Want to Upgrade Boot Drive

[Carbo]

I've got the upgrade bug. And for those of you who have had it, you understand the only way to cure it is to buy something...or three. I've decided to score some new hard drives. My idea is to use the WD Raptor as my boot drive. It will only have XP Pro on it, and my various software programs. I don't have a need for much space or storage on this drive, so the size is not the issue. I've read where the smaller Raptor doesn't live up to expectations, especially when compared to the 74GB model.
My second drive will be the WD 120GB Caviar SE, which is more space than I'll ever need. This will hold music files and back up data.
The PC in question is in a home office. Primarily email, surfing the 'net, MS Word, and burning DVD's. It's a Dell Dimension 4600, P4 3.0GHz, and 1024MB RAM.
For those of you with first hand experience, is there a noticeable drop off in performance between the two Raptors? Thank you.

 

[Promethply]

Definitely go for the 74GB Raptor:

The 74GB's quieter, and faster than the 36GB -- even some current 7200RPM HDs are faster than the 36GB Raptor, overall.

 

[Penth]

I don't have firsthand experience with both Raptors, but I can tell you the 74GB on makes my system feel much more responsive than my previous boot drive of a WD 160GB 8MB Cache drive.

 

[HuddaDudda]

I have a 36GB Raptor as my boot drive and everything is quick and nice. I cant comment on how quite it is because I have 5 other Hard Drives besides it. I am actually going to be dumping them all for a shiney new 400GB Hitachi (maybe 2) - the reason for my change is 6 Hard Drives create a lot of heat! The temp on my desk is around 72F and when I take the temp under my desk its around 78-80F - quite a noticiable diff! Anyhow getting off topic - I like my 36GB Raptor.