Buying some HD's... Need your advice.

[Rakewell]

Hi all,

I'm currently using two 74gb Raptors and two WD Caviar Black 640, both sets in Raid 0.

The Raptors house my OS (Win7), and the Caviar Black set holds my games (about 300gb) and 600gb of media files (video, music, etc).

I would love to get an ssd or two for the OS and games, but I cannot afford it, considering how much space I will need to house my games. So, until they become more reasonable, I am going to stick with the "spinners". I'm eventually going to get ssd when they are a.) large enough and b.) affordable.

I'm thinking of buying two 300gb raptors and put them in raid 0, keeping my media files on the Caviars, and just the OS and Games on the raptors.

My question is this: Will I notice a significant speed difference with the 300gb raptors in raid over the 74gb ones, particularly with games, as well as the day to day OS stuff?

 

[Rakewell]

anyone?

 

[Ben90]

I would love to get an ssd or two for the OS and games, but I cannot afford it

I'm thinking of buying two 300gb raptors and put them in raid 0

???



If you need more storage just get some more WD 640s... they are basically the same thing as velociraptors but only spin @ 7200, not a big difference. If speed is THAT important to you i would recommend a SSD as the only way.

 

[wwswimming]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136322

$200 each for the 300 GB Raptors.

> My question is this: Will I notice a significant speed difference with the 300gb raptors in raid over the 74gb ones, particularly with games, as well as the day to day OS stuff?

i don't know. i have a single 74 GB Raptor. i like it.

i don't think it's worth spending that kind of money ($400) unless it helps you do your job faster or doubles the speed of your computer. e.g. upgrading from a dual core to a quad core.

 

[Rakewell]

???



If you need more storage just get some more WD 640s... they are basically the same thing as velociraptors but only spin @ 7200, not a big difference. If speed is THAT important to you i would recommend a SSD as the only way.

I guess what I am saying is that I would prefer to get an SSD as it is faster; however, there isn't enough space on said SSD to hold my games (I have 300gb+ that wouldn't fit on, say, the X-25 80gb (or 16).

 

[Rakewell]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136322

$200 each for the 300 GB Raptors.

> My question is this: Will I notice a significant speed difference with the 300gb raptors in raid over the 74gb ones, particularly with games, as well as the day to day OS stuff?

i don't know. i have a single 74 GB Raptor. i like it.

i don't think it's worth spending that kind of money ($400) unless it helps you do your job faster or doubles the speed of your computer. e.g. upgrading from a dual core to a quad core.

I guess I want the best performance that I can buy, and was wondering if 2x300gb Raptors in Raid 0 would be better than the 2x74 flavor. I guess, though, you've got 74's.

Any ideas?

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,

Get a 120GB SSD.

And get a 1TB HDD.

How do you have 300GB of games installed? That's crazy. I mean, do you even play more than 2 of those, ever? I know that everyone does things differently, but I find it really hard to grasp 300Gb of games installed on a computer.

If that's the case, install the games you do actually play on your 120GB SSD with your OS. And on the 1TB drive, store your page file and all the games that you don't play often. Best of both worlds.

Very best,

 

[Voo]

If that's the case, install the games you do actually play on your 120GB SSD with your OS. And on the 1TB drive, store your page file and all the games that you don't play often. Best of both worlds.

Why would you want to put the pagefile on the hdd? Sounds like one of the areas where the SSD would shine..

Other than that I completly agree.. if I want to play a game I just drag it into my steam folder on the SSD (works fine for other games too), if I've finished it and know I won't play it the next weeks just back on the HDD and everythings fine..

 

[TemjinGold]

I can say that I've gone from 74gb raptor to 300 gb velo. It's noticeably faster (as in stuff loads a bit faster) but not $400 noticeable. Like the others have said, if you value faster loading that much, get an SSD and a 1TB, putting only the games you play often on the SSD.

It's also important to note that, aside from stuff loading faster, you won't see any other type of improvement so if you were hoping for better frame rates and the like, you'll be sorely disappointed.

 

[Adrenaline]

I am having the same dilemma as the OP. I have been looking around and the info I have come across said that the 640 GB WD was faster than the 74 GB Raptor but a little slower than the 300 GB Velociraptor. The 300 GB VR costs 200 while you can get a 640 GB Caviar Black for around 75-80.

I have decided to grab a 640 for my OS and two 1 TB drives for other stuff. I am just waiting to order them after the new year.

I thought about an SSD, but I would want the 160 GB Intel and I do not feel like spending $450+ for a 160 GB SSD at this time.