WD Black, WD VelociRaptor, or SSD?

[Xtrastor]

Hi guys, I'm about to finish a new PC rig, and the only thing left is the Hard Drives, I want to use RAID 0 configuration (it seems if gives better performace) between my HDD's, but I don't know which ones should I choose, my options are:
-2 WD Black 1TB 64mb cache in RAID 0 config
-1 WD VelociRaptor 600GB 32mb cache (depends on the price)
-1 SSD 80-120GB (depends on the price)

Now, is there too much difference between them?, would I get a lot of better performance if I have SSD's than WD Black?...

The problem right now is the money, I've spend a lot in other things and I dont have too much left for HDD's, but I really want good performance, could 2 Black in RAID 0 be enough?
What would you guys do in this case?

Thanks

 

[silversurfernhs]

Go with SSD's for main drives in raid and 1 or two spanned 2tb blacks for storage or what have you - i regret not putting at least 1 SSD in my 3k+ build

There's a huge difference - not that this matters, but on a side note - it pisses me off that wei wont go above 5.9 for a mechanical drive but an ssd will - like i said this doesnt matter much...

boot times and loading windows/ main disk + certain games (mafia 2 gta iv - ie games with a lot of streaming geometry/ textures) will benefit

i went with 4 wd blacks 2-2tb 2-1.5tb but i can drop in 2 (SSDs) more on the sata6 chipset

they are the most expensive more so little space and thats why i chose not to get them (because i would have bought a realy expensive one considering my 3k+build)

but even a mid or low range one that got good reviews would have been fine, but for now i wont get them until they've got about 5 or 600gb drives that are affordable because my main drive with everything i need and want installed comes out to about ~550GB

 

[buwish]

I agree. Shoot for the SSD, as I think you'll be happier in the end. I have a V.Raptor and while it's no slouch, a few tech minded friends have SSD's in their machines and in comparison, they are "zippier."

LOL, I agree with your side note silver surfer. It's outrageous that W7 doesn't give a higher rating to performance mechanical drives. Subliminal marketing perhaps?

 

[runningbot]

SSDs have much faster read times, which means your os and apps will boot up faster and your game data will load in faster. That said their write times aren't anything impressive over a 1000k mechanical drive. There are other things to consider as well beyond just speed. SSDs are quiet, use less power, give off less heat and now have potentially longer life spans. An SSD is a good investment for a number of reasons. The only thing they suffer at (which is slowly changing) is the cost per GB arena.

 

[Xtrastor]

Thanks for your answers guys.

As I said before, I wont be able right now to RAID 0 2 SSD's because of the price, I would barely just buy one SSD or 1 VelociRaptor, now... What could be the performance of 1 velociRaptor (600GB SATA 6gb/s) VS 2 WD Black (1TB 64mb cache SATA 6gb/s)???... OR... What could be the performance of 1 SSD (80-120GB SATA 3gb/s) VS 2 WD Black (1TB 64mb cache SATA 6gb/s)???

I've seen some people saying that this Black Edition HDD's (WD BLACK) work fantastic, but I'm not sure if they're going to be just like the same as velociraptor or SSD (remember that if I choose this ones, they're NOT GOING to be in raid 0), or too slower.

Thanks again

 

[RetiredChief]

If possible go for the 1 SSD Plus a HDD if you can afford it.
SSD - 0.1 to 0.2 mSec access vs 9 - > 12 mSec for HDD
From 10 to 40 x faster for 4 K random read writes than HDD

Raid 0 will boost the sequencial read/writes and come close to a SSD. But Raid0 does not improve random read/writes (Ok SMALL gain) and does not improve access time. It is the Access time and 4k Random reads that are important for boot time and program load times. Sequencial improves load time of Large files that are "laid" in line (Sequencial). (PS I've used Raid0 almost exclussively for the last 10 Years, My last build, I5-750 with intel G2 80 gig SSD, is the first time since 2000 that I've opted not to use Raid0).

