Well thanks guys.. Now I have to move all my data around and save up more money and I'll probably buy a new storage drive... JUST for .0044 miliseconds of read time.. Hehe, JK. I'm sure I'll love it. But how much of a difference is there between the 36 GB and the 74 GB? I noticed that the 74 GB has a 4.5 ms seek time compared to the 36 GB's 5.2 ms.
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Raptors: Are they worth it?
- Thread starter AEsnowboarding
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2002
- Location
- Seattle, WA
He's right. If you just have some airflow over the drive, you'll be fine. Raptors do generate more heat, but it's still not a significant cooling problem.
The 74GB drive is a little more advanced than the 36gb, which might account for the different access times. The 740GD uses fluid bearings as opposed to the ball bearings on the 360GD, and I it also has command queuing (allows the drive to store multiple commands instead of waiting for its current command to finish before receiving the second). I read that it also has a technology that senses vibration and adjusts its servos to preserve accuracy. That said, it should run a little faster, a little cooler, and a little quieter than the 36GB. Probably not a very noticable difference, but a difference nonetheless.
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2004
- Location
- South Carolina
OldOne said:
So do I. It's the second rig I've built for myself like this. It's quite responsive and very "peppy". I'd have a hard time now with a personal rig which didn't include something like this. Raptors are very nice hard drives, and IMO - for all practical purposes - they're not any louder than anything else.
"Raptors: Are they worth it?"
Yes, yes, yes, and definitely yes!
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2003
- Location
- Long Beach, CA
Are they worth it?
That depends on if you can afford them or not. I've spent a lot of money on CPU, mo bo, mem, GPU, etc..... so I saw no reason to skimp on the hdd either. Remember that your PC is only as fast as the slowest component and if you want all that processing power to be put to use then you need to deliver data to it quickly.
I went from 2 Maxtor 80gb sata's in raid 0 to a 74gb Raptor and I didnt see a huge performance increase everywhere, but in certain instances its definately faster. I can load XP w/ SP2 intergrated in about 13-15 minutes (try to top that with a 7200rpm drive) and I load maps quick as hell. If I were to do it all over agian I'd stick with the 2 sata's in raid 0 and call it a day, but I shelled out the cash for a Raptor and must justify my purchase
BTW, mine is quite as can be. Maybe cause its the 74gb..........
That depends on if you can afford them or not. I've spent a lot of money on CPU, mo bo, mem, GPU, etc..... so I saw no reason to skimp on the hdd either. Remember that your PC is only as fast as the slowest component and if you want all that processing power to be put to use then you need to deliver data to it quickly.
I went from 2 Maxtor 80gb sata's in raid 0 to a 74gb Raptor and I didnt see a huge performance increase everywhere, but in certain instances its definately faster. I can load XP w/ SP2 intergrated in about 13-15 minutes (try to top that with a 7200rpm drive) and I load maps quick as hell. If I were to do it all over agian I'd stick with the 2 sata's in raid 0 and call it a day, but I shelled out the cash for a Raptor and must justify my purchase
BTW, mine is quite as can be. Maybe cause its the 74gb..........
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2004
- Location
- Oregon
BrandonV said:
Wow, dude....I think you have something wrong. My brother's 5400 drive could beat that time!
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2003
- Location
- Long Beach, CA
jjv687 said:
The raptor will be faster, but its more money and less space and not that much faster. You need to decide if you need the cost vs size vs performance is enough to warrant the price.
"Wow, dude....I think you have something wrong. My brother's 5400 drive could beat that time! "
Maybe I was wrong about the time... I'm usually half drunk most of the time, but I'd be happy to contest his 5400rpm to my raptor anytime
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2005
Brandon is right. It's a question of money and whether you need more speed or more storage. I wouldn't be able to fill 36 gb for the life of me, so I'd take the raptor. If you need more space than that, you really have no choice but to get the raid 0 array. You also should understand that the raid 0 is fast too. A raptor may be faster, but it probably wouldn't make a huge noticable difference.
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2004
- Location
- Oregon
Hold on BrandonV. When you say load, do you mean load like startup time or installation time. I thought you meant start-up time and 13-15 minutes seems like a long time. As for installation time, that's pretty good.
He meant seconds..
I plan on buying a 200 GB storage drive after i sell the 2 drives I have now, so the smaller storage wont be a problem. If I can get a used Raptor it will be about the same price as getting 2 80 GBs so price doesnt matter. Its only speed for me and if the Raptors faster, then I'll get that. Now, has anyone had any experience using the 74 GB vs the 36 GB. The 74 GB is faster but how much faster? Is it work paying all the extra money for the 74 GB? And do you think WD will be making a 36GB with the same speeds and technology as the 74GB?
I plan on buying a 200 GB storage drive after i sell the 2 drives I have now, so the smaller storage wont be a problem. If I can get a used Raptor it will be about the same price as getting 2 80 GBs so price doesnt matter. Its only speed for me and if the Raptors faster, then I'll get that. Now, has anyone had any experience using the 74 GB vs the 36 GB. The 74 GB is faster but how much faster? Is it work paying all the extra money for the 74 GB? And do you think WD will be making a 36GB with the same speeds and technology as the 74GB?
- Joined
- May 28, 2004
- Location
- ESSEX UK
I have 2 36g's Raptors in raid 0 and i wouldnt sell or trade them ever. Boot up time is incredible and everything else is so much quicker than a single 7200rpm drive.
Thumbs up to the raptors!!!!!!!
Thumbs up to the raptors!!!!!!!
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2005
- Location
- Long Beach, CA
This is Brandon.... I changed my username
I can load XP onto a formatted hard drive in about 15 minutes. Load time from hitting the start button is crazy fast.... the scroll bar doesn't make it across the screen once before its loaded.
I can load XP onto a formatted hard drive in about 15 minutes. Load time from hitting the start button is crazy fast.... the scroll bar doesn't make it across the screen once before its loaded.
Well I just got like $80 from ebay a few minutes ago so that makes a total of $180 in paypal. I can probably get a 36 GB Raptor for less than $100 and then sell the 2 drives I have now and then have enough for a 200 GB SATA drive. OR I can buy a 74 GB Raptor for about $150.. But I think I would be regretting it, knowing that its not much faster than the 36 GB.
OP
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2002
- Location
- Folding In Minnesota
- Thread Starter
- #36
So I am almost ready to pull the trigger on 2 of these but I want to know how loud they are? Do they make a constant whine noise or are they pretty quiet when idle? I have read mixed reviews and some people say they are loud and others say you can't hear them. What would you guys compair them to?
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2002
- Location
- Seattle, WA
I don't know if it's my 160gig drives or my Raptor, but I can hear them when I turn everything else off. Sounds like a 60 or 80mm fan at mid/low speed. That's between three drives though, and I have to take the side off and get next to them for them to sound like that. Noticable outside the case, IMO.
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2005
- Location
- Charlestown IN
AEsnowboarding said:
They are not loud at all.I am sitting in my office and I can here talking 50 feet away in the kitchen.
