Raptor HOT! 150GB WD Raptor at Newegg for $249.99 - $50 MIR = $199.99 shipped / limit 2!

[Devistater]

Originally posted by: Craig234
Tempting deal - the thing I'm concerned about are reports it's a louder drive than the WD Caviar or Seagate.

I'm tired of the background noise of the PC and would like to get rid of the noise.

I have one, it sounds about the same as my previous raptor or any of my other SATA drives. If you look at the noise measurements in the storeagereview review, thats borne out by the tests, its about the same noise level as previous raptors.
http://www.storagereview.com/articles/200601/WD1500ADFD_7.html
Read the SATA drive chart, its between the caviar and seagate in noise.

Generally with PC noise, its fans thats the big issue.
If you want to reduce noise, you should try some or all of the below (I've done them all), replace all fans with 120mm ones, and run them less than max speed. Get one of the CPU heatsinks that can handle a 120mm fan.
Replace the usually uber noisy mobo chipset fan with a big passive heatsink.
Check your graphics card fan and consider replacing it if its too noisy with a quieter fan or a passive solution (some of the more recent 7800 or 7900 cards from nvidia are almost silent in fan noise when you aren't playing games). I personally have a passive version of the nvidia 6600GT.
Make sure you have AMD cool n quiet enabled (you have to install the driver, and change your power profile). That will reduce your CPU fan speed according to temperature, when your CPU gets hot, then it will speed up the fan.
Get a power supply thats quiet and slows its fan speed if its not hot, or can be adjusted.
Finally, if your hdds are noisy, its generally because the vibration (run your hdd outside of the case and see if its still very noisy, if its not, its because of vibration when mounted in the case). You can get and use anti-vibration mounts for the hdds if this is the case. (fortunately my stacker case has anti vibration provisions for all the hdds already).

Many of these solutions are not terribly expensive (like replacing the mobo chipset fan, about $10), or getting a 120mm heatsink for the CPU (I've seen them as low as $25). The 120mm fans are often on sale for $5 each (make sure to get ones that are fairly quiet).

As you may be able to tell, I'm a bit of a noise freak with my computer. But the 150g raptor doesn't bother me. Its just fine.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Guhhhh I bought a 74GB ADFD Raptor in June when there was the $139 deal or whatever seeing the 150 was too expensive.

I'll now rest on the fact that the 74GB ADFD is faster than the 150GB despite the fact that I got pwned by this new deal =(

 

[LOUISSSSS]

the 74gb 8mb cache raptor is faster than the 150gb 16mb cache hdd? in what? (besides filling up)

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
the 74gb 8mb cache raptor is faster than the 150gb 16mb cache hdd? in what? (besides filling up)

Actually, it is. In several areas. Look here.

Bigger numbers don't always mean better performance

 

[Craig234]

Devistator, thanks for all the info.

For now, I've just ordered the Seagate 320GB 7200.10 based on the general forum's input, but because they suggested the difference in gaming is very small.

I'll feel more comfortable getting a Raptor possibly as far as the noise.

Lots of good ideas - given that I may be too lazy to do them, I need to think about the options for being able to have a PC assembled that way.

 

[WENEEDLIGHT]

Today's the last day..AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! BTW Thanks OP.

 

[Devistater]

Originally posted by: Craig234
Devistator, thanks for all the info.

For now, I've just ordered the Seagate 320GB 7200.10 based on the general forum's input, but because they suggested the difference in gaming is very small.

I'll feel more comfortable getting a Raptor possibly as far as the noise.

Lots of good ideas - given that I may be too lazy to do them, I need to think about the options for being able to have a PC assembled that way.

Make sure you test the seagate before the return period is up. There's a number of reports of the latest 7200.10 drives having a few batches that are abnormally loud and noisy (its theorized its a batch of differant spindle motors).
Most people get drives that are fine, its just a few are not. There's more detail on the storagereview forums, including pics of the ways to tell the differant spindle motor variations (basically one has a sticker, one does not).

