wd raptor

[akyrddog]

I was wondering if the WD Raptor 75gb is worth getting? I have a 250 GB Sata2 now but I was thinking of getting a Raptor for windows drive and using my 250 as a 2nd storage drive

[garetjax]

Originally Posted by akyrddog

I was wondering if the wd raptor 75gb is worth gitting? I have a 250 gb sata2 now but I was thinking of getting a raptor for windows drive and using my 250 as a 2nd storage drive

Sure, why not? =)

I'm running a 74GB Raptor for my OS, another 74GB for my games, and a 120GB for my music/photo/movie files. I used to use the 120GB for my OS, but when I switched to the 74GB drive, I definitely noticed a difference in boot times and program/application loading.

However, Western Digital has a 250GB 7,400 RPM 16MB cache HD which is just about as fast as the older 74GB Raptor. You may want to look into that. The extra 8MB cache in the 250GB drive really makes up for the faster spindle speed difference in the older Raptor, which runs at 10,000 RPM's.

[akyrddog]

I was just wondering if it was worth spending 180 bucks on. I am just looking for more performance. I am not a big gammer just doom3 and half life 2 I use the pc more for pic editting and mp3s.

[Hitman]

I have the 74 GB Raptor, but if I was buying one today I would buy the 150GB Raptor. The size of the Raptor and the fact that many larger and cheaper 7200 RPM drives perform almost as well as the Raptor make it hard to suggest the Raptor to everyone.

Originally Posted by akyrddog

I was just wondering if it was worth spending 180 bucks on. I am just looking for more performance. I am not a big gammer just doom3 and half life 2 I use the pc more for pic editting and mp3s.

If your spending $180 on a 74gb Raptor you're getting ripped off.

Newegg.com - Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM

Newegg.com - Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM

If you need a lot of HD space I would suggest this drive for bang for buck.

Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3500630AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

[screwballl]

like mentioned above, newegg has the 150GB version (and the cool Raptor X) for $180 after rebate

[Capper]

Honestly, I don't think they are worth the money. I have two 150GB Raptors, and have run them individually and in RAID arrays.

They are fast, but not measurably faster than the 750GB SATA II drives I use, and think the money would be better spent elsewhere on your system....like maybe some DDR2-800 memory

[gvblake22]

I have a single 8MB, 74GB Raptor and while it is noticeably slightly faster than my Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB, it's hard to justify the high cost. If you need speed and can live with a higher chance of loosing your data (if you have a good backup system), then you might want to consider going with two cheap 7200 drives in RAID 0 as compared to getting a single Raptor. Check out out this article for more information.

[[Dr. V]]

what you could do is get a Seagate 7200.10 Parallel Recording drive which is almost as noticeably fast as a raptor, and have even more space for windows, save about $100 or so, and use the 250GB u have now for storage.

with that $100, get something else for your comp. if you can add a lil, i like the 2GB DDR2-800 idea capper had. if not, get a better cooler for ur CPU and overclock the hell out of that system!

maybe a better video card too? unless of course that video card is doing what you want it to do very well.

Seagate 250GB 7200.10

ThermalTake Big Typhoon // ZALMAN CNPS9500 LED

AMAZING PRICE on CORSAIR XMS2 2GB INSANE MIR!!!

XFX GeForce 7600GT
^even good gaming comes from this card with almost all the current games (granted, some of them on lower settings) are very very playable.

so your options are wide open. the Raptors are kind of degrading you could say in terms of how incredibly increased the performance was compared to even only a year ago. the best solution for you is the Seagate + that amazing deal on the Corsair 2x1GB, which together will run you only $227.69 after taxes and mail in rebate (it is 15% tax in America, no?)

[screwballl]

The main difference noted here is "noticeable" difference. This is with real world testing and usage. The benchmarks may set the Raptors faster but once windows is on there for a month and you have all the usual stuff loaded and playing games and whatever else, you will not notice a difference between the Seagate 7200.10 (or many other SATAII/3 hard drives) and the Raptors. The only time it may be suggested to stay with the raptors is in a server environment where the extra speed over a long period of time can be useful for apps that take advantage of the speed.