HDD for gaming.

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I have a 74GB Raptor, but I want something performance wise not too big, say about 150 - 250 GB I don't store anything just gaming apps and patches.

The Raptor is a noisy beast but I do like the load times especially for on-line games.

Should I go for the 150 Raptors - or are WD bringing out any new Raptors ? - or, I hear that the samsungs are pretty good , just as fast at the Raptors ?

Your thoughts please.

Thanks in advance.
 
do games even access the hd during play? i mean, can't the game .exe and supporting files just be held in RAM?

or is this just to make things load quickly at the start?
 
Trunks9486 said:
the only things faster than raptors are raptors in raid 0 or Flash based hard disks...
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There are quite a few 7200rpm drives out there faster in terms of raw throughput than Raptors. The WD 7500AAKS, the Seagate 7200.11s and the Samsung 1TB drives are all noticeably faster, quieter and all-round better value unless you absolutely need low seek times.
 
I don't really see the point, as said the drive doesn't effect gaming in any major way, maybe slightly faster load times.

CPU, RAM and GFX will all effect gaming so much more.
 
Don't forget the Raptors are SCSI class with regards too build quality and reliability. You only need to handle one too see that they are built to last.
Also for OS/Program drives then spindle speed and low access times are far more important than transfer rate if you want a nice snappy/quick computer.
 
With Vista pre-caching a lot of stuff now I wonder if the difference is so obvious, any one noticed much benefit with a raptor in vista?
 
Minstadave said:
I don't really see the point, as said the drive doesn't effect gaming in any major way, maybe slightly faster load times.

CPU, RAM and GFX will all effect gaming so much more.
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Agreed. The money is better spent elsewhere in the majority of cases.
 
mosfet said:
Agreed. The money is better spent elsewhere in the majority of cases.
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Totally disagree!! The Hd in today’s PC's is still the slowest component and considering it's being accessed a lot in windows and when loading/running programs the speed of it is very important imho.
All my computers use 15k SCSI (Maxtor ATLAS II's and Seagate Cheetah 15K.5's) and whenever I use a friends, colleges ..etc normal computer (7.2k) the difference is massive and very frustrating.

People also think that SCSI is expensive but if you shop about you can get some great deals, my first 15K U320 setup cost about the same as a 74Gb Raptor for both the controller (Inc cable) and a 36Gb Atlas II :D
 
C4EVA said:
Totally disagree!! The Hd in today’s PC's is still the slowest component and considering it's being accessed a lot in windows and when loading/running programs the speed of it is very important imho.
All my computers use 15k SCSI (Maxtor ATLAS II's and Seagate Cheetah 15K.5's) and whenever I use a friends, colleges ..etc normal computer (7.2k) the difference is massive and very frustrating.

People also think that SCSI is expensive but if you shop about you can get some great deals, my first 15K U320 setup cost about the same as a 74Gb Raptor for both the controller (Inc cable) and a 36Gb Atlas II :D
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Hey C4EVA, could you post a HDTach image of your Seagate's? and do you have any in Raid0?
 
Temp_185 said:
Hey C4EVA, could you post a HDTach image of your Seagate's? and do you have any in Raid0?
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I don't use raid 0 as that obviously increases access time which is not good when i'm using it for OS. Can't be bothered to install hdtach but I have a benchmark of my atlas II 15k u320 kicking about somewhere, i'll have a look and post it if i can find it (not easy with 1.8+Tb of data :eek::p )

Here it is: Single 36Gb (£30 SH off fleabay) on an Adaptec 39320-A-R (BN £75 again off the bay)
maxtorir2.png
 
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C4EVA said:
I don't use raid 0 as that obviously increases access time which is not good when i'm using it for OS. Can't be bothered to install hdtach but I have a benchmark of my atlas II 15k u320 kicking about somewhere, i'll have a look and post it if i can find it (not easy with 1.8+Tb of data :eek::p )

Here it is: Single 36Gb (£30 SH off fleabay) on an Adaptec 39320-A-R (BN £75 again off the bay)
maxtorir2.png
Click to expand...

5.8 seek.....
Very nice C3EVA.

Makes me want to trade in my Raptor now. I have been using a 7200rpm drive for a few days and that wound me up after using a 10000rpm drive.
 
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