Added: For thoes complaining about 5.9 as a max for HDD. What do you think it should be when a SSD is only rated at from 7 to 7.8 considering that a SSD (Generation 2 or later) is considerably faster, and with SATA 6 out and SATA 6 SSDs are starting to appear that will be limited to 7.9. I know SATA 6 HHDs are out, BUT SATA 6 does does nothing for mechanical HDD with on exception - burst times. There are some combo drives, small SSD coupled with a HDD that MAY benifit.

 

[RetiredChief]

I have a SATA 6 WD 1 TB drive on a SATA 6 Controller - It's a joke. ONLY benifit is in burst. My Sata II SSD blows it away.

Don't worry about placing two SSDs in raid0 (You lose win 7 trim). Get the One SSD and 1 WD. Down stream you can get the second SSD and put it in raid0 if you still feel you need to.

 

[Xtrastor]

RetiredChief, awesome answer, Thank you so much!!!

Now can you explain me what WIN 7 Trim means?, or what trim means ...

And what brand, or which SSD would you recommend me to buy?... do you think this is the right time for buying it?, or should I wait a little bit more for the prices to go down? (I'm just a student so, It's not very easy to do lots of money these days xD).


PD: I have to think in a big SSD, cause I'm a gamer and I usually need a lot of space for my installed games, and also normal programs...

 

[runningbot]

I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong RetiredChief that Trim in Win 7 helps extend the life of SSDs by having them erase data only when they actually need to as well as writing sequentially over data that the user has "deleted" but the information hasn't been physically "zeroed". Do I understand that correctly?

However if you Raid 0 the SSDs everything has to by identical on both drives eliminating the possibility of Win 7 using the Trim command on the drives. This would result in more ware on the drives.

 

[Wamphryi]

Just to add to the discussion I have a WD Velicoraptor as the system drive and two WD Velicoraptors in RAID 0 for a scratch drive. I have two Seagate Barracudas 500 GB in RAID 1. As a test I copied a large amount of Data to both RAID setups to see what would happen. Copying to the RAID 0 Velicoraptors meant a sustained transfer rate of 110 MB second. The copy to the Barracudas started off at 110 MB a second but swiftly dropped to a sustained 40 MB second. So the Velicoraptors manage to perform well and offer a lot more gigs of storage. So I dont regret them. The RAID 0 outstrips the single Raptor 1% of the time in terms of real world computing. Also with SSD watch out. I have heard that there is a stuttering issue with many SSD's when the OS reads small random bits of data on the system drive. This type of use is typical of a great deal of your computing experience. Personally I would go with a Velicoraptor. Proven technology, not bad in price and much better in capacity. SSD has a little way to go in my opinion.

 

[RetiredChief]

(1) Stuttering - Yes, primarily SSDs that used the Jmicron controller. Not an issue with intel, Indilinx, SF controllers.

(2) Good explanation of trim cmd
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIM

As to Choice, I'd be confortable with most Generation 2 (Using the controllers I mentioned above. I have installed a 128 Gig Torqx (Laptop), a 80 Gig Intel G2 (desktop) and a 80 Gig Intel G1 (laptop - Have a WD Blue 128 Gig inhand to replace the G1).
If you can spring for it (And Yes I do think you can catch some good sales in the coming Months) the Vortex-2 would be a excellent choice - hopefully the New SATA 6's will drive the SATA-IIs down in price..
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3812/the-ssd-diaries-crucials-realssd-c300/2
Wamphryi - To really improve Raid0 performance, check out Short Stroke. The last pair of drives I put into a Raid0 conf was a pair of WD 640 Blacks which I only used about 400 gigs. It decreased Access time from 12 mSecs to approx 9.x mSec. But you lose (Waste) a lot of space.

 

[Wamphryi]

Hi Chief,

I will check that out thanks.

 

[Xtrastor]

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