To Raptor or not to Raptor??

[Lavacon]

Hello folks,

I am running a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive. I have been wanting to upgrade it for over a year now and I think I am ready to break down and buy a 150 GB WD Raptor drive. I know the raptor has been out for a while, and I am not sure if it is at the end of its production life. I have not heard anything about a NEW Raptor either. Is this drive still worth buying? Should I just wait and see what come out over the summer? I only need this drive for game installs and my basic programs including my OS. All other files are stored externally. Speed is all I am looking for. Any input would be appreciated.



Thanks!!!

 

[rgeist554]

I personally think it would be a waste. A nice 500GB 7200.11 seems like a much smarter investment, but that's just me.

 

[bobbknight]

Get the Seagate 7200.11 32MB cache hard drive series, they are as fast as the Raptors are and have more capacity at a lower cost.
The Raptor, is just not worth it now.



Rattus Viola: Sino non they quisnam operor non have scientia futurus vestri rector.

 

[jeremyrailton]

I ran raptors for a while, but couldn't tell much of a difference, besides the noise. It made Windows boot a bit faster, that's all. I sold them and got a 750gig drive that holds everything and is pretty much as fast.

 

[Lavacon]

That seagate will be good for gaming loads and file read/writes?? Capacity is not an issue here. Just speed

 

[grieve]

Get the Seagate 7200.11 32MB cache hard drive series, they are as fast as the Raptors are and have more capacity at a lower cost.
The Raptor, is just not worth it now.

the above quote should read:
They are ALMOST as fast as the Raptors and have more capacity at a lower cost.


The price/performace difference makes the Seagate 7200.11 32MB cache hard drives the obvious choice...
Unless the following is you:
1) money is not a concern.
2) your rig is top notch, If you are running high end everything, why stop short, get the Raptor, it is faster.

 

[StevieD]

From a Raptor Owner.

Get the Seagate 500GB 7200.11 . 99% as fast. Quieter. Lower cost. Greater Capacity.

WD, Sammy, Hitachi and Toshiba if they don't already have identical drives as the Seagate 500GB 7200.11 they will have within the next few weeks or months.

Bottom line: The Raptor is last years technology. This years technology is as good for less $.

 

[4745454b]

Seeing as this is for gaming, whats the rest of the computer look like? Upgrading the harddrive isn't going to give you any more frames per second, nor will it allow you to increase the resolution, etc. Unless you are already running 2GBs of ram, an 8800, and a nice dual core, I wouldn't bother with this.

The 7200.11s are very fast. I to would use one over the raptor.

 

[Lavacon]

PC P&C Silencer 750
4x1 GB Patriot PC2 6400
C2D e6600
Evga 8800 GTS 640 Superclocked
Asus P5N-Sli Upgrading to an Asus X48 Rampage Formula or Msi X48c In march hopefully....or if the 790 Nvidia is good, I'll do that for SLI...
SB X-treme Gamer
Thermaltake Armor Plus Full Tower

Definitly not Top Notch, but not bad either, I'm not bothering with Quad core yet. My e6600 has plenty of life left to give

 

[nman729]

what if you jsut want a drive to put the os on. would this increse performance at all?

 

[grieve]

Using a seperate drive for the OS will increase performance, as multiple hard drives can be accessed at one time.
OS on one, Apps and stuff on another.

A 100-200GIG Seagate 7200.11 32MB would be just nice for an OS.

 

[NeedAV8]

I went through the same thought process you are going through about a year ago. I went with the 150GB Raptor and a 200GB Maxtor. I already had a 74GB one and loved it. The 150 is nice also. If I had to do it again today, I would probably go with one of the latest higher capacity drives. They come close, and in some cases beat the Raptors performance. People seem to like their Seagates. If speed is really your ONLY consideration, go with one of the new SSD's (MTRON comes to mind). Far to rich for my blood. My suggestion on a HDD is to get an OEM version so as not to cut yourself short on warranty.

 

[4745454b]

You do have a decent computer, so now you can get the "rich boy" toys. (I get tired of people wanting to set up AID0 arrays and they are using a 7900GS, etc...) You need to decide where you want to see the improvement.

