Hi, I'm thinking of putting my OS in a special disk, but I wonder. What would be faster for gaming, a single raptor has overall a faster response time but less bandwidth then 2 7.2k drives. Also what about cache? I think 2x 16mb cache would be faster then 2x 8mb?. I've read some reviews but I still can't decide. Any opinions? Is the performance so minimal, that I'd better buy a single 320gb seagate barracuda 10 drive? I don't care about noise btw.
if you want extreme speed put your OS on a 36gb seagate cheetah 15k rpm. then RAID 2 320gb seagate barracudas. 10k rpm raptor's have a comparable speed to barracuda's with PRM
I wont be going for SCSI, so you can drop the scsi 15k rpm hdd. I was thinking of buying dual 160GB($50/60 hdd) maxtors with 16mb cache and set them up in raid or a single 320gb barracuda ($100) or a single 36gb raptor ($100). What would be the difference, if you'd take 2 8mb cache drives vs 2 16mb cache drives?
past 8mb cache gives diminishing returns on harddrives. as for gaming, both scenarios would be comparable. coming from the WD1500 raptor w/ 16mb cache to a 250GB Baracuda w/ 16mb cache and PRM I haven't noticed a huge performance difference. The raptor was admittedly faster and i can tell, but it's not really a night/day thing. two drives in raid might be a better choice if you don't want to spend as much $$$ want more space and are willing to sacrifice a little performance. long story short on performance bunch of little files - raptor wins several large files - baracudas in RAID win. http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/02/06/wd1...lead/page8.html remember the new PRM drives DO have a bit higher performance than the old standard ones
Well, whem gaming, you'd have to load big maps (think about BF2, AA etc), I've seen a single 160GB maxtor with 16mb cache, for $55,- so what if I pick up two of those, what would be the difference vs a 150gb ADFD raptor (the newer one serie)?
if you're really into speed, why not just RAID a bunch of small 36GB raptors and have the best of both worlds? look for a sale...
Because they're expensive, but I'll take a look at marktplaats, kinda like the site ebay, they sell second hand goods. Edit; I can get dual 36GB old series for €150 and a sigle 74GB (16mb cache) newer serie for €100. Thinking of just getting the single 74gb. THe prices of the new serie, when buying them new, are as follows: 150GB 16 : 200 74GB 16: 150 36GB 16: 100
I got a 74GB Raptor. It rips faces. Personally i would get a single 74GB, and then set up dual 250-360's for movies and junk. Use the raptor for games and a few programs and your set.
I already have 3x 160 drives so I only want a fast OS drive now. Can you post a HD Tune screenshot for me? http://www.hdtune.com/hdtune_253.exe Just start the test and wait till its finished, then make a SS. Also, how noisy is it?
