Velociraptor 600GB vs. Crucial M4 SSD 128GB

[Ludicolo]

Hi guys, so i'm in the process of making a new system and i'm stuck on what to get for hard drives. I've built this system to be as quiet as possible without losing performance or looks.

I will be using a Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB for general storage, but i'm going to be putting my OS and games on another drive. I was wondering whether which one would be a better choice. They are both about the same price in my country (Australia).

I know the Crucial M4 is faster as it's an SSD, but it also has less than 1/4 of the space that the Velociraptor would provide. I play a lot of games have a lot of programs that I use, so the Velociraptor would be a plus there, plus i'm not TOO fussed about loading and boot times, the Velociraptor in my opinion would be fast enough for me, but I wanted to know your opinion.

Also, I read that the Velociraptor is a very quiet HDD, but if i'm not mistaken SSD's are silent right?

Thanks guys

Ludi

 

[RetiredChief]

The vast majority find that once they move to an SSD there is NO going back to a mechanical HDDs - Guess they Love it.

In terms of size: Optimum size is a 120/128 Gig SSD. In my systems (no games Installed) Windows + my programs take up about 30->35 Gigs. That would leave about 70 gigs free for games (Want to leave at least 10% of drive as "Free space".
80 gigs / size of game = Nr of games that can be installed.

Performance: Outside the Very fast boot time and program loads. If the game maps are on the SSD they will load faster, but game play (outside of loading new maps) you will see no difference.

Noise - SSD, no mechanical parts, No Noise. HDD, most are pretty quite when installed in a Case and fans running so may not hear. Note That the SSD will probably be lower power and less heat generated than a HDD. May therfore help in keeping inside of the case cooler which may allow fans to run slightly lower RPMs = less noice.

Reliability - Not good data (ie users using for 5 yrs), but SSD should be more reliable (ie upto the 5 yr point) again as No moving parts.

Choice - M4 a great choice (have two of them, one 128 gig M4 for OS + Programs and One 128 gig M4 as a work(data)/scratch disk. I have upgraded ALL my systems to an SSD - 2 desktops and two laptops.

 

[GhislainG]

Other than random access transfers (a 10K RPM drive has a much lower latency than a 7200 RPM drive), the Samsung F3 is faster than the VelociRaptor and it costs less; therefore the choice should be between the SSD and the Samsung F3.

 

[Ludicolo]

Thanks for the advice, guys. If I could, I would choose both of you as best answers sorry Ghislain!

 

[Ludicolo]

Best answer selected by Ludicolo.