be considered high-end (ed's obviously much more than mine), it's unclear how much of the performance can be attributed to the faster hard drives, but I've noticed that loading times, boot times, seek times for files are all surprisingly fast - much more so than the official performance delta between a 7200RPM and a 10000RPM drive would suggest.
My Raptors aren't raided, btw - one is for my OS and some functionality apps, the other is for music recording and games. The slower Maxtor is for additional storage. Chris |
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Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 @ 3.52GHz
4GB DDR2 Corsair 1066MHz Dominator (2) 150GB WD Raptor (10K RPM) (1) 120GB Maxtor (7200RPM) nVidia GeForce 8800GTX 768MB Vista Home Premium 64 |
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nomec
Senior Member
Joined: 26 Aug 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 530 |
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Posted: 27 Nov 2007 at 12:35pm |
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I find it very reasonable to run 7200rpm drives in RAID 0. I think the performance is pretty similar to that of a single 10k Raptor. I could be wrong but I just didn't want to shell out the extra money for a few performance bonuses that don't really bother me anyways.
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QX6850 @ 3.33ghz
Nvidia 680i A1 4gb pc1066 RAM 2x GTX 275s Vista Home Premium 64-bit |
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Bill the Cat
DS Veteran 
Forum Bitch!
Joined: 27 Aug 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1150 |
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Posted: 27 Nov 2007 at 1:02pm |
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This is a bit like asking if XP is better than Vista....
I use a Raptor boot drive. I believe it is noticably faster than a single 7200 RPM SATA drive. However, I believe it was skyR who pointed out that two SATA drives in a RAID0 are significantly faster and cheaper than the Raptor. The problem is, a two disk RAID0 is twice as likely to fail.
If I had it to do all over again, I'd boot off two small SATA drives in RAID0, get a 500 Gig SATA drive for data, and Acronis "True Image" to make a backup image of the boot drive, so I could easily restore the system if the RAID failed catastrophically.
As skyR says, you probably don't need that kind of disk performance, but when has "need" been the deciding factor? Your just want it! Edited by Bill the Cat - 27 Nov 2007 at 1:04pm |
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3.6 GHz E6850, 4 GB RAM, GTS 250, TJ9, Win 7 64-bit
4.4 GHz i7 3930K, 16 GB RAM, GTX 670, 550D, Win 7 64-bit |
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mrausche
Newbie
Joined: 22 Nov 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 6 |
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Posted: 27 Nov 2007 at 2:52pm |
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Thanks very much for the opinions guys. I'll probably go with a single raptor as I don't need all that much storage on my gaming machine.
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mrausche
Newbie
Joined: 22 Nov 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 6 |
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Posted: 27 Nov 2007 at 2:57pm |
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Posting a reply since I can't edit.
Maybe raptor isn't the way to go actually, two 160gb WD harddrives in raid 0 with a third 500 gb HDD for storage/backup is only $31 more than the raptor. Space and heat could be a problem with that setup in a pro case though... (but what do I know!) |
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Bill the Cat
DS Veteran
Forum Bitch!
Joined: 27 Aug 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1150 |
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Posted: 27 Nov 2007 at 11:37pm |
Throw in another $20 for "True Image" on sale at NewEgg and go for it!
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3.6 GHz E6850, 4 GB RAM, GTS 250, TJ9, Win 7 64-bit
4.4 GHz i7 3930K, 16 GB RAM, GTX 670, 550D, Win 7 64-bit |
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commast
Senior Member
Joined: 11 Oct 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 262 |
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Posted: 28 Nov 2007 at 12:35am |
Depend on your video card you may not have room for more than 2 HDD in the Pro case. Call or e-mail DS just to be sure. The Raid 0 array is a better choice than a single Raptor in both performance and price. |
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