questions re: hard drive choices

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ftran999

I am in the process of slowly building my own PC. Just waiting for the
bargains to come along. So far I've got the p4c800-e dlx mb,
Antec Plus1080AMG case, ATI Radeon 9800 pro video card, Sony DRU-510A DVD
writer and in the next couple weeks I'll probably pick up an intel p4 3.0
northwood, and a couple 512mb sticks from crucial and some run of the mill
DVD/CD-rom and floppy drive.
They only choice I haven't made up my mind about yet is the hard drive. I
was looking at the WD Raptor 36GB drive which runs at 10k rpm. I do realize
a couple of things, 1. 36GB is, relatively speaking, not that large.
However, this doesn't concern me, since I don't store a lot of files, and if
I do decide to, can always add a second drive and 2. the 74GB is faster but
it is more than I am willing to spend. So my question is, is there are REAL
LIFE difference between this HD and most other 7200 rpm SATA drives
especially for gaming to justify the price difference.
My second question, regardless of which drive I choose since the MB kit came
with a set of SATA cables can I get away with installing
an OEM Drive or will I still be better of with a retail version.
If it means anything I will be using XP home as my OS.
Thank you in advance for your responses.
 
ftran999 said:
I am in the process of slowly building my own PC. Just waiting for the
bargains to come along. So far I've got the p4c800-e dlx mb,
Antec Plus1080AMG case, ATI Radeon 9800 pro video card, Sony DRU-510A DVD
writer and in the next couple weeks I'll probably pick up an intel p4 3.0
northwood, and a couple 512mb sticks from crucial and some run of the mill
DVD/CD-rom and floppy drive.
They only choice I haven't made up my mind about yet is the hard drive. I
was looking at the WD Raptor 36GB drive which runs at 10k rpm. I do
realize a couple of things, 1. 36GB is, relatively speaking, not that
large. However, this doesn't concern me, since I don't store a lot of
files, and if I do decide to, can always add a second drive and 2. the
74GB is faster but it is more than I am willing to spend. So my question
is, is there are REAL LIFE difference between this HD and most other 7200
rpm SATA drives especially for gaming to justify the price difference.
Click to expand...

I have a WDC360GD (Raptor) and a WDC25000JD - for raw reading speeds, not
much in it for contiguous transfers.

The Raptor can write considerably faster than the 7200rpm. And of course,
it's seek is also considerably better (good for lots of small files,
deleting directories with lots of files, etc.)

I started with a Raptor with the intention of also getting a large drive -
that way I have a fast drive and a large drive - best of both worlds.

The Raptor is noticeably quicker, but due to size limitations, I run games
from the larger drive.
My second question, regardless of which drive I choose since the MB kit
came with a set of SATA cables can I get away with installing
an OEM Drive or will I still be better of with a retail version.
Click to expand...

OEM is fine. Be sure to check out the power cable requirements. (WDCs can
take both - NOT simultaneously!)
If it means anything I will be using XP home as my OS.
Click to expand...

No real difference.

You'll likely find a decent new 7200rpm drive with an 8Meg cache fast enough
for your requirements.

Ben
 
I personaly run a Hitachi Deskstar. I was looking at the Raptor as well but ran
accross this artical
www.tomshardware.com/storage/200311141/index.html
in Tom's that did some head to head comparisons. It is a bit dated now tho but
it should still be relevent.

Overall they ended up choosing the Hitachi over the raptor. Like Ben said the
Raptor does have a significant speed difference due to its 10k RPM but aside
from that its doesnt seem to score much higher than lower priced, higher
capcaity drives.

Also something to take in to consideration with high RPM drives is the noise
factor. Depending on the case you have, a 10K RPM drive may just be a bit much.

In general tho if you stick to the good names in HD and go with the 8MB cache
models you should be fine.
 
SPRITE1001 said:
I personaly run a Hitachi Deskstar. I was looking at the Raptor as well but ran
accross this artical
www.tomshardware.com/storage/200311141/index.html
in Tom's that did some head to head comparisons. It is a bit dated now tho but
it should still be relevent.

Overall they ended up choosing the Hitachi over the raptor. Like Ben said the
Raptor does have a significant speed difference due to its 10k RPM but aside
from that its doesnt seem to score much higher than lower priced, higher
capcaity drives.

