Q: WD Raptor Vs. Non-Raptor 7200 SATA Drives

[IndyTimS]

So is there really much difference?

I see various brand SATA 7200 RPM drives for sale on various sites, and they're obviously cheaper than the WD Raptor 10k drives...

Is there really a big difference in load times?

Are the Raptors "worth" the extra cost?

I will be doing 90% gaming, 10% web on my future rig.

Thank you!

Tim

 

[imported_TimJ]

I've never found RAID to be worth it for gaming. I always load maps pretty quick and I only use a single Raptor now.

 

[imported_TimJ]

http://www.anandtech.com/stora...c.aspx?i=2101&p=10 - Shows RAID offers no benefit for gaming.

 

[MDE]

Uh, hello TimJ he never even mentioned RAID.
Raptors are fast, whether or not they're worth it is dependant on how much you hate sitting at a loading screen. Half-Life 2 still takes forever to load on my system with two Raptors and 1GB RAM.

 

[AristoV300]

The 74GB Raptors are very good hard drives especially for gaming. I noticed a difference in times from my previous 7200 drive. As for "worth" the cost I would say no.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: TimJ
http://www.anandtech.com/stora...c.aspx?i=2101&p=10 - Shows RAID offers no benefit for gaming.

It also shows a single Raptor vs. regular drives, worth reading even if you aren't considering RAID.

I wouldn't recommend a Raptor (or RAID0) unless you've already bought premium parts for the rest of your system (A64 3800+ - 4000+ or FX-55, 1 GB, fx 6800 GT or Ultra, etc.)

 

[Quino]

Actually, I would recomend it if you had middle parts and avobe. Athlon 64 3000 abd up and P4 3 gig and up. It makes your system a lot snapper and feels a lot smoother. Your system is as fast as your slowest part (always the hdd0

 

[Viper96720]

I don't notice much difference. Raptor I have is the 36gb one though not the 74gb one. But if your
thinking about the 74gb one. It may be better to get a cheaper 7200rpm drive and another stick of memory instead.

 

[Mo0o]

Check the read-times, isn't the raptor like almost twice as fast?

 

[LED]

It pretty much gets down to space vs a little improvement of speed...If you want more gigs then I'd suggest going with a larger HD like the newer Seagates instead of the Raptor and it being for 1 future Rig it may have NCQ capabilities...If so then that combined with a NCQ HD will/would pace right along side with the Raptor.

 

[imported_TimJ]

LOL, I thought I read RAID in there somewhere. I was just having a discussion about RAID with someone and I saw that and I dunno.