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I am thinking about getting a 74gb raptor (10k) as my main OS drive, and then a 150gb raptor (10K) to be my gaming drive and then adding a sata (7200) down the road for data. Any views on this? This will be my first time dealing with raptor's. Will this raise the heat in this system to where my current setup listed on the first page will be a problem heat wise? Also, should I hold off and get a 150gb raptor as opposed to the 74gb or does it really not matter except for size?

Btw, I am not currently planning on doing a RAID configuration, but I am interested in some views on this if the 150gb is what people think is the best way to go. Due to the fact I ultimately plan on adding a data drive I would imagine Raid 0 would be the way I would go if I go that route.

Roody wrote:I am thinking about getting a 74gb raptor (10k) as my main OS drive, and then a 150gb raptor (10K) to be my gaming drive and then adding a sata (7200) down the road for data. Any views on this? This will be my first time dealing with raptor's. Will this raise the heat in this system to where my current setup listed on the first page will be a problem heat wise? Also, should I hold off and get a 150gb raptor as opposed to the 74gb or does it really not matter except for size?

Btw, I am not currently planning on doing a RAID configuration, but I am interested in some views on this if the 150gb is what people think is the best way to go. Due to the fact I ultimately plan on adding a data drive I would imagine Raid 0 would be the way I would go if I go that route.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Roody wrote:I am thinking about getting a 74gb raptor (10k) as my main OS drive, and then a 150gb raptor (10K) to be my gaming drive and then adding a sata (7200) down the road for data. Any views on this? This will be my first time dealing with raptor's. Will this raise the heat in this system to where my current setup listed on the first page will be a problem heat wise? Also, should I hold off and get a 150gb raptor as opposed to the 74gb or does it really not matter except for size?

Btw, I am not currently planning on doing a RAID configuration, but I am interested in some views on this if the 150gb is what people think is the best way to go. Due to the fact I ultimately plan on adding a data drive I would imagine Raid 0 would be the way I would go if I go that route.

I'm not sure you'll get any kind of performance increase having the 74GB and the 150GB mixed in like that, rather than just going with a 150 off the bat (obviously you'd get more space ultimately). I personally have two 74GB in RAID0 (not something I would normally recommend unless you had some kind of good drive backup. I have every important file or document on my computer constantly backed up to our server), and it's pretty quick. I've heard RAID0 on Raptors doesn't make much of a difference - I don't know. I ran with just one for a while, then I got a second and put it in RAID0. The difference I noticed was firstly Windows starts up a heckalot faster, and second, the computer literally never slows down, whereas with the single 74GB non-raided, you still got that lag opening some programs, like with a slower HD would. Just something to think about..

Important file backups aren't an issue with me as I have constant backups done to my server also.

You think then that getting two raptor drives of the same size and putting them into Raid0 will ultimately improve my windows performance and continue to maintain that kind of speed?

Get the 150 gig raptor and be happy with it if you want fast speed. each newer raptor, 37/74/150 didnt just get bigger, they got faster as well.

YARDofSTUF wrote:Get the 150 gig raptor and be happy with it if you want fast speed. each newer raptor, 37/74/150 didnt just get bigger, they got faster as well.

Somewhat.

The newest models (both the 74GB and the new 150GB) have 16MB cache, and with the release of the 150 the 74 had some modifications. Needless to say, two 74s in RAID0 is faster than a single 150GB of the same line. Granted, due to the 75GB platters, the 150GB is faster than a single 74GB raptor (although the random access is a bit faster on the 74s), two RAIDed 74GB is faster than a single 150GB Raptor.

Have a look at this review, and compare the two 74GB newest-gen Raptors in RAID0 to the single 150GB non-raided, since that is the issue at hand. Not only is the sustainted read and write faster, but so is the random access.
http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content ... e%5Ftest=1

You wont notice a difference opening smaller files or programs (the random access doesn't go down), however the sustained read speed feels much faster than a single Raptor.

I read all about the RAID0 vs non-raid articles, written using the raptors, but I can vouge from personal experience that there is a substantial, noticable difference.

With that said..

Roody wrote:Important file backups aren't an issue with me as I have constant backups done to my server also.

You think then that getting two raptor drives of the same size and putting them into Raid0 will ultimately improve my windows performance and continue to maintain that kind of speed?

Yes.

Ok thanks for the information Joel.

Ya 2 74 gig raptors will be faster.

But right now, 2x74GB raptors are $320 and 1 150GB raptor is $210. I dont think the performance gain is $110.

Regardless of which way a person goes, either setup would be nice.

Thanks for the info YOS.

Just got done buying the 8800GTX, Floppy Drive, 2 Raptor 150GB hard drives and a Silverstone 850 Watt Power Supply.

Only need to buy the sound card, speakers and Vista and I will be ready to go.

The final pieces to get this thing up and running are supposed to come in tomorrow. Still need to get the sound card and speakers, but for now I can use integrated audio and my current speakers.

Needless to say I can't wait until tomorrow.

man that should be a screaming PC when you is done, looking forward to seeing how ya like it and some pics.

Mark wrote:man that should be a screaming PC when you is done, looking forward to seeing how ya like it and some pics.

I am hoping so man. I will definitely put together some images and posting to let everyone know how it's coming along.

4pm can not come fast enough. I got the remaining things needed to start my install this evening.

Here is for hoping all goes well.

I'll be looking at the news to hear of the mushroom cloud.

YARDofSTUF wrote:I'll be looking at the news to hear of the mushroom cloud.

haha thankfully all is going well...so far.

I am now posting on my new machine. Still getting used to everything with it, but as you can see from the image below my "Windows Experience Index" is as good as you can get.

Nice score but not quite as good as it gets...6.0 is perfect and 5.7 is the best i can get...but my e6300 is running @ 3.2 ghz

Doh! Nice work man. Looks like I have some tweaking to still do.

Found the source of the 5 score. It's because I am currently using integrated audio.

Roody wrote:Found the source of the 5 score. It's because I am currently using integrated audio.

You have a 5.0 because your lowest item, the CPU, is a 5.0.

That Windows score is absolutely useless as a benchmark of system performance.

Burke wrote:That Windows score is absolutely useless as a benchmark of system performance.

Yeah, but they're all going in that direction anyway.