Also something to take in to consideration with high RPM drives is the noise
factor. Depending on the case you have, a 10K RPM drive may just be a bit much.
Click to expand...

The Raptors are remarkably competitive, from a noise standpoint,
especially considering the typical 10K vs 7200 RPM rotational speed
difference. I have installed them for a few people and they
seem no noisier than the 7200 RPM drives they typically replace -
you would need sound metering equipment to tell the difference.
In general tho if you stick to the good names in HD and go with the 8MB cache
models you should be fine.
Click to expand...

I would consider warranty first, then perhaps cache.
If it doesn't have at least a three year warranty, run away
from it. To me, a shorter warranty indicates that the
manufacturer has an utter lack of faith in the reliability of
that product.
 
It really does depend what you're doing. I can easily notice the difference
in some situations, but not in others. Esentially it's the seek time that
does it, it's very impressive.
The Raptors are remarkably competitive, from a noise standpoint,
especially considering the typical 10K vs 7200 RPM rotational speed
difference. I have installed them for a few people and they
seem no noisier than the 7200 RPM drives they typically replace -
you would need sound metering equipment to tell the difference.
Agreed.


I would consider warranty first, then perhaps cache.
If it doesn't have at least a three year warranty, run away
from it. To me, a shorter warranty indicates that the
manufacturer has an utter lack of faith in the reliability of
that product.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but then, a year is standard practice. 3 Years shows faith... but
that essentially amounts to the same thing.

Ben
 
Good point on the warrenty bit. I've only had to deal with 1 drive that had to
be warrentied in about 6 years so it didnt come to mind. One thing tho, how
common is a 3 year?
 
The 3 year warranty is getting much less common. It was not that long
ago (a few years) all the HD manufacturers offered 3 years on retail
and OEM drives. Now, I see most retail drives are 1 year. Same with
OEMs. I recently paid a bit more to get a 3 year warranty HD, but who
knows if there is any real reliability difference (except in the IBM
models where their GXP series really took it on the nose with lots of
problems)

--
Best regards,
Kyle
| Good point on the warrenty bit. I've only had to deal with 1 drive
that had to
| be warrentied in about 6 years so it didnt come to mind. One thing
tho, how
| common is a 3 year?
 
Yeah actualy the one drive I had to warrenty was of the GXP series. Luckly it
lasted long enough for me to get the next Hitachi model. Things been purring
along no problem since. I seem to remembet that WD was offering 3yr, are any of
the other big names doing that now?
 
Sprite, I'm new to this whole SATA thing as I think you know by
reading one of my prevous posts.
Although that Hitachi drive mentioned above does look like a great
drive--it wasnt the Raptor that it was being compared to, It was being
compared to a WD Caviar SATA drive. I don't believe the Raptor comes
in 250GB, only something like 37 and 75GB. But again I'm new on all
of this.
But I'm in the same boat--building a new computer and I have no money,
so I might be adding that Hitachi drive to my list for now--thanks for
the article.

-Bill
 
Everyone is floggin 3 yr warranty stuff it just costs a few $$$ more. My
experience has been that if it doesn't die in the first year it usually will
last till you want a newer/faster/bigger one. How much do you want to pay
for comfort?
 
Everyone is floggin 3 yr warranty stuff it just costs a few $$$ more. My
experience has been that if it doesn't die in the first year it usually will
last till you want a newer/faster/bigger one. How much do you want to pay
for comfort?
Click to expand...

Companies have actuaries who do "return" curves on warranties. They
know how much the warranty will cost them over the life of the drive
and price accordingly. With everyone scrapping the bottom of the
barrel these days on price, they've had to reduce the warranties
to make a profit.
 
Bill, the artical I refrenced to was comparing the raptor to the newer drives,
to show difference in speed, not capacity. Was just trying to demonstrate that
the Raptor's speed only helps in so many applications. Frankly I'd be a bit
scared to look at the sticker price on a 250gig Raptor if such a thing existed.

Good luck on your build
Arie
 
true but my guess is there is no difference between a 1 year warranty drive
and a 3 year warranty drive except the retail price about $20 where I live
and the serial number sequence. extra charge warranties are a license to
print money; if you can convince enough people to buy them. We have a
company in Canada called future shop (BEst Buy owns it now) and they are
famous for selling extended warranties, it is how the "sales associates"
make enough to live on.
I've only ever bought one extended