Two 500 GB Caviar Black Raid 0 or 150 GB Velociraptor?

[95RapidRiot]

I am putting together a new system to run Vista Ultimate 64 bit. I am going to run 8 GB of Ram and I have a GTX 280 Video Card. My CPU on water cooling will be the E8400.

I play some games, watch some short video clips, fix photos, and browse. Nothing too serious. I already have a new Caviar Black. I am wondering if it is worth it to run two in Raid 0 or get a 150 GB Velociraptor. I was running the regular 150 Raptor with XP Pro 32 bit.

I just want everything to be quicker. Any and all advice appreciated!

THANKS!

[Brahmzy]

First of all don't get the 500GB drives. The 640GB drives are a lot faster due to platter density. Even 2 WD6400AAKS would be faster than 2 500GB Blacks. $60 free shipping on NewEgg too. These drives are stellar.

RAID0 will give you more of snappy user experience than a single VR. Yes, the VR's access speeds are better, but you can short stroke the 2 in RAID0 to get close. With RAID0, you game level load times will almost be cut in half, boot times will decrease substantially etc. Large file copies (read and/or write) will be a lot faster in RAID0. Go RAID0 IMO.

This is coming from a guy that had 3 300GB Velociraptors in RAID0. I'd rather have 2 slightly slower drives in R0 than a slightly faster single drive any day.

[TheParadox2]

I have the WD 640's im pretty pleased with them too. I only have one thou, so i can't talk about how they perform in raid0

In RAID, your pretty much get twice the throughput, thats something the VR's can't give you. While the VR will give you faster access time, both the VR drive and WD drive have 16mb of cache. Going R0 is going to double your cache and should improve access times... ;)

I agree with brahmzy, i'd rather have 2 medium speed disks in raid, than a single, disk... and that cache will make a difference. Im looking to get some (2, maybe 3) WD RE3 (blue series?)1TB drives with the 32MB cahce and put it on a 5405.

[95RapidRiot]

Thanks for the Help!

I thought the 500 GB Black was faster than 640 GB Black. I was sure I read that some place. I could be wrong.:confused: I did a lot of reasearch before buying that size.

[EniGmA1987]

Doesnt the 500GB have two, 250GB platters? And the 640GB has two, 320GB platters? So the only real difference should be the platter density, which would make the 640GB a bit faster...

[95RapidRiot]

Just another thought. What about two RE3 WD 250/320 GB in Raid 0?

Then I would use my 500 GB Black as storage.

THANKS AGAIN!

[techguy2k5]

Gonna throw my two cents into the pot for the 640GB Caviar Blues as well. Just picked up two of em @ MicroCenter for $70 each. Running as individual drives (one for OS & apps and the other for file storage). No need for RAID, these things already fly on their own.

[Brahmzy]

Just another thought. What about two RE3 WD 250/320 GB in Raid 0?

Then I would use my 500 GB Black as storage.

THANKS AGAIN!

Just get 2 WD6400AAKS's n be done man.

[mikey063]

I found WD6400AAKS at zipzoomfly (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10008688&prodlist=froogle) For $64.99

I have not bought from them before, but for that price I might also buy 2.

[Brahmzy]

I found WD6400AAKS at zipzoomfly (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10008688&prodlist=froogle) For $64.99

I have not bought from them before, but for that price I might also buy 2.

Get 'em. Great price, great vendor. They pack their HDDs better than NewEgg too.

[mikey063]

Get 'em. Great price, great vendor. They pack their HDDs better than NewEgg too.


There out of stock right now, but I hope they will be back in stock this Friday.

[95RapidRiot]

I ended up getting two Velociraptor 80GB Drives for a
Raid 0. Then I will use my 500 GB Caviar Black as storage.

This will be my first try at Raid 0. I am currently researching whether to get a Raid Card or not. I have the Gigabyte EP45-DS3R.

THANKS!