Looking for 2 new HD's for a RAID Setup

[RyanGrob]

So it's about time I get into RAID and I want to do it the right way. I am a gamer so speed is an issue. I don't mind if the HD tends to be noising when reading/writing data. I've been looking into getting 2 - 74 GB Raptors with 16 MB cache. I will be putting these in RAID 0 (if you didnt know by now ) Is there any other SATA HD's that will outperform the Raptors in RAID 0? Any advice would be appreciated Thank you!

 

[brikis98]

the newest WD raptors will be the fastest for your needs, especially the 150GB ones. the newest 7200.10 (perpendicular recording) drives come fairly close, but for the most part, the raptor is still king.

however, i just wanted to warn you that the ONLY place you'd really notice a speed increase with faster hard drives is that games (and your OS) will load faster... you WILL NOT get more fps in your games and unless you do hard drive intensive tasks (video editing, multiuser environments), you won't notice any other difference. moreover, having two drives in RAID 0 doubles your chances of a drive failure causing all data to be lost but the performance increase is no where near double. you are also adding more noise/heat to your system using raptors.

so, IMO, the money would be MUCH better spent on a faster video card, more/faster RAM, or a faster CPU. if your system is already maxed out and you still have money to burn, go for it... but for gaming, i think it's a waste of money...

 

[SuperNaruto]

Originally posted by: RyanGrob
So it's about time I get into RAID and I want to do it the right way. I am a gamer so speed is an issue. I don't mind if the HD tends to be noising when reading/writing data. I've been looking into getting 2 - 74 GB Raptors with 16 MB cache. I will be putting these in RAID 0 (if you didnt know by now ) Is there any other SATA HD's that will outperform the Raptors in RAID 0? Any advice would be appreciated Thank you!

4 4gb irams in raid 0..

 

[RyanGrob]

Bump.

 

[realtrance]

Whatever you do, don't buy from NewEgg.

Not only did they send me defective equipment; they've lost it in an RMA return. I have witnesses for having packed two drives in an RMA to them, and they claim they only receieved one.

So along with their QC having gone to the crapper, there are obviously thieves in the company warehouse as well, perhaps working directly with customer service.

 

[RyanGrob]

Been ordering from newegg for years, and even recently for my new rig I built. I have RMA'ed there also. Never once have had a problem with them. Did you get shipping insurance?

 

[John]

Originally posted by: realtrance
Whatever you do, don't buy from NewEgg.

Not only did they send me defective equipment; they've lost it in an RMA return. I have witnesses for having packed two drives in an RMA to them, and they claim they only receieved one.

So along with their QC having gone to the crapper, there are obviously thieves in the company warehouse as well, perhaps working directly with customer service.

Did you insure your package? If not let it be a lesson learned. You can also send a PM to NeweggSupport and he'll do his best to see that you are taken care of.

To the original poster, you don't need raid0 for gaming. A single 74GB 16MB cache Raptor or a 320GB 7200.10 for $95 is a smarter investment.

 

[realtrance]

I've also been a newegg customer for years, I seem to have hit a run of bad luck with my last order though.

Yes, insured the package, hopefully UPS will come through, if not, well, I've never gambled in Vegas so I guess I've lost less money than some people.

There are some good people in CS at newegg, I have since been calmed down -- the company is responsive, that's the good thing.

Sigh....

 

[realtrance]

Oh and btw re: topic of OP -- RAID0 really doesn't do much for throughput for games. It's good if you're doing audio or video editing and need every ms of write speed you can muster, but even in that case these days, a single SATA IDE Raptor will get you most of what you want. You'll only see real RAID0 advantage in that case with 4 or more drives set up in the array, across multiple controllers. I setup RAID0 mainly "because it's there" but for my purposes, I don't see any really significant performance gains.