RAID 0 vs Velociraptor

[JoshOohAh]

Hello, I need a new hard drive and I was debating between 2 500GB Western Digital Caviar Black in RAID 0 (don't bother talking me out of it I don't have many important files worth being backed up) or getting 1 Western Digital VelociRaptor 150 GB and save up for a few months to get another one of these and run them in RAID 0.

Some info you should know:

-The 500gb hard drives is about $50-60 cheaper.
-I will be purchasing a SSD in the near future to use as a boot drive with some programs
-I am a gamer if that accounts for much

I guess what it comes down to is if the VelociRaptor is that much better than the WD Caviar Black.

My computer specs are in my Signature if that could also mean something

Thanks

 

[Mr Alpha]

I would say neither. Both 10k rpm raptors and RAID 0 hard drive arrays are band-aid solution for the IO problems that SSD fix, so in a computer with and SSD both the Velociraptor or the Caviar Black RAID 0 arrays would be a waste. They would both pale in comparison to the SSD.

What I would recommend is that you skip both the RAID 0 array and the Raptor and get a big, cheap hard drive instead. Then spends the extra money on getting a bigger, better SSD.

 

[JoshOohAh]

I would say neither. Both 10k rpm raptors and RAID 0 hard drive arrays are band-aid solution for the IO problems that SSD fix, so in a computer with and SSD both the Velociraptor or the Caviar Black RAID 0 arrays would be a waste. They would both pale in comparison to the SSD.

What I would recommend is that you skip both the RAID 0 array and the Raptor and get a big, cheap hard drive instead. Then spends the extra money on getting a bigger, better SSD.

I do plan on getting and SSD in the future but right now they are way to over priced for what you get.

 

[Mr Alpha]

If you are looking at bang-for-the-buck then the Raptors don't make any sense either. They used to be worth their price premium in because they were the fastest you could get (outside of enterprise 15k stuff); the king of the hill. Just as getting the fastest graphics card or processor comes with a price premium much bigger than their performance advantage, the Raptors are priced much higher than their relative performance would suggest. In a world with SSDs the Raptors just aren't worth the cost anymore. A Raptor cut the access time in half compared to a normal hard drive, roughly. The access time of an SSD is a hundred times lower.

For a gamer RAID 0 isn't worth it either. You'll cut like half a second off a thirty second level load time. You won't even notice it without a stopwatch. Wouldn't even be worth the bother of setting up the RAID array. For comparison a Raptor might cut a second or two off that time while, in a best case scenario, and SSD can halve it.

My recommendation still stands just get a good normal hard drive, and sit down and wait for the SSDs to go down in price.

 

[Joeteck]

I would look into getting two 640gig Blacks! Then short stroke them for speed!

 

[JoshOohAh]

If you are looking at bang-for-the-buck then the Raptors don't make any sense either. They used to be worth their price premium in because they were the fastest you could get (outside of enterprise 15k stuff); the king of the hill. Just as getting the fastest graphics card or processor comes with a price premium much bigger than their performance advantage, the Raptors are priced much higher than their relative performance would suggest. In a world with SSDs the Raptors just aren't worth the cost anymore. A Raptor cut the access time in half compared to a normal hard drive, roughly. The access time of an SSD is a hundred times lower.

For a gamer RAID 0 isn't worth it either. You'll cut like half a second off a thirty second level load time. You won't even notice it without a stopwatch. Wouldn't even be worth the bother of setting up the RAID array. For comparison a Raptor might cut a second or two off that time while, in a best case scenario, and SSD can halve it.

My recommendation still stands just get a good normal hard drive, and sit down and wait for the SSDs to go down in price.

From what I heard RAID 0 is very fast in comparison to a regular good hard drive. Mind you the hard drives I'm getting are supposed to be very good ones. Your numbers seem inaccurate compared to what I have heard from other people.

Trust me my eyes are gazing the OCZ Vertex which are calling my name but I am just holding off.

 

[JoshOohAh]

I would look into getting two 640gig Blacks! Then short stroke them for speed!

What is short stroking? I have never had that explained to me.

 

[lugnat]

If you are looking at bang-for-the-buck then the Raptors don't make any sense either. They used to be worth their price premium in because they were the fastest you could get (outside of enterprise 15k stuff); the king of the hill. Just as getting the fastest graphics card or processor comes with a price premium much bigger than their performance advantage, the Raptors are priced much higher than their relative performance would suggest. In a world with SSDs the Raptors just aren't worth the cost anymore. A Raptor cut the access time in half compared to a normal hard drive, roughly. The access time of an SSD is a hundred times lower.

For a gamer RAID 0 isn't worth it either. You'll cut like half a second off a thirty second level load time. You won't even notice it without a stopwatch. Wouldn't even be worth the bother of setting up the RAID array. For comparison a Raptor might cut a second or two off that time while, in a best case scenario, and SSD can halve it.

My recommendation still stands just get a good normal hard drive, and sit down and wait for the SSDs to go down in price.

Although you are correct SSD's are the way to go I have 2 velociraptors in Raid 0 and I cut a lot more off than 1 second off load times.
For instance FEAR 2 on my 500 gig WD 32 meg cache loads it in about 25 to 28 seconds.. While my raid 0 (2 raptors) load in less than 10 seconds (can upload the video for proof!)

Do what you want to do though!

What you read though may be old! As the veloscirapttors (can never spell it right lol) are really overpriced as well per performance.
Will you be using hardware raid or software raid.. Now if your using hardware raid (controller card) then it would be worth it. But if your just using your motherboards onboard raid that makes it less desirable!

Short stroking is just that. Shortening your hard drives capacity and not using the rest.. Like say you get a 500 giger and only format 200 gigs of it and leave the rest alone.. Alas is short stroking..

