Should I buy a Raptor?

[JMann23800]

So far on my quest for a "bang for buck" pc I have...

Antec Sonata Case = $77 clearance at staples
2500+ Retail = $80 Newegg
Abit NF7-S = $90 Newegg
Corsair Value Ram (2x256mb) = $44 ea. Newegg

I am going to pick up a "hot deal" dvd-rom and cdrw in the next few days, however I still need a harddrive. I was think of getting the 30gig raptor for $115, but is the extra speed going to be noticable in my system? I also got the sonata case, so I am thinking of going quiet and I heard these are LOUD.

The other question is... my motherboard and these drive are both sata, correct? How will I hook up a standard IDE HD to my board? Is a sata HD worth the extra cost, considering the speed increase?

Thanks,
Josh

 

[WobbleWobble]

They're 36GB.

I just picked one up today, used. If you're willing to buy used, people are unloading them as they want the newer revisions of the Raptor. The drive is a bit louder than other drives, but it's not loud. The board has SATA and the standard IDE.

Is it worth the cost? Depends if you need the space. 36GB is relatively small, but for me it's my OS/applications drive. Well worth it in my opinion.

 

[saltedeggman]

the abit has serial ata

The raptors are pretty fast, but they are expensive

 

[JMann23800]

Yeh I mistyped, meant 36.

That is exactly what I would be using it for XP and programs. I have a large external drive I keep my files on.

Definitely expensive, but I wasn't sure if the speed increase would be noticable doing photoship, web dev, surfing, and minimal games.

I will have to check out the used market, anyone reading this selling one? PM me.

 

[paperfist]

What is the Moderator talking about in saltedeggman's post above?

Anyway back to topic, personally I don't notice any great speed increase with my Raptor drive. It just has my OS and 2 games on it and really I see no difference in OS loading or operating speeds; game levels do load a few seconds quicker though. Not sure I'd buy one again unless I put 2 of them in RAID.

 

[0roo0roo]

http://www.storagereview.com/articles/200401/20040126WD740GD_1.html

pretty good.

for normal ide there are adaptors you can buy. or one can simply buy a cheapo ata 133 card, i have one, about 20 dollars shipped for a silicon image card with two ide ports.

 

[DiverDave]

Can others confirm what Paperfist is saying? If there is no significant speed advantage then it would be more cost effective to get a 40G drive to run OS and apps and save about 50% of the cost.

I was thinking of going with a Raptor and a 120 G storage drive but this is giving me more things to consider :frown:

 

[boshuter]

Save your money. For the marginal improvement, the cost is ridiculous. Chances are you may not even be able to notice the difference between the raptor and a good ide drive. I had a 36gig raptor for a couple of weeks before I found someone else that was into the hype and wanted it more than I did, believe me, it will not amaze you with blazing performance Use the extra money for a better video card or something that will give you an actual difference, not some slightly higher number on some meaningless benchmark.

 

[SuPrEIVIE]

is the 36 and 72 GB raptors similar or is the 72 faster?

 

[nitromullet]

Raptors and "bang for buck" don't belong in the same sentence. The return on your investment is minimal. I will not say that I have been disappointed with my RAIDed Raptors, but I would certainly not suggest them to anyone building a price conscious system.

 

[paperfist]

Originally posted by: SuPrEIVIE
is the 36 and 72 GB raptors similar or is the 72 faster?

The 72GB (which is actually a 74GB) is faster with its 4.5ms access time over the 36GB's 5.2ms access time. Read the review link that 0roo0roo put up it compares the two drives vrs a few others I've heard a rumor and it's just that I haven't seen an article about it, but I was told WD is going to increase the 36GB's access time to that of the 74's so if that happens they will be equal in speed.

The Raptors on a cost per megabyte basis aren't cheap compared to 'regular' IDE drives.

 

[Regs]

Originally posted by: paperfist
What is the Moderator talking about in saltedeggman's post above?

