Wd6400aaks Or Velociraptor

[Mars999]

Title says it all, how much faster is the velociraptor over the 640AAKS drive? I need some numbers if possible. I want fast but, if the speed delta isn't worth talking about, I would rather have the space then...

Thanks

 

[GundamF91]

I like the AAKS HD, they are always top of the "mainstream" line. I think the latest velociprator is faster, but these AAKS have already caught up on the older Raptor disks. I'd go with space.

 

[DarkRogue]

Try here:
http://www.storagereview.com/WD3000BLFS.sr

StorageReview's article on the VelociRaptor. It's a bit old, but the data should still be relevant. They don't directly compare it with the WD6400AAKS, but they do compare it against a Raptor 150GB, and you should know how the 6400AAKS stacks up against that.

 

[Mars999]

THanks guys, so next question is in a few years will the SSD drives blow past the velociraptor from what you are hearing?

Because if the SSD drives come down to say $400 or less and have 250-500GB versions that are faster, maybe pocketing the $200 difference between these two drives wouldn't be a bad idea and get the SSD drive then...

 

[taltamir]

nm

 

[capeconsultant]

I have tried both. For me, the V was not fast enough to warrant the money. I have been using the 640 ever since and have never regretted it for a moment. The savings is going to go towards and SSD in the near future

I have no numbers, I go by feel, and I am quite in tune with my computer. The 640 is an excellent drive. I will keep it for storage when I get the SSD, maybe externally.

Dave

 

[perdomot]

Just replaced my 74GB Raptor with the 640 and it is excellent.

 

[TridenT]

Get the WD6400AAKS. It is cheaper and for performance/dollar ratio it is much better. (80$ for AAKS compared to the 300$ for the Velo)

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

Originally posted by: TridenTBoy3555
Get the WD6400AAKS. It is cheaper and for performance/dollar ratio it is much better. (80$ for AAKS compared to the 300$ for the Velo)

++

 

[Mwing]

I have VR for OS and 640 x 2 for storage, I doubt you will notice the speed difference between the 2 except when loading games or applications.

 

[taltamir]

i want to get the veloci raptor just because the name is so damn cool, even though i know i dont need it.

 

[LightningRider]

Velociraptor is very fast for OS stuff. I use a 640 AAKS for my games drive though. Very fast load times on everything.

 

[IEC]

I have no desire to overspend for a small % gain. The 6400AAKS is already 2x faster than my old Samsung Spinpoint and my Seagate 160GB. That's what I get for upgrading half a decade later...

 

[shangshang]

I have the new VRaptor and the older 150gb raptor, and an older WD500AAKS. Here are my thoughts.

The new Vrap is definitely nice. But you WILL pay a premium for it. It's like buying a Ferrari, and people who buy Ferrari don't buy it for the value. Enough about cars, what about the drive???

Here are what I like most about the Vrap:
1. runs VERY VERY COOL compared to the old raptor. It even runs cooler than the WD640AAKS! I'm amazed how a 10,000 RMP drive can run so cool.
2. it's very very quite! It's the quiestest drive of all my 3 drives! This thing is barely louder than a laptop drive! I can't praise enough about the low noise. A 10,000 RMP drive is the quietest and coolest drive in my PC. Nice.
3. Loads Vista faster (and quiter!) than the old 150gv raptor. Loads games much faster too.

Overall, although the data shows that the Vrap runs about 12% faster than the old 150gb raptor, but my "feel" in Vista is that it's closer to 20-25% faster, because everything is so much zippier now. Loading Vista, loading games, opening apps, browsing the net, all feel so much snappier. And to top it off, it does this in a quiter, cooler-running, and lower power consumption drive! Whether or not it's "worth it" to people will be up to their financial I guess. But if you can afford it, then you will not regret it.

 

[devilchrist]

good review shang,

I have 32gb raptors in raid.. and they are loud.. may be not volume loud but even with my p180 case. it has a really high pitch sound that cannot be dampened.

if Vraptor's fixed that they that's great news.

As for me.. i'm done with being annoyed by the high pitch sound and went ahead and ordered 640aaks.

 

[shangshang]

Originally posted by: devilchrist
good review shang,

I have 32gb raptors in raid.. and they are loud.. may be not volume loud but even with my p180 case. it has a really high pitch sound that cannot be dampened.

if Vraptor's fixed that they that's great news.