And Raid 0 with software raid is not "very fast: in comparison.. lets say you get about 60mbs from a new hard drive.. In raid with the same hard drive you will get about 80 to 100 in real life apps not just in benchmarks.. Benchamarks will give you higher score but yo wont notice the difference in Raid 0 with regular drives until you start putting 4 to 6 together!

See my hard drive times in this test.. I should be getting around 400mbs with these raptors but getting no where neart it.. A couple more drives and sure I would get the kid of raid I would really notice in video editing..

TEST

 

[dgb303]

What is short stroking? I have never had that explained to me.

Explainage

 

[Marshmallow64]

I have experience with WD blacks and blues in Raid 0, raptors in raid 0, and now SSD. So here is what I think.

At this very moment in time, there is no reason at all to get velociraptors. The price/performance does not justify getting them when SSDs are out. The SSDs are like 6 times faster than the raptors, but only double in price. Since SSD is out of the question for you, then I would not get the raptor or an SSD.

The WD Blacks actually get the same benchmarks as the Veliciraptors other than access times. But they are the best overall for your situation.

Now for RAID 0, as a gamer it really does not do too much for you and in terms of real world performance I have never really noticed much difference when raiding other than transferring a lot of files.

If I were you I would just get a WD Black 500 GB, or 640 GB and use that until the prices for SSDs goes down which I predict in 2-3 years. Once you upgrade then move that WD Black to a storage drive position.

 

[JoshOohAh]

Explainage

This seems like I'm losing a lot of space. And I need a fair amount of storage for my files.

I have experience with WD blacks and blues in Raid 0, raptors in raid 0, and now SSD. So here is what I think.

At this very moment in time, there is no reason at all to get velociraptors. The price/performance does not justify getting them when SSDs are out. The SSDs are like 6 times faster than the raptors, but only double in price. Since SSD is out of the question for you, then I would not get the raptor or an SSD.

The WD Blacks actually get the same benchmarks as the Veliciraptors other than access times. But they are the best overall for your situation.

Now for RAID 0, as a gamer it really does not do too much for you and in terms of real world performance I have never really noticed much difference when raiding other than transferring a lot of files.

If I were you I would just get a WD Black 500 GB, or 640 GB and use that until the prices for SSDs goes down which I predict in 2-3 years.

I use my computer for things other than gaming though. It's not just about installing and opening games for me. It's about the overall speed of my computer when opening reading and writing other programs. I know in my mind I have it set I want and SSD but until those prices drop won't RAID 0 boost my overall hard drive performance?

 

[Marshmallow64]

I just took a look at your system specs. It is a hell of a system, your harddrive is what will bottle neck it.

 

[Marshmallow64]

RAID 0 will boost the overall performance, but I do not think its justified in terms of price to get two drives from scratch just to RAID 0. Seems like you have a good system that will last you a long time, I would highly consider tanking the $350 and getting a 120 gb SSD. It installs everything faster, loads windows faster, and loads games faster.

 

[JoshOohAh]

I just took a look at your system specs. It is a hell of a system, your harddrive is what will bottle neck it.

My current hard drive is bottle necking it That is why a new hard drive is a MUST!

 

[EarthDog]

I would say neither. Both 10k rpm raptors and RAID 0 hard drive arrays are band-aid solution for the IO problems that SSD fix, so in a computer with and SSD both the Velociraptor or the Caviar Black RAID 0 arrays would be a waste. They would both pale in comparison to the SSD.

What I would recommend is that you skip both the RAID 0 array and the Raptor and get a big, cheap hard drive instead. Then spends the extra money on getting a bigger, better SSD.

Depends on people's needs really. I would personally love a R0 array b/c the 60GB SSD I have doesnt allow me to install ALL of my games. If I cant have them on SSD, why not have them on R0 Caviar Blacks?????

R0 will help with large file reads more than anything as its throughput is huge compared to a single drive. R0 is good for boot times, game loads, and large file manipulation.

 

[JoshOohAh]

Depends on people's needs really. I would personally love a R0 array b/c the 60GB SSD I have doesnt allow me to install ALL of my games. If I cant have them on SSD, why not have them on R0 Caviar Blacks?????

Okay some I'm not the only one who has done this? Because everyone here is recommending not running RAID 0 if I'm gaming most of the time.

 

[Marshmallow64]

Raid 0 does help, but I think in your situation if your buying two new drives from scratch theres no need for it. I feel like you will waste money and regret it, since you will not see a super big difference from the seagate hd you have now.

I would rather get the 150 gb raptor for $150 than 2 wd blacks, unless I need a lot of storage space for games.

 

[JoshOohAh]

Raid 0 does help, but I think in your situation if your buying two new drives from scratch theres no need for it.

I would rather get the 150 gb raptor for $150 than 2 wd blacks, unless I need a lot of storage space for games.

The issue with that is the WD Blacks are cheaper if I get two 500GB (about $125). Also they don't sell the VRaptor 150gb in Canada under $200. So the Blacks are cheaper. Also from what I've been reading they are about the same speeds when compared to each other if not maybe by a few ms which no human eye can detect. Even that 75$ can go to the SSD foundation.

 

[Joeteck]

Two 640gig drives in RAID 0, will do the trick. These things are so fast, that you can short stroke them @ 200 gig each! And if you want ultimate speed 85gig each! 170gig boot partition! or a 400 gig partition!

 

[EarthDog]

Okay some I'm not the only one who has done this? Because everyone here is recommending not running RAID 0 if I'm gaming most of the time.

Situation dependent (as I said). I have a tiny SSD so I have no choice but to do something else. Thankfully I only currently have COD4 loaded so I dont need to worry about it.