Is the WD Raptor really worth it?

[piromaneak]

It looks like a neat drive, but judging by the AnandTech review of the RAID 0 Raptors, would even one raptor be worth the price and storage capacity hit or should I just get a quality 7,200 RPM 120+gb drive?

 

[ribbon13]

Everyone is going to tell you no.

 

[Bar81]

Everyone should tell you IT DEPENDS. What do you do with your computer and what things are important to you?

 

[piromaneak]

90% of my computer use will be for gaming heh. So I'm talkin mean load/install times, etc. Much of a difference between 7,200 and 10,000 RPM? I know anandtech's review gave a "Doo-Doo" rating for RAIDing two raptors but has any one done that here with a large performance boost in gaming?

 

[DruidAllanon]

It depends is the right answer. Do you notice loading and other disk access lags that you care about? It is worth the price if you want the extra speed, particularly if you do things with a lot of loading from the hard disk such as with games. Many may not feel the amount of increased speed is worth the cost. I did so I went for the Raptor (74G) for my latest build. Hard drives are one of the potential system bottlenecks.

 

[ribbon13]

The hard drive is the biggest bottleneck of any modern system. I just sold 12 raptors to upgrade; The cost of my hard drive setup could buy 8 gaming machines. And after extensive use, I would say it would be worth it if you like a snappy computer.

 

[piromaneak]

I don't notice any loading that was absoloutely horrific (Although deus ex: invisible war WAS horrific load time-wise) I'd just like a general system speed up. Do you think I would be taking much of a performance hit just goin with a SATA 7,200 RPM drive?

 

[ribbon13]

Given the OCZ thread... if LL ram is worth it to you, get a Raptor 74 as a boot/system/game drive, and a Seagate 7200.8 for mass media storage

 

[Bar81]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
I would say it would be worth it if you like a snappy computer.

The reason I got mine

 

[piromaneak]

So even for a gaming machine you would not recommend two raid 0 raptors ribbon?

 

[ribbon13]

Oh hell no. Striping is esoteric... unless you plan on loading 2048x2048 32bit DDS texturess in photoshop all day.

 

[Bar81]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
Oh hell no. Striping is esoteric... unless you plan on loading 2048x2048 32bit DDS texturess in photoshop all day.

 

[Aisengard]

It also helps your windows install time.

 

[piromaneak]

Ok then... but you do agree that a single Raptor 74GB would be best for a gaming machine than an albiet larger capacity 7,200 rpm drive correct?

 

[Bar81]

Well if you want to decrease install and load times then yes, a Raptor would help. If you don't care about that, then the Raptor probably isn't what you're looking for. The Raptor isn't gonna make your games run any better, just decrease load times.

 

[ribbon13]

It would loud faster at the expense of space. Windows boot faster, programs load faster, games load faster, levels load faster.

You can always add a Seagate 7200.8 later

 

[thursday22dp]

obviosuly...its the price that people are debating...aka if it has x% over a normal HD is it x% price diff or higher

 

[ribbon13]

It's primary target is low end servers where it competes with the 10krpm SCSI admirably. So it's cost is only an issue to you people.

 

[piromaneak]

you people? this is a sensitive time for our country lol

Anywho, yea who the hell wouldn't want faster load times, faster installs etc.

It's strange but I really dont DL alot of crap or install so much stuff that it fills up even a 20 gig drive so i think ill be ok with a 74gb...

(Must be because im so crusty i remember the days where any programs below the top 5 you used had to get axed to save space on those 1 gig drives lol)

 

[n7]

I'm gonna have to say yes it is, if the rest of your system is high end.

I have noticed a definate decrease in snappiness of applications since my Raptor died & i've been using my 250 GB 7200 RPM drive as my OS drive.
I can't wait to get my OS running off a Raptor again, as everything just feels faster

 

[piromaneak]

So anywho, ribbon since you seem to know quite a bit about this stuff, how would you rate the Raptor's reliability and such? Since this is going to be my primary drive, i'd like to know if it can last as long as a slower drive. I mean would the 10,000 RPM be so much as to shorten its MTBF as compared to the slower drives? Does it create a registerable amount of heat that I would have to atleast passively cool it?

*edit: BTW, thx for feedback n7 didnt mean to post over you, you posted whilst i was writing this*

 

[ribbon13]

It's built like a SCSI basically, which is why it has such a high price tag. The only thing non-SCSI about it is the SATA microcontroller. Thus it is very reliable. Has standard SCSI MTBF of 1.2 million hours, 100% duty cycle, 40 degrees celsius. It runs cooler that 250gb 7200pm drives. Every day I look at my Athlon XP box I'm reminded of that. As I have a raptor and a seagate 250gb right next to each other with temp monitors.

 

[piromaneak]

That is a surprise to hear that the raptor runs cooler, but a good surprise heh... And since thats the primary drive, it shouldnt have problems being crowded and should stay cool. And I take it thats an extremely high MTBF since I won't be running the computer 100% of the time? heh

I just did some calculations (w/ my super math brain so pardon if the numbers are off which they probably are) but I calculated the Drive Failure after atleast 100 years (1.2 million hours divided by 24 to get the days (50,000) then divide by 365 to get how many years it would last) about 130 somethin...

 

[SkyBum]

Keep in mind, you are only talking about seconds here. The question is, how much are those seconds worth to you, cause that is all you really stand to gain. A few seconds here, a few there, thats about it. Let's face it, the difference in load times between a game level loading on a 7200 and a 10,000 is about the same time it takes to scratch your nuts just a bit (YMMV )

I bought a Raptor. Was it worth it? To tell you the truth, I wish I had bought a 400 gig Seagate over the Raptor. I'm cramped for hard drive space right now, and I'd gladly trade a few seconds here and there for an extra 100Gb. Not to mention that my raptor is LOUD. Jeebus, I can feel it vibrating through my desk!.

Unless you have extra money to spend, you could put that extra $$$ to better use.

 

[SkyBum]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
It runs cooler that 250gb 7200pm drives. Every day I look at my Athlon XP box I'm reminded of that.

I'll second that, the Raptor is the coolest drive I've had in quite some time.