Raptor vs Caviar

[wraith3k]

For a non-raid system, used for various things, is it faster to have a 10K RPM Raptor with the 1.5 Gbps interface, or a 7200RPM Caviar at 3.0 Gbps? (This is assuming I have a motherboard with the SATA 3.0 Gbps interface) Specifically I'm talking about OS load time, amount of time it takes to open programs, and load times between levels in games.

 

[postmortemIA]

ummm that is speed of interface, not speed of drives

Caviar with size >=500GB have similar sequential speed with 74 and 150GB Raptors (~75MB/s), but caviars are slower in random access, which has effect in things you mentioned as well.

I'm sure you'll get more answers.

 

[wraith3k]

What is the advantage in having the faster interface then?

 

[postmortemIA]

almost nothing, beside that cache (16-32MB) is being transferred faster

 

[firewolfsm]

The raptor isn't much faster, I'd go with the better deals on the caviar.

 

[Fayd]

if you have a seek dependant application, go with the raptor. if you have a sequential read/write app, go with the caviar.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: theslug
What is the advantage in having the faster interface then?

It depends on how fast the interface is. But with current tech harddrives the 3gbps is not any faster then the 1.5gpbs...

Fayd's answer is misleading... the raptor is ALWAYS faster, the question is by HOW MUCH and how much you NEED that extra speed.

The raptor is hands down faster in every possible way. But the caviar is much much cheaper and has much more space. So its really a matter of choice.

I am running a raptor OS drive for speed.
Two caviar 500GB raid1.
Two caviar 750GB raid1.

The reason I Wouldn't raid the os drive is driver issues. Its really too much of a pain and gives you too little benefit.

 

[Fayd]

Originally posted by: taltamir

Originally posted by: theslug
What is the advantage in having the faster interface then?

It depends on how fast the interface is. But with current tech harddrives the 3gbps is not any faster then the 1.5gpbs...

Fayd's answer is misleading... the raptor is ALWAYS faster, the question is by HOW MUCH and how much you NEED that extra speed.

The raptor is hands down faster in every possible way. But the caviar is much much cheaper and has much more space. So its really a matter of choice.

I am running a raptor OS drive for speed.
Two caviar 500GB raid1.
Two caviar 750GB raid1.

The reason I Wouldn't raid the os drive is driver issues. Its really too much of a pain and gives you too little benefit.

my answer is NOT misleading. your answer is flat out wrong.

the raptor's sequential IO is SLOWER than a high capacity 7200 RPM drive. this is because the data density of the high capacity drives is SO MUCH HIGHER than the raptor, that it more than makes up for their slower rotational speed.

try it and see. the newer 7200 RPM drives from the likes of seagate, with their 250gb platters, go between 85 and 105 MB/s read speed. someone who also plays a game i play has a 6x 500 gig 7200.11 drive setup, and it goes between 550 and 620 MB/s read sustained.

but again, that's for sequential IO.

the rotational latency, and seek time assosciated with the 7200 RPM disk is much longer than that assosciated with a 10000 RPM disk. (even better are the SAS and SCSI disks, with up to 15000 RPM.) so, for low seek time dependant applications (like databases, etc) the raptor is the way to go. but for sequential IO, high capacity drives are much better. (and, as an added bonus, much cheaper.)