If you are tired of waiting so long to load a level, then a newer drive will help. (overclocking your CPU will help to.) If you want to see more FPS, the new drive won't help. You'd have to get one of the new 8800GT's for that. I'm still not convinced that the Raptor is the right way to go. The new 7200.11s are very fast, and have much more space. If you are a media nut like myself, I would never get a 150GB drive. (I've bought two drives this last month, both were 320GB.) If you decide you want the decrease in load times, take a long look at the 7200.11s before you get the Raptor.

 

[systemlord]

I wonder when Western Digital will comeout with a newer faster Raptor 2, or even if they have plans for a replacement. Raptor arn't the fastest anymore, but there not slow either.

 

[Lavacon]

Thats kinda what I am waiting for.... I buy a raptor.. then bam... the Raptor 2 hits retail...

I am wanting faster lvl loads, so the drive is going to help with that. It will help out in the latency department as well.

As for OC... not a chance on my current board, But on a X48 I'll probably shoot for 3GHz ++

Thanks for all the feedback

 

[turtle1]

Seagate 500GB 7200.11 or a WD 500GB drive. Would not buy a Raptor today (and I have five of them in three machines!)

 

[night_wolf_in]

dont raptor. it is kinda waste.

 

[sailer]

I wonder when Western Digital will comeout with a newer faster Raptor 2, or even if they have plans for a replacement. Raptor arn't the fastest anymore, but there not slow either.

From what I've read, WD is working on a 15,000 RPM Raptor with SATA 2 to replace the present Raptor line. Whether or when the new style Raptors come out is anybody's guess at the moment.

I have a Raptor 150 myself and so far I like it. Its a bit noisier than either my Seagates or other WD hard drives, but faster for loading the OS and games. That said, if I was to buy a new Hard drive for holding the OS today, I would pick a Seagate. The Seagate may be a touch slower, but its a lot cheaper for way more capacity.

 

[bobbknight]

the above quote should read:
They are ALMOST as fast as the Raptors and have more capacity at a lower cost.

Oki Doki; Lets say it this way.

A Raptor hard drive is almost as fast as the 7200.11 32MB cache Seagate hard drive series, except in one test parameter, where it does marginally beat the Seagate 7200.11 series.

So buying a Raptor is just fapp fapp fapp. Or mental masturbation just to be kewl.



Rattus Viola: Sino non they quisnam operor non have scientia futurus vestri rector.

 

[chedrz]

I've got a friend who's raptor just died. Had it for about 8 months, didn't run his computer that often, either. But the other day, everything just went black, and it won't boot back up. He's obviously sending it back to WD, but he was thinking about getting another raptor to RAID. I showed him the light...the new WD's that read/write faster than raptors, the Seagates, the scores on THG...

...And now he feels like an idiot for spending nearly $200 on a Raptor.

Get a Seagate 7200.11 or Western Digital WD7500AAKS. Cheaper than a Raptor, more capacity than a Raptor, quieter than a Raptor, and performance on par with (or better than) a Raptor.

 

[sailer]

...And now he feels like an idiot for spending nearly $200 on a Raptor.

I'm very glad that I got my Raptor on sale, about $150 including shippping. If it had been around $200, I would have skipped it. But I also bought it in the past when other drives were still playing the catch up game. They were good, bigger, and cheaper, but they just were noticably slower. Times have changed.

 

[Lavacon]

That 15,000 Rpm Raptor on SATA2 sounds tasty
Too bad that will be years away....

I agree, time have changed... they are selling old tech at a crazy markup for the name and access times....

Eggs Got a 7200.11 500gb + 4gb flash drive for 120 shipped, I am thinking I will just order that and hope a really really fast drive comes out someday.

 

[sailer]

A 15,000 RPM Raptor with SATA 2 may not be that far away. SCSI drives of 15,000 RMP have been around for while, so its more a matter of adapting and updating a SCSI drive to desktop use than anything else. The real determination will be if WD feels that the expense is worth the sales potential. If the problems of noise and heat could be dealt with, I would indeed like such a drive.

 

[Alex843]

I own a raptor 150. The thing is loud, very loud, and I don't notice a difference in performance over a normal hard drive. I would much rather have bought another 500 gb instead and saved some money.

 

[tjhva]

Why is this still a topic?

Seriously.