Nothing that has to deal with this thread. They just give you a "tattoo" so they can remember you and give you warning.
------------

As for the 36 GB Raptor, there is some improvements. Especially when I save large files in Photoshop, but other than that, my Gig of RAM makes up for my slower seek time IDE drives. I ,however, think a 160 GB 7200 IDE HDD for 120 dollars is much more valuable then a 120 dollar 36 GB SATA Raptor.

 

[DiverDave]

Thanks for the excellent input all.

I'll head off and reprice the system I'm considering building sans Raptor and put in a Standard drive instead, of about the same size.


It appears that SATA drives don't come in such small size, at least where I am checking. Is this the case? There are no problems between drive types I assume SATA/PATA/IDE?

Excuse my ignorance.

 

[paperfist]

Originally posted by: DiverDave
Thanks for the excellent input all.

I'll head off and reprice the system I'm considering building sans Raptor and put in a Standard drive instead, of about the same size.


It appears that SATA drives don't come in such small size, at least where I am checking. Is this the case? There are no problems between drive types I assume SATA/PATA/IDE?

Excuse my ignorance.

Smallest that I know of is a Maxtor 60GB drive: Newegg.com

PATA? That is the first time I've heard that term. SATA & IDE run on separate channels so you can use both in your system (at least on the one with the Abit board you have picked out). Not sure why you are limiting your selection on hard drive space, you can pick up a WD 80GB w/8MB cache drive for $86/$103 for 120GB SATA.

You can save a few bucks by going with IDE drives instead of SATA. We barely use the bandwidth of an IDE/133 standard, which is less then what SATA provides. The advantage of those drives is the nice tiny data cables

 

[WobbleWobble]

Most SATA drives are PATA models with a SATA bridge built in. Save for Seagate and the Raptor.

There are currently no benefits of SATA, except the thin cable. Which is good enough for me

 

[DiverDave]

Not sure why you are limiting your selection on hard drive space, you can pick up a WD 80GB w/8MB cache drive for $86/$103 for 120GB SATA

My thinking is twofold. One, if I'm putting mainly OS and apps on the one drive I wouldnt need much more than 40G. Secondly I already have, albeit an old one, an IDE drive from my current system that I could use and save the extra $50-60. Having a 120G data disk is more memory than I can currently fathom using .

Granted disk drives are cheap but no sense spending for 80 when 40 would work fine.

 

[NokiaDude]

The Western Digital SE drives are almost as fast as the Raptors. Plus you get a whole lot more storage for less. Fry's has the 120GB SE for $60 after rebate.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: WobbleWobble
Most SATA drives are PATA models with a SATA bridge built in. Save for Seagate and the Raptor.

There are currently no benefits of SATA, except the thin cable. Which is good enough for me

The Raptor actually does have a PATA-SATA bridge chip.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: WobbleWobble
Most SATA drives are PATA models with a SATA bridge built in. Save for Seagate and the Raptor.

There are currently no benefits of SATA, except the thin cable. Which is good enough for me

yea, can't wait for command queueing sata 1.5 or wahtever its called then it'll be a boost and not just a thinc able.

 

[JimRaynor]

I didn't really notice all that much of a difference from my barracuda IV. There is, however a difference.

 

[JMann23800]

Well I will not be getting the raptor, thanks for the responses....

 

[lansens]

You will not regret the purchase of a Raptor. If you search enough you can find a used one for a decent price. Don't forget, they come with a 5 year warranty. You won't hardly even hear the drive at all. Your Sonata case has a really nice hard drive set up. There are four pull out cage attachments and they are fitted with rubber grommets to reduce noise from the drives. They work great. Buy with confidence, even if you pay full price.

 

[JimRaynor]

It's not the seek times that make it a loud drive. It's just that due to the high rpm, the drive spinning so fast makes a constant whirring sound.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: JimRaynor
It's not the seek times that make it a loud drive. It's just that due to the high rpm, the drive spinning so fast makes a constant whirring sound.

It's more due to the use of a ball bearing motor instead of a fluid bearing.

 

[WobbleWobble]

I find my Raptor quite a bit louder than my Maxtor DM+9.