VelociRaptor?

I am building a new system and I would like to have a fast hard drive! I am wondering if Western Digital's VelociRaptor models are the way to go. The 300 GB model seems quite pricey at $230, but if that's the cost of performance then I am willing to pay it.
However, the cost must be justified. Does this drive really thrash 7200 RPM HD's? Is there a high-performance/low-cost alternative to the VelociRaptors?

Your input is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

really, its not too much faster than the western digital black 640gb model

36Gig VelociRaptors? running for 4 years?
Raptors maybe, but not VelociRaptors.

Intel X25-M does alot better in random writing than the HDD, although its sequential write speed is only 75MB/s, this tells nothing about the TRUE performance with software writing, where things like latency and IOps are much more important. The X25-M does very well in these, and future SSDs will totally blast HDDs off the performance charts. This already happens in random read operations (30.000 IOps for the SSD, 100-200 for the HDD).

A "tiered" approach makes the most sense.
A long and complex backup can be done
while you are at lunch, or in the shower

The MOST frequently accessed files should be cached in RAM,
e.g. using a reliable product like RamDisk Plus from
www.superspeed.com .

The latest version utilizes unmanaged Windows memory
under 32-bit XP, so bulk up on RAM e.g. 4GB or 8GB.

We recently created a 2GB ramdisk on a client's
new AMD dual-core machine, with XP/Pro x32:
WORKS GREAT!

We've moved our browser caches to ramdisks with
great success: this also offloads the hard drive
that would otherwise host these browser caches.

Also, a second, fast HDD is a good place to host
the Windows swap file pagefile.sys if you
don't have enough RAM to host it in a ramdisk.

Check out the freeware "Contig" program:
you'll need to create a new pagefile.sys
as the very first file on a newly formatted partition --
ideally the first partition on a second HDD
so as to effect "short strokes" of the armature.

Then, change the attributes:

attrib pagefile.sys +A +S +H

(easy to remember: "ASH" )

Then, go into "My Computer"
and move the swap file to that
newly created and totally contiguous
swap file.

Then, confirm its location on that
new partition by using the Windows
DEFRAG program: the swap file will
be colored green after "analyzing"
that partition with the DEFRAG program.

MRFS