1x WD Raptor 150GB or 2x WD Raptor 74GB in RAID 0

[RichardL]

Hi,

I am considering two options for my primary boot HD. I will install all my software on this drive for fastest load times, but all important data will go on a mirrored (RAID 1) storage drive.
PC is primarily for gaming. Mobo will be eVGA 680i SLI.

Does any one have any opinion on which of these gives better price to performance ratio?

Either:

1x 150GB WD Raptor at $224.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustratingReview.asp?Item=N82E16822136012

or

2x 74GB WD Raptors in RAID 0 at $319.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136033

Thanks,

 

[casemods]

Well the RAID option will obviously be faster sine both hard drives have the same speed and cache.

 

[chuckshissle]

The 74Gb raid 0 is faster than one 150Gb Raptor. Go for the 74Gb Raptor raid 0 124K stripping size for maximum performance. I have two 74Gb Raptor raid 0 124K and gets around 115Mb/s average read speed. A 250Gb 7200 hd will get around 50Mb/s read average.

 

[RichardL]

Sweet...
Thanks Chuckshissle

I think it's worth the extra $95 then....

 

[chuckshissle]

Well I'm using 2 74Gb Raptor, mainly for gaming. Some would argue that it's not worth getting it but if you want to boot faster and load games faster as well, then this is it. The performance increase-to-money ratio is very low but it makes booting and loading quicker nonetheless.

 

[casemods]

I just found a 6 gig IDE hard drive, I'm using it for virtual memory 8)

 

[quantumsheep]

Sweet...
Thanks Chuckshissle

I think it's worth the extra $95 then....

Put it simply, yes.

 

[TabrisDarkPeace]

I just found a 6 gig IDE hard drive, I'm using it for virtual memory 8)

So when you need to page you get 12ms+ seeks and around 10 - 25 MB/sec DTR. :lol: :? 8O :?:

 

[casemods]

I just found a 6 gig IDE hard drive, I'm using it for virtual memory 8)

So when you need to page you get 12ms+ seeks and around 10 - 25 MB/sec DTR. :lol: :? 8O :?:

It's working a lot faster then having 1000mb of virtual memory on the same hard drive/partition as windows

right? :?

 

[TabrisDarkPeace]

Only if the HDD in question is been absolutely thrashed while it is paging to the older/slower 6 GB.

The logic works, but only if all your HDDs have identical performance stats.

 

[exisnet]

I bought these recertified Raptors from newegg $104.99 ea. Only 8M cache.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136067

 

[Guest]

Sweet, I am getting 2X36 gig, 70gig is plenty for my OS/apps/games.

Do you have any good read on the stripping size influence?

 

[casemods]

Sweet, I am getting 2X36 gig, 70gig is plenty for my OS/apps/games.

Do you have any good read on the stripping size influence?

What's stripping size?

I have a SATA 80gig, with a like spec' 40gig IDE for the virtual memory...

On the 80gig I have 2 40gig partitions, one for OS, one for stuff I keep after I format.

 

[Dahak]

Well a single 150 will give you more space initialy,but 2 74's will run faster in raid 0 configuration by a fair margine.Goodluck.

Dahak

AMD X2-4400+@2.4 S-939
EVGA NF4 SLI MB
2X EVGA 7800GT CO IN SLI
2X1GIG DDR IN DC MODE
WD300GIG HD
EXTREME 19IN.MONITOR 1280X1024
ACE 520WATT PSU
COOLERMASTER MINI R120

 

[geofelt]

Go to storagereview.com for some extensive hard drive benchmarks. The bottom line is that the single raptor 150 is the best performer for the single user system. The value of raid 0 is marginal at best.

 

[Guest]

Most people who used Raid 0 system will agree with me, at least I think.

Raid 0 has a really smooth feel to it. Be it only multi tasking or loading games it seam that benchmark don't always translate that.

That being said is is pretty expensive, requires a little trouble during installation of window. And if a hd dies well everything does.

Anyway I am still goign for it =).

 

[TabrisDarkPeace]

Stripe size, for 2 x 36 GB at 10,000 rpm with small diameter platters.

I'd be using 64 KB or 128 KB.

The ideal mechanical size would prob be 'above' 96 KB, but that isn't an option.

Search forums for 'stripe and RAID' should get some OK hits (I've posted about it a few times before).

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the heads up, almost always left this at auto not being quite sure what would be better. Also my usage being a mix of I/O intensive / large transfer I didn't know if it would really matter.