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WD Raptor 74 gig drives (WD740GD)?
- Thread starter richklein
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2003
- Location
- Phoenix. YOUR HAIR IS GOOD TO EAT
Well, if you read that from us, asking us whether it's true won't really verify anything. 
They are very fast, faster than a processor upgrade in most cases.
They are very fast, faster than a processor upgrade in most cases.
- Joined
- May 17, 2004
it's faster than my 36Gb Raptor....that's for sure...the 76 Gb actually beats some of the SCSI drives out there that run at 15k rpm....
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2001
- Location
- Oil Country
It's very fast...offers at least half boot time and half load times in games like farcry. I recommend a 74 raptor to everyone.. not the small one though it's not so fast. It's really to bad too becasue the small one is all you need for a boot drive/applications drive but it's a rip IMO.
- Thread Starter
- #5
Hrm.. A buddy of mine ordered 2 & I might take the plunge. i keep reading that winXP installs (fresh) in 11 minutes, etc etc.
Basically that its a speedy drive.
I have a 3.2 processor, (asus board that I cant remember) and a WD 250 gig drive (IDE). Would I notice a huge improvement?
Basically that its a speedy drive.
I have a 3.2 processor, (asus board that I cant remember) and a WD 250 gig drive (IDE). Would I notice a huge improvement?
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2003
richklein said:
two 36s in raid 0 here...winxp install in 7 minutes
- Thread Starter
- #7
Well, I did buy one & Sandra says its faster. The SOP (seat of pants) tells me it 'might' be a little faster, but maybe its even to what I have already (250 gig WD 8 meg cache drive).
I would say, that its mostly marketing. The drive is fast with just winxp on it, but start adding apps, & any speed difference is sucked up.
Good marketing by WD though! Ya got my 180 bucks!
I would say, that its mostly marketing. The drive is fast with just winxp on it, but start adding apps, & any speed difference is sucked up.
Good marketing by WD though! Ya got my 180 bucks!
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2001
- Location
- Russian Federation
how loud is WD740GD? i got seagates right now i dont even know they are there when anything loads....
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2003
- Location
- Phoenix. YOUR HAIR IS GOOD TO EAT
I was worried this topic was going to stay buried from 2+ months ago, I'm glad it got revived. 
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2001
- Location
- Russian Federation
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2004
- Location
- Lake Bodom
The rotational speed is faster, and the seek time is cut in half, why would it not be faster?
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2003
well -
i was just using a 160g WD 8mb drive - i got my 74g WD and DEUMM!!!
i boot to windows from pressing the power on button in like 10 seconds!!!
that is a dual PSU system
i would get one!!! iof all you have is a stanard IDE drive or ata drive
i was just using a 160g WD 8mb drive - i got my 74g WD and DEUMM!!!
i boot to windows from pressing the power on button in like 10 seconds!!!
that is a dual PSU system
i would get one!!! iof all you have is a stanard IDE drive or ata drive
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2001
- Location
- Russian Federation
well i guess im getting one... all i hear is good feedback about it.
tx guys
tx guys
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2004
- Location
- Ft Worth - Texas
Depends on what controller (onboard/PCI) youre using. With identical controllers, the onboard "SHOULD" be faster (FSB vs PCI Clock of 33mhz).
My boot time is equally short, with only ata133 devices. Of course, that is due to a highly tweaked startup.
So unless you plan on maintaining your startup voraciously, you won"t see a difference. And given my setup, if you took care of your startup with an ata133 device, you achieve similar boot times.
Of course, that being said... I still want one.
(those seek times are mighty sweet)
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2004
- Location
- dutty south
you will not be going back to 7200 rpm HDD's after making the switch. it's that fast. i know im not likely too, unless its for additional storage.
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2003
- Location
- Toronto Canada
Ive had 2 36gb raptors in raid... and I 1 74gb raptor feels faster then that. Awesome HDD!
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2003
- Location
- Vantucky, Washington
1st, how did you get your Raptor to get 88+ MBPS? I benched mine using HD Tach and it only got 16MBPS I have an onboard Silicon Image SATA RAID on my new mother board and I still only get 16MBPS. How do I configure HD Tach to bench my drive correct? I can not even bench my Raptor using Sandri because It says "Corrupted test and will not continue." My computer boots slow becuase It has to boot up the Raid card then windows, is there anyway I can get around this? Everything on my computer is stock and I have not done anything to mod it. Anyway, I love my raptor when I game and surf the internet. 
My games load up sooo fast and the internet seems faster even while using cable internet. When Farcry auto saves between levels I hardly can tell it saved the game because I am so focused on not getting killed. When I had My SLOW 7200rpm drive the game would take forever to load and programs would load sooo slooow. Now that I have a new board with 2 Sata raid slots, I am going to buy another 36 gig Raptor and raid 0. 
I would highly advise anyone who is in the market for a new drive to buy a Raptor drive.
I have an onboard Silicon Image SATA RAID on my new mother board and I still only get 16MBPS. How do I configure HD Tach to bench my drive correct? I can not even bench my Raptor using Sandri because It says "Corrupted test and will not continue." My computer boots slow becuase It has to boot up the Raid card then windows, is there anyway I can get around this? Everything on my computer is stock and I have not done anything to mod it. Anyway, I love my raptor when I game and surf the internet. My games load up sooo fast and the internet seems faster even while using cable internet. When Farcry auto saves between levels I hardly can tell it saved the game because I am so focused on not getting killed. When I had My SLOW 7200rpm drive the game would take forever to load and programs would load sooo slooow. Now that I have a new board with 2 Sata raid slots, I am going to buy another 36 gig Raptor and raid 0. I would highly advise anyone who is in the market for a new drive to buy a Raptor drive.
o.k. so I'm considering the Raptor.... what's the final word about the 36gb vs the 74gb?.... is there a noticable difference in speed? Also, how difficult would it be to use a sata drive as the only drive in the system? Is it just a matter of having the drivers for the initial os install? If I decide to go sata it will be totally new to me, so any info will be most welcome.
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