Gaming hard drive ideas?

[9nines]

I am going to get a new gaming PC and I am seeking opinions on hard drives. I want to spend $80 to $175 and want 500 gigabytes or more. I do not want a Raptor because of cost and heat.

Which configuration would be better:

?1) Two WD SE16 320s in Raid 0

?2) Two WD SE16 320s not-raid, with O/S on one and games on other

?3) Single WD SE 640

?4) Single Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 750GB

?5) Other ideas?

 

[aka1nas]

If you're worried about the heat output of a raptor, why are you considering RAID 0?

 

[9nines]

Good point, scratch first option : )

 

[sutahz]

Running hard drives in raid0 produces more heat then running them seperatly (option 2)?
I believe in option 2 though I still have yet to do tests (windows & game load times) putting a 3 or 2 hdd setup aginst a single hdd setup.

 

[BassBomb]

Option 3

 

[Yellowbeard]

If you are purpose building for gaming, I suggest option 1. You'll get a better gaming experience overall with faster load times and better map/sement transitions. You are going to get heat either way so pick between cool and better performance.

 

[imported_Champ]

This is a prtty good tool to use http://www.tomshardware.com/ch...r-performance,658.html

It shows read write and all sorts of benchmarks with lots of drives

Personally though I would go with the 1TB Spinpoint F1...if I had knew how awesome it was I would have gotten it instead of my Raptor X

 

[9nines]

Originally posted by: Champ
This is a prtty good tool to use http://www.tomshardware.com/ch...r-performance,658.html

It shows read write and all sorts of benchmarks with lots of drives

Personally though I would go with the 1TB Spinpoint F1...if I had knew how awesome it was I would have gotten it instead of my Raptor X

Thanks that is a nice tool.

The Seagte 7200.11 750GB scores very well on most of the measurements. Would the 7200.11 500GB perform as well? Per the Seagte data sheets the random seek times are the same on both.

 

[ss284]

The SE16 320 single platter drives are nerfed by WD for quieter seeks and lower power consumption, or something like that.

If you don't mind going past your upper limit, directron has 640s for 90 a piece shipped, just check the hot deals forum. Use one for OS/file storage and the other for games/file storage. Partition as you like.

 

[9nines]

Will one for games and another drive for O/S make noticeable difference over just one for both O/S and games?