Faster System Drive?

[IsenMike]

Looking into building a new box. I saw the Western Digital Raptor at Best Buy and went "Ooooh! 10,000 RPM! Fast!"
Now I'm at home actually researching all the new parts for the box, and it looks like the mobo I'd be getting will support SATA at 3.0Gb/s, whereas the Raptor is going to be only 1.5Gb/s.
BUT, I can't find any 10,000 RPM drives with the faster interface. (Am I just not looking hard enough?)

So the question is: which is going to make more difference for my OS drive? Faster RPM or faster interface?

 

[SparkyJJO]

currently HDs cannot really utilize the 3.0Gbps speeds so the 10K RPM drive would supposedly be faster. Only thing is 2 of my friends bought raptors and neither have been impressed. Personally I'd get a bigger 3.0Gbps drive and pocket the savings (almost $2 or so a gig for the raptor is a ripoff IMO)

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: SparkyJJO
currently HDs cannot really utilize the 3.0Gbps speeds so the 10K RPM drive would supposedly be faster. Only thing is 2 of my friends bought raptors and neither have been impressed. Personally I'd get a bigger 3.0Gbps drive and pocket the savings (almost $2 or so a gig for the raptor is a ripoff IMO)

The best part is most drives can't saturate the ATA100 connection

 

[Rommel44]

Raptor is faster - but not much - if you want good bang for buck go for Seagate 7200.10 drives - they are almost as fast as raptor.

 

[IsenMike]

Originally posted by: Rommel44
Raptor is faster - but not much - if you want good bang for buck go for Seagate 7200.10 drives - they are almost as fast as raptor.

I'm looking at these now... What the heck does "Perpendicular Recording" mean? It seems to be a main feature on some of these drives, but I've never heard of it.

 

[Bobthelost]

Originally posted by: IsenMike

Originally posted by: Rommel44
Raptor is faster - but not much - if you want good bang for buck go for Seagate 7200.10 drives - they are almost as fast as raptor.

I'm looking at these now... What the heck does "Perpendicular Recording" mean? It seems to be a main feature on some of these drives, but I've never heard of it.

Short, short version is that it lets you pack more data on each platter. Results in faster sustained read speeds but a bit slower seeks (tiny difference there though). It's the future and seagate got in there quicker than most.

I agree that the 7200.10 range are much better value for money, but sometimes you want performance at (nearly) any cost. Which is where the raptors are.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: IsenMike

Originally posted by: Rommel44
Raptor is faster - but not much - if you want good bang for buck go for Seagate 7200.10 drives - they are almost as fast as raptor.

I'm looking at these now... What the heck does "Perpendicular Recording" mean? It seems to be a main feature on some of these drives, but I've never heard of it.

It means that bits are stored in a vertical manner rather than horizontal. This allows surface density to increase.

Click here for highly scientific, technical background behind the technology

 

[IsenMike]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Click here for highly scientific, technical background behind the technology

Oh My God. That just made my morning. And confused the hell out of my girlfriend. LOL.

 

[Ausm]

I just one of these drives and I think right now is the best bang for the buck.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148140

 

[Segovia]

Originally posted by: Ausm
I just one of these drives and I think right now is the best bang for the buck.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148140

I just got one of these too. I like it a lot and it's very speedy, though it's a hair louder than the WD I was using prior to it. I don't find it intrusive, but perhaps some folks would.