4x36GB Raptor or SSD?

[Copenhagen69]

Which one would you choose?

I saw this review Here and it got me thinking ...

One of the results ....

If you have the extra room why not go with 4x36GB Raptors? It would be extremely cheap for the performance ...

 

[Ben90]

36GB raptors are slow compared to today's budget drives. This is a prime example of how claiming the performance crown can cloud a customers judgment.

 

[CurseTheSky]

SSD for sure.

The random access times will be MUCH better than any combination of Raptors, and the complexity / chances of failure are much lower with a quality SSD.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Yeah there's the cost but there's also the added noise/heat/risk and it still won't make up for the random access speeds. The sustained read/write is definitely impressive price/performance but that's about it.

 

[Copenhagen69]

well they do get blown away in the 4k reads ...

 

[postmortemIA]

I had many Raptors over the years, and recently got SSD - even value SSD beats last gen raptors, badly. It is like jump from older 7200rpm drive to raptor - that is how it feels to jump to SSD from raptor. Beside that, 4 raptors are very noisy, any 4 mechanical drives are. On the other hand, SSD is noise free, which gives effect that everything is instant - you never hear hard drive grinding.

forget about sequential read/write if you are not doing multimedia or such, it appears that it is too synthetic. That's the best explanation I got for why does SSD seem to to casual job (run windows, internet, some games, some development tools) very well. what matters is random access and ability to scale well with multiple requests at same time.

 

[Rubycon]

Four 36GB raptors will be quite noisy. The original drives had very noticeable spindle motor whine. Actual desktop performance - there is no comparison.

Well maybe...

If you've ever ridden a moped or scooter with pedals and ran out of petrol...

You say "oh this is not so bad I can pedal this like a bicycle!"

That's when you realize it's not so fast or easy.

 

[Zap]

I had many Raptors over the years, and recently got SSD

Heh, sounds like my own storage history.

Yeah, the 4k performance is what makes your system feel "snappy."

SSD all the way.