I am building a new computer, with the following parts:
* Core 2 Duo E6300
* Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3
* Asus X1950Pro
* OCZ 2x1Gb. PC2-6400 System Elite Dual Channel Kit
After a lot of reading, that was meant to clear my mind and make a decision, I have to admit I am more puzzled than before, hereby a few questions I look forward to find an answer to.
1.- Raptor, or not to Raptor? I was thinking about getting a Raptor X or the cheaper, regular 150Gb Raptor version. Are they significanlty more noisy than other drives, like the Seagate Barracuda 7200.10.16Mb.320Gb? Is their performance really noticeable for the everyday gaming? And that leads me to questin #2
2.- Single Raptor vs. 2xSeagate RAID 0 setup? I take the raid setup would yield a higher performance, and seeing that 2xRaptors on RAID 0 is out of reach for my budget, would the "cheaper" raid option be the best option?
3.- 2xSeagate RAID 0 vs. 1 single Seagate drive: will the double cost, agan, give a noticeable performance boost?
4.- The Seagate model I mentioned before, or a WD Caviar SE16WD3200KS? For any of the previous setups, that is.
To sum up, I'll add that I live in Spain and that I can get the Seagates much easier than the Raptors (no idea why shops don't include them in their catalogues, guess they are too expensive for regular customers?), and the prices are something like:
* Raptor X: 210€ - need to order at online shop, so add delivery.
* Raptor 150Gb: 205€ (so for 5€ I wouldn't mind getting the X... just that I don't really know the difference ^^) - again at online shop.
* Seagate Barracuda 7200.10.320Gb: 96€ - available at local shop.
* WD Caviar 320Gb: 97€ - available at local shop.
Sorry if this was too long and/or boring to read, any comment or information -maybe also related to the whole build- is more than welcome.
* Core 2 Duo E6300
* Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3
* Asus X1950Pro
* OCZ 2x1Gb. PC2-6400 System Elite Dual Channel Kit
After a lot of reading, that was meant to clear my mind and make a decision, I have to admit I am more puzzled than before, hereby a few questions I look forward to find an answer to.
1.- Raptor, or not to Raptor? I was thinking about getting a Raptor X or the cheaper, regular 150Gb Raptor version. Are they significanlty more noisy than other drives, like the Seagate Barracuda 7200.10.16Mb.320Gb? Is their performance really noticeable for the everyday gaming? And that leads me to questin #2
2.- Single Raptor vs. 2xSeagate RAID 0 setup? I take the raid setup would yield a higher performance, and seeing that 2xRaptors on RAID 0 is out of reach for my budget, would the "cheaper" raid option be the best option?
3.- 2xSeagate RAID 0 vs. 1 single Seagate drive: will the double cost, agan, give a noticeable performance boost?
4.- The Seagate model I mentioned before, or a WD Caviar SE16WD3200KS? For any of the previous setups, that is.
To sum up, I'll add that I live in Spain and that I can get the Seagates much easier than the Raptors (no idea why shops don't include them in their catalogues, guess they are too expensive for regular customers?), and the prices are something like:
* Raptor X: 210€ - need to order at online shop, so add delivery.
* Raptor 150Gb: 205€ (so for 5€ I wouldn't mind getting the X... just that I don't really know the difference ^^) - again at online shop.
* Seagate Barracuda 7200.10.320Gb: 96€ - available at local shop.
* WD Caviar 320Gb: 97€ - available at local shop.
Sorry if this was too long and/or boring to read, any comment or information -maybe also related to the whole build- is more than welcome.