What's faster, 2 drives in RAID 0 or a 10k RPM Raptor?

[t3h l337 n3wb]

I've heard the increase of performance in both of these drive selections are neglible and you won't see much improvement. Well, which one is LESS worse 😛? Could I get the same performance out of the RAID 0 as I could with a single Raptor? This is all hypothetical of course. I despise Raptors and RAID 0 scares me.

 

[imported_Tick]

Raid 0 CAN be faster than a raptor, it depends on which other drives were talking about, and faster in what way.

 

[imported_Kensai]

Depends on what you're using it for.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Let's see... Maybe 2 80GB SATA 7200.8 drives in RAID 0 vs. the 1 Raptor. Which on could perform better overall (everday computer usage like internet browsing, some gaming, etc).

 

[Akki]

Check out the "Storage" tab up top. Anandtech has done a lot of reviews - there's even one with Raptors + RAID in the same one.

Basically, RAID0 will give you zero performance with desktop apps + games. Raptors will give you a 5-10% performance increase.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

I use a 36GB Raptor and a WD 160GB SATA. The Raptor is partitioned into 2 drives, C for OS and apps, D for games and large data swaps. WD 160(E) is used for media files and safe keeping of data. I like this arrangement because it keeps stuff separate. 3D game levels load A LITTLE quicker. Probably the biggest benefit is transfers from HD to HD. I rip to the Raptor, and process and write output to E. Much, much quicker than reading and writing to the same physical drive.

RAID (not redundant) is a total waste unless you have industrial applications. The Raptors are not much faster than any good drive, and have minimal gains. Specific comparisons are available on Anandtech, Tom's, not many others I trust.

There is no IDE drive that can max out ATA-100, much less 133, by itself. Also, there is no SATA drive that can max out SATA 150, much less SATA 300 (or SATA II) by itself. As for NCQ/NCQII, and other HDD tech, little to no benefit there either.

My choice between the two is the Raptor, because it's only one drive. Lousy, actually the worst, price/GB ratio though.