Where are those Western Digital Raptor 10K rpm SATA hard drives!? FOUND

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Excelsior
How was it not valid? I still went and found the price of the 36GB and posted that, and it is more expensive. I wasnt trying to say that "oH MAN that thing is SO EXPENSIVE even though it is a 73GB drive".


Its not ironic, because you couldn't believe it costs more. Just like now, you are basically trying to say the Raptor isn't cheaper in the long run. Yes the Raptor is more expensive, but is it CHEAPER than the SCSI drives it performs comparably to? YES, if you can't see that then I feel sorry for you. It sounds like to me that you just can't believe a SATA drive is doing this well, and still you haven't used one. If you or mechBgon actually bought one, tried it out, then I would fully understand everything you had to say, but now,its just bashing.

Yes, WD didn't live up to their promise of 30% less, but it does equal the drives it is $10-20 cheaper than and does do better in some cases. And you could always say the price may fall drastically in the next few months. Not to mention it is quieter and cooler than those drives. And you are somewhat wrong, if those prices are for DELUXE versions of motherboards that cost a lot more, then ok.
Granted. some deluxe version with SATA are much more expensive, but they do have a lot more than just SATA. A SCSI card won't give you anything else. And as motherboards progress SATA is moving down to the "less expensive" versions. It is widely know that SATA is a standard, and will replace PATA. Is SCSI gonna replace PATA? No. And the same could be said about SCSI, the majority of the people dont have it. Id bet that more people have SATA and don't use it than those that have SCSI and do. SO why not give those people a reason to use their SATA. I still say for $168, and all they have to do is plug it in, that the Raptor is a good deal. And I still say that SCSI is superior, but more expensive.

Im more open to each side, SATA, and SCSI. However, it seems as though SATA wins in the cheaper but good performing HD for the masses that have SATA. And as more people upgrade, more and more end up with SATA. The same can't be said for SCSI.

Sorry if I sounded like a plain old SCSI snob. Enjoy your Raptors, if you pick them up

 

[Excelsior]

Nah man, its ok. I can understand someone blessed with SCSI being a snob about it.
I may pick one up, may. Just depends on when/if I upgrade my motherboard anytime soon. I may go P4 and canterwood...may.

 

[yodayoda]

ok boys, my pair of raptors are on their way from IL to CA. should be here tuesday so i can test out RAID 0 performance. a guy on storagereview discussion says the benches were awesome with that setup! i'm a little wary of my SATA controller--have read a ton of horror stories about data corruption and RAID with the Silicon Image controller and my Abit NF7-S. this better damn work or i am going to be pissed!

 

[Excelsior]

Didn't you see the Raid 0 performance in General hardware. It was 111MB/sec beginning..and, well here is the link.
Here

 

[Nanuk]

Wow, a SCSI/SATA debate. Wish I could join in. But from where i come from it's next to impossible to get a SATA drive. So I went SCSI. Used to have a Quantum Atlas 10k 18GB. But I fried that system (everything :'<). But now i'm running a Ultra320 system. Was a pain to find, but I got lucky, found a guy who just bought one and needed cash right away and sold it to me cheap (by my country's standards) with a 73GB 10k Seagate drive. It's not WD but I can live with that. I'm glad I'm back to SCSI. Not that I want to sound snobish or anything, in a lot of ways Excelsior is right. It's extremely hard to justify the price. But hey, i'm a SCSI junkie, we really don't need to justify the price to ourselves. I guess, it really is just how responsive the computer suddenly feels. Running tons of programs and my comp doesn't even blink when switching between them. My bro also has a computer as well, and when I use his it's a pain. In my case the SCSI makes a world of difference even for just normal use with a comp.

Well... that's my 2 cents worth.

Not really, benchmark based, but hey. If you notice the difference while your using your computer (with any hard drive that you purchase) feel good about it guys. It's all good! It's all about preference, not about who has the faster hard drive.

 

[Excelsior]

Im glad you are happy with your SCSI setup! It sounds nice. When I get older, price won't matter as much to me now, and I probably would go SCSI. The thought of having a 15k Maxtor, Fujitsu or Seagate...wow. Depending on how my other upgrades go, etc, I may do that. I just got a 120GB 8MB Maxtor drive. I figure if I went SCSI 15k, then i could use it for Programs and boot drive. Even an 18GB should work just fine.

So...yoda, got the drives yet?

 

[Rufio]

If anyone wants to get them from me, i have them for $165.99, in stock.

PM me!

 

[Excelsior]

Really? What company are you affilated with?

 

[shoman94]

You can get them for 155.00 at www.spartantech.com

 

[Nanuk]

LOL! Funny you should say that Excelsior! Th SCSI I have is just for just for OS and Programs only, and it suits me just fine. The two 120GB and 175GB are for data and stuff that I download of the net (TV show mostly, since I don't get any good shows over here in the Philippines.)

Yup, your right. OS and Programs on the SCSI is just fine. It's very workable, since bulk storage is mostly data. But I think you'd be better of with a 36GB or 73GB at the rate Windows continues to grow. Or! if the price has really dropped, 2 18GBs!

 

[yodayoda]

Originally posted by: shoman94
You can get them for 155.00 at www.spartantech.com

that is where i got mine. very nicely packaged, shipped fast, and no sales tax in CA. these badboys are FLYING in my computer now--striped and going well. they are very very quiet too--quieter than the two sister WD 180GB 7200RPM hard drives they sit next to. time to rip some DVDs!

 

[shoman94]

It came in today...gonna install it tonite. I hope it goes well...

 

[Excelsior]

Sweet guys! Yoda, does your system feel more responsive now?

 

[yodayoda]

Originally posted by: Excelsior
Sweet guys! Yoda, does your system feel more responsive now?

yes, it responded very well to me throwing $350 at it for some hard drives. to be honest, i don't really care--i just think it is cool. i should get faster DVD rips and faster ISO transfers, but that is all secondary to the cool factor. to tell you the truth, for what i do most of the time (web surfing, mp3s, word processing, DVD playing), my Epia M with 20GB HD is just perfect. but the beast needs meat, and that means PC3200 RAM and WD Raptor drives!

 

[shoman94]

I had a hell of a time getting my stand alone Raptor going. I'm using the PATA and SATA together....created some issues but were resolved one I found the correct settings. I'm a little mixed though, in Device Manager it shows the Raptor at MULTI-WORD DMA-2. I haven't run any benchmarks yet, so I'm unsure of the speed. Initially I didn't notice a difference but it was 3AM so i was pretty tired. I'll know more tonite. ANy one have any thoughts?

 

[shoman94]

oh yea....reinstalled as Raid-Ready.....Now I can add raid anytime and I'm using teh new IAA 3.0. Thos Raptor is cool!