Originally posted by: DLeRium
Guhhhh I bought a 74GB ADFD Raptor in June when there was the $139 deal or whatever seeing the 150 was too expensive.

I'll now rest on the fact that the 74GB ADFD is faster than the 150GB despite the fact that I got pwned by this new deal =(

Originally posted by: Pabster

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
the 74gb 8mb cache raptor is faster than the 150gb 16mb cache hdd? in what? (besides filling up)

Actually, it is. In several areas. Look here.

Bigger numbers don't always mean better performance

I just read through the whole review again to make sure. The only place I see the 74gig raptor being faster than the 150 gig raptor is when there's a large queue in a multiuser environment (which BTW, almost regardless of how heavy a single user multitasking load is, it is NOT a multiuser).
To quote the review (bolding is mine):

A Word of Caution to Power Users

It is all too common for an enthusiast to believe that his or her usage pattern is closer to that of a server's rather than a desktop's. This idea arises from a variety of sources- "I multitask a lot," "I hear the hard drive grinding away," "I deal with lots of huge files," etc. The truth is, however, that even the heaviest, grinding multitasker experiences disk access patterns that are far more localized in nature than the truly random access that servers undergo. Individuals who choose a hard drive based on its prowess in IOMeter with the belief that their usage habits mimic a server simply do themselves a disservice. It is measures such as the SR Office and High-End DriveMarks that most accurately depict a non-server's response, whether it be the sheer speed experienced under intense disk access or the "snap and feel" associated with intermittent but bursty operations.

Edit: I also see a very slight advantage (less than 4% in read) in access times on the 74gig version. I would expect this to be far less important than the huge increases in transfer rates, and all the other benchmarks and all game tests support this, the 150 gig makes a clean sweap over the 74 gig.
You may also want to read the note at the bottom of the access times testing page

 

[JasonVaritekMVP]

I'm hoping that someone can give me a conclusive answer to a question thats been irking me for some time. If one were to get a single 150 gig raptor (non raided) is the non X raptor acceptable? I've heard that the non X uses TLER meaning that it should be used in raid setups and that if using a single raptor to choose the X. I've also heard this disputed, nowhere have I found a consensus on this ... Anyone with some helpful feedback?

 

[Devistater]

There's a new rebate now that lasts until Aug 20th, and now it applies to the raptor x windowed version drives as well.
I've updated my raptor 150g compilation thread with that info:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=40&threadid=1842828

OP: you may want to update your post and title with the new experation date

Originally posted by: JasonVaritekMVP
I'm hoping that someone can give me a conclusive answer to a question thats been irking me for some time. If one were to get a single 150 gig raptor (non raided) is the non X raptor acceptable? I've heard that the non X uses TLER meaning that it should be used in raid setups and that if using a single raptor to choose the X. I've also heard this disputed, nowhere have I found a consensus on this ... Anyone with some helpful feedback?

Ok here's a conclusive answer: TLER is shipped default off on all raptor 150gigs (OEM, retail, x flavor, etc). You can turn it on (or back off) with a WD software utility, so even if it was somehow shipped on, you could still disable it.
The info about the default being off is from the storagereview review, linked at least a couple times in this thread.

TLER basically removes some retrying if it fails to read a section properly on the hdd, this helps for mirror raid 1 (or higher levels) where it should just check the other hdd(s) instead. On non raid setups, you typically want it off, so that it will continue to retry if there's a problem on the hdd.
Here's WD's info sheet about it:
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/library/sata/2579-001098.pdf
Basically if TLER is on, it will stop retrying after 7 seconds and let the RAID interface handle it from there.

 

[MDhaliwal]

I couldn't resist. I just ordered one of these to go in a new Mac Pro. Unfortunately, the drive will arrive before the machine, but at least I'll be ready to go when the computer arrives!

I went with the regular, non-windowed version. I'll never see it in that case anyway.

Great deal! Too good for me to pass up!

 

[Craig234]

Thanks again to Devistater again; my drive has the sticker that is supposed to mean it's ok. I can't test the drive yet, no SATA computer.