Fastest HD under $200

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madoka

madoka

Diamond Member
Jun 22, 2004
4,344
712
121
I'm sick of uninstalling programs to fit the latest games on my Raptor 150. I want something with similar speed, but much larger capacity. Other considerations are heat and noise, but speed is the most important. Any recommendations?
 
Denithor

Denithor

Diamond Member
Apr 11, 2004
6,298
23
81
Jiggz -1

Raid0 not recommended. If either drive fails you lose the whole system (basically doubles your odds of catastrophic failure for a minimal increase in speed).

WD7500AAKS $155

Drive review
 
Zap

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
2
81
How about a 500GB Seagate 7200.11 drive with 32MB cache? Those go for around $130, I think. They have 250GB platters so with that high density can really crank up the STR. However, access time is about the same as any other 7200RPM drive - that's where the Raptors beat them.
 
C

Cutthroat

Golden Member
Apr 13, 2002
1,104
0
0
My Hitachi 7K1000 750GB is just as fast as my Raptor. It's cheaper, quieter, runs about 2C hotter than the Raptor probably because of it's positioning in my case.
 
B

Blain

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
23,643
3
81
Originally posted by: Denithor
Jiggz -1

Raid0 not recommended. If either drive fails you lose the whole system (basically doubles your odds of catastrophic failure for a minimal increase in speed).
Click to expand...
People understand the possible ramifications in a RAID 0 array. They've calculated the risks and decided that...
1. It's worth the risk for the extra speed gained for their particular application.
2. They will practice a rigid schedule of backup in order to preserve their data.
3. Nothing in life is guaranteed...

 
DSF

DSF

Diamond Member
Oct 6, 2007
4,902
0
71
Originally posted by: Blain
Originally posted by: Denithor
Jiggz -1

Raid0 not recommended. If either drive fails you lose the whole system (basically doubles your odds of catastrophic failure for a minimal increase in speed).
Click to expand...
People understand the possible ramifications in a RAID 0 array. They've calculated the risks and decided that...
1. It's worth the risk for the extra speed gained for their particular application.
2. They will practice a rigid schedule of backup in order to preserve their data.
3. Nothing in life is guaranteed...
Click to expand...
Except that in a gaming computer there's very little gain from RAID 0, if any - at least with two hard drives in the array. I haven't seen a single benchmark showing a tangible benefit from RAID 0 in a desktop computer.
 
Markbnj

Markbnj

Elite Member <br>Moderator Emeritus
Moderator
Sep 16, 2005
15,682
14
81
www.markbetz.net
Originally posted by: Blain
Originally posted by: Denithor
Jiggz -1

Raid0 not recommended. If either drive fails you lose the whole system (basically doubles your odds of catastrophic failure for a minimal increase in speed).
Click to expand...
People understand the possible ramifications in a RAID 0 array. They've calculated the risks and decided that...
1. It's worth the risk for the extra speed gained for their particular application.
2. They will practice a rigid schedule of backup in order to preserve their data.
3. Nothing in life is guaranteed...
Click to expand...

If we assumed everyone who reads this forum had approached things so rationally, about 90% of the posts could be deleted :).
 
0roo0roo

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
you can't fit games on your raptor? wtf?
only keep o/s games on raptor. media files go on other drive.
its pretty %@# simple
 
B

Blain

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
23,643
3
81
Originally posted by: Markbnj
Originally posted by: Blain
Originally posted by: Denithor
Jiggz -1

Raid0 not recommended. If either drive fails you lose the whole system (basically doubles your odds of catastrophic failure for a minimal increase in speed).
Click to expand...
People understand the possible ramifications in a RAID 0 array. They've calculated the risks and decided that...
1. It's worth the risk for the extra speed gained for their particular application.
2. They will practice a rigid schedule of backup in order to preserve their data.
3. Nothing in life is guaranteed...
Click to expand...

If we assumed everyone who reads this forum had approached things so rationally, about 90% of the posts could be deleted :).
Click to expand...
Don't we have to assume that members here are rational in their thinking, and focus on the "big picture" when they make hardware/software decisions?


OT: I'm fed up with gaming benchmarks being the de facto determiner of performance.
Many people use their PCs for far more productive tasks than gaming.
I think folks have developed a little gaming tunnel vision when it comes to computers.

 
D

Davegod

Platinum Member
Nov 26, 2001
2,874
0
76
for many people gaming performance is all that really matters, 5 seconds on a map load ten times a day or 5 more fps for an hour is more significant than whatever on the occasional big .rar or video encoding.

Since so many hardware enthusiasts game compared to those doing say compiling or video editing, being a gamer is assumed while the other guys specify what they need specific performance for.

Lets face it, gaming and relatively minority interests are the only things that make it worth hunting down that little extra edge in performance.
 
SpeedEng66

SpeedEng66

Diamond Member
Jul 10, 2002
4,501
1
81
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
you can't fit games on your raptor? wtf?
only keep o/s games on raptor. media files go on other drive.
its pretty %@# simple
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:
 
J

Jiggz

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2001
4,329
0
76
Originally posted by: Denithor
Jiggz -1

Raid0 not recommended. If either drive fails you lose the whole system (basically doubles your odds of catastrophic failure for a minimal increase in speed).

WD7500AAKS $155

Drive review
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reminder, but don't the same thing happens when you lose a single drive that's why you back up your important data? Sure, it doubles the chance of losing data but does that really matter if you have a back up which you also need with a single hdd?

As for speed, I highly encourage skeptics to give it a try without ever going thru benchmarks? And feel for yourself the difference. It's all a matter of experiencing the difference first hand. Again, it all depends how you use your system and applications installed in your system. If you don't see any difference but the speed is still the same, then at least you have a larger hdd by combining the two hdd's. If you think it's slower, then delete the RAID 0 and go back to single hdd. Now at least you know first hand what RAID 0 is!

And for additional speed, you can try RAMDISK for your virtual hdd. Install 4GB of system rams and then use about 500-750MB for ram disk and then make this your virtual drive for your PF.

Again there is controversy with RAMDISK. But the good thing about it is that RAM is now so cheap that you can actually afford a RAMDISK without sacrificing system rams. Does it speed up performance? It did for mine so you will have to try it yourself.

Or you can just stick with the mediocre single hdd performance except maybe for SCSI 10K RPM or Raptors. Sure there maybe a difference in performance on different models of single SATA or PATA hdd, but from personal experience it is moot and almost unnoticeable!
 
J

Jiggz

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2001
4,329
0
76
Originally posted by: Markbnj
Originally posted by: Blain
Originally posted by: Denithor
Jiggz -1

Raid0 not recommended. If either drive fails you lose the whole system (basically doubles your odds of catastrophic failure for a minimal increase in speed).
Click to expand...
People understand the possible ramifications in a RAID 0 array. They've calculated the risks and decided that...
1. It's worth the risk for the extra speed gained for their particular application.
2. They will practice a rigid schedule of backup in order to preserve their data.
3. Nothing in life is guaranteed...
Click to expand...

If we assumed everyone who reads this forum had approached things so rationally, about 90% of the posts could be deleted :).
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, rational like moral is relative. Since about 90% of posts are posted it shows who has the majority and the rational.:D
 
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