Buying new PC, which raptor drives are better??

[fusella1]

My new pc will either have an athlon64 3.2 or an fx-51 cpu in it. Motherboard will be asus, probably SK8V.

Now I would like to know whether it would be better to have 4 36GB SATA WD Raptor drives in RAID 0 - or 2 74GB SATA WD Raptor drives in RAID 0?

Also, would a 380w PSU from an Antec Sonata case be suitable for such a powerful setup?
As per normal, the system will have the most powerful gaming video card available and usual stuff like cdr-rw, floppy, soundblaster audigy 2 platinum pro.

Any other suggestions on setups would be much appreciated.

Thanx

 

[sjonnie]

LOL!

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[Vapor]

2x 74GB Raptors will be the better config, but I'd get one 74GB Raptor (obviously nonRAIDed) and a larger drive (IIRC, Hitachi's 7k250 250GB drive is about the same price) for just 'stuff.'

I'd go for the 3400+, personally.

Use the money you'll save off the FX-51 to get a good PSU, I'd recommend a Fortron 530W (though you shouldn't need that much power, but heck, it's only $70ish).

Most powerful gaming card: 9800XT, but R42X and NV40 are going to be released in March/April/May, you might want to get a cheaper card in the meantime (9600XT--still get HL2 and good performance) and upgrade then.

Unless you need the extra ports and connections on the Platinum Pro, just get the regular Audigy 2 ZS...it has better sound quality and still has 7.1.

Maxtor disgraces the six letters that make Matrox.

 

[silverpig]

4 drives = tons of power + tons of heat + tons of noise.

Some day I'll be rich and famous for inventing a device that allows you to stab people in the face over the internet.

 

[fusella1]

whats so "LOL!" about that sjonnie??? I checked out your PC's and they're nothing special. In fact they're outdated.

ohh, and Thanks Vapor

 

[Vapor]

No problem...you can reply to people directly, just click the button at the top-right of their dialog box.

Maxtor disgraces the six letters that make Matrox.

 

[sjonnie]

whats so "LOL!" about that sjonnie???

Oh nothing sorry, it's just my perverse sense of humour. Now that I've stopped laughing and in answer to your question I can say that 4 36GB raptors in RAID0 have the potential to give higher continuous read/write performance than two WD740GD drives, about 160MB/s vs 100MB/s. Good luck.

checked out your PC's and they're nothing special. In fact they're outdated.

Yep, the PC I use everyday for all my work as a bioinformatician contains a PIII processor. OMG how do I even manage?! I'm sure you're PC will kick my PC's ass (if it can find it).

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/myanandtech.html?member=114979" target="_new">My PCs</A>

 

[silverpig]

But SATA only does 150 MB/s...

Some day I'll be rich and famous for inventing a device that allows you to stab people in the face over the internet.

 

[HammerBot]

LOL. Obviously the 160 MB/s doesn't all go through the same cable.

<i><b>Engineering is the fine art of making what you want from things you can get</b></i>

 

[fusella1]

ok ok. now you guys are divided. some are saying that the 2 74's are better and some saying the 4 36's are better.
Could you guys give explantions why you chose a particluar setup.
Currently I am more inclined to go 2 74GB drives.

Thanx guyz.

 

[Vapor]

I chose 2 74s for access time/reliabilty/noise/heat/less ports used/simplicity. Massive continuous transfer rates won't be noticed (especially when the 2x 74GB drives already provide a stunning amount) in comparison to better access times. I still recommend 1 74GB and 1 250GB, BTW.

Maxtor disgraces the six letters that make Matrox.