As for me.. i'm done with being annoyed by the high pitch sound and went ahead and ordered 640aaks.

Yeah your raptor is probably the 1st gen raptor. And yes they are loud and hot! Man that drive is like at least 5 years ago! the WD640 is a good choice.

I used to run a couple older Seagate 3.5" 10k's Scsi in RAID 0. And while that's fast and all, but the new Vrap is only like 15% slower than the Seagate combo in normal use, but there are cases where the single Vrap outperform the Seagate combo, like in booting up Vista! I can boot into Vista in about 25 seconds (I'm not counting the all the Bios postings, and not counting all my little startup programs and tray icon), just the time from the Bootloader prompt to the Windows Login prompt. The Seagate combo will probably can sustain a higher transfer rate for large files better than the Vrap, but I don't have much need to transfer large files on a daily basis, so I wasnt taking advantage of the Seagate Scsi setup anyway.

And best of all, I don't have to deal with the heat and space the Seagates were taking. Having one disk reduces also my chance of a volume failure compared to RAID 0. And not dealing with the RAID setup also make my job of imaging Vista a lot simpler. And with the Vrap, because it's so fast already, I dont' even need to run "Readyboost" in Vista to boot up quick. "Superfetch" in Vista under the old 150GB raptor use to take anywhere from 2-3 minutes to run to completion, now with the Vrap, Superfetch will get in done in about 1 minutes max. If you're not familiar, Superfetch is a Vista service that loads up all your "frequently used" programs beforehand so that you can access them quick. And I've heard laptop users complained that this can take up to 8 minutes for one user! But with the Vrap, i'm done in 1 min max.

 

[mooseracing]

Originally posted by: shangshang

1. runs VERY VERY COOL compared to the old raptor. It even runs cooler than the WD640AAKS! I'm amazed how a 10,000 RMP drive can run so cool.

It's mounted in a huge heatsink and smaller platter size. That all eequals less heat than a 3.5" drive.

 

[shangshang]

Originally posted by: mooseracing

Originally posted by: shangshang

1. runs VERY VERY COOL compared to the old raptor. It even runs cooler than the WD640AAKS! I'm amazed how a 10,000 RMP drive can run so cool.

It's mounted in a huge heatsink and smaller platter size. That all eequals less heat than a 3.5" drive.

It's true the beefy mounting plate does serve to conduct heat away from the drive. But I've run the Vrap without the mounting plate and it still runs a lot cooler than what you would expect from a 10,000 rpm to be at. At my test bench, I usually just run these Vrap without the mounting plate and they still don't come anywhere close to the hotness of the old 150GB raptor.

Overall, I'm definitely impressed with the current Vrap. I was not as impressed with the previous Raptor generation upgrades. But this jump is impressive. Next jump I would like to see is a jump to 15k rpm for the desktop for the masses, then from there SSD drives (currently, SSD drive prices are way out of reach for me; $800 for 64GB, nice, but damn!) BTW, one Newegg user did a review on the Samsung 64GB SSD drive and he said it's about 17% faster than his old Raptor (prolly 150GB raptor). I don't know how certifiable his statement is, but if it's close to correct, then the Vrap is not too expensive at its current price.

It would be nice to see Seagate sell their 2.5" 10K drives to desktop uers. That would give WD some competion and drive prices down. But Seagate probably won't enter this fight because they can sell them to coporate servers at much higher prices.

 

[ochadd]

Everyone seems to be saying the 6400AAKS is the way to go...

Has this topic stayed on topic that well or is there something better about the 640GB version of the drive compared to other AAKS drives?

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

Originally posted by: ochadd
Everyone seems to be saying the 6400AAKS is the way to go...

Has this topic stayed on topic that well or is there something better about the 640GB version of the drive compared to other AAKS drives?

The 640gig version has 2 x 320gig platters. higher density platters = better performance (in general).

The other models use lower density platters.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: taltamir
i want to get the veloci raptor just because the name is so damn cool, even though i know i dont need it.

That describes me.

I figure if I get a VelociRaptor in my main rig, then I can take out the Raptor X from it and combine it with the Raptor X in my LAN party rig in some hot incestuous RAID 0 action. Will performance be worth it? Don't know, but two drives with windows on them will look HAWT! Just have to figure out a way to make 'em both visible from outside the case.

 

[Mwing]

Oh yea, when I bought it, the name played a role in my decision making, as well as the look of the drive itself (i have a antec 900 so there is side window)