Confused, Need Advice on Raptor

[Chimera6586]

I want to have a Raptor in my new computer to take advantage of the performance.
I want to use my new computer for gaming, and I want the Raptor to increase my gaming experience.
However I also need to use the computer for everyday stuff and college things (i.e powerpoints, word, excel...)

If I were to get (1) 74GB Raptor 10,000RPM and (1) 160GB 7,200RPM


How would that work? What stuff would I put on which Hard Disk?

On which Hard Drive would I install:

1.) My Games? (i.e Crysis, Doom 3, Supreme Commander, WOW...)
2.) My OS? (Vista Ultimate)
3.) Microsoft Office
4.) Matlab and Maple and AutoCad
5.) 3dMark
6.) iTunes
7.) Firefox
8.) Word Documents, Excel Spreadsheet, etc...


Hopefully you know what I'm confused about at this point.
How does having a Raptor increase your performance? Do all of my games need to be installed on it, or only the OS?


I just want the best gaming experience using a Raptor, but also be able to store everyday things.


Thanks for the help

 

[unatommer]

If I were to get (1) 74GB Raptor 10,000RPM and (1) 160GB 7,200RPM
I have two raptors running in Raid 0 and a 320GB secondary drive...

How would that work? What stuff would I put on which Hard Disk?
I only have my OS, Games and Programs installed in the RAID, ALL of my DATA is stored on the secondary drive (Music, pictures, ISO's, MPEGs, etc.)

On which Hard Drive would I install:
1.) My Games? (i.e Crysis, Doom 3, Supreme Commander, WOW...)
2.) My OS? (Vista Ultimate)
3.) Microsoft Office
4.) Matlab and Maple and AutoCad
5.) 3dMark
6.) iTunes
7.) Firefox
8.) Word Documents, Excel Spreadsheet, etc...
Install everything on your Raptor except for your data (excluding game saves)

Hopefully you know what I'm confused about at this point.
How does having a Raptor increase your performance? Do all of my games need to be installed on it, or only the OS?
To be honest, a raptor does not boost actual game performance (as in FPS)...it helps SOME with load times, but not that much since the load times are partially because the cpu is doing a lot of work...a raptor will give your system an overall perky feel when you are doing anything and will be much faster at loading windows and most programs (loading game levels are different...perhaps someone else can touch on this)

I just want the best gaming experience using a Raptor, but also be able to store everyday things.
Are you on a budget? If so, maybe the raptor is something you would consider adding later? If this is a new build and you are skimping on the CPU, I would recommend spending the extra money on the CPU and also spending the extra $10-$15 to get a 320GB drive over a 160.

Hope that was more than clear as mud.

-Tom

 

[jaguarskx]

The raptor will only reduce the time it takes to load and save a game.

IT WILL NOT INCREASE FRAME RATES!!!!!

 

[Jaevric]

Vista Ultimate is pretty big, isn't it? Add in a bunch of high-end games and a 74 gig Raptor is going to fill up pretty fast. Your data drive, at 160 gigabytes, isn't all that huge either.

I'd almost say skip the Raptor and get a bigger hard drive, period. I'm using a 150gig Raptor myself, but I had the money to blow on it and a 500 gig "data" drive. I will say my boot time is very fast, but I don't know if that's because of the Raptor or the rest of the system.

 

[rubix_1011]

I have a 74gb Raptor. I have been impressed, but MUCH more so when I went from IDE to the Raptor. Now...its on par with other 7200rpm SATA drives in most cases. I would say a cheap RAID0 setup would do you better, provide better performance, much more drive space and for less cost. The only way you can justify a Raptor is to have 2 of them in RAID. Otherwise, cheaper disks in RAID or just a bigger drive will serve you better. The cost doesn't justify the performance and lack of disk space. But, if money is not an issue...they are the best until you go to SCSI.

 

[tjoepie]

Don't forget the new faster and bigger (300Gb) velociraptor will be sold next month. Some sites have preorder already. It will be about 300$.
There is a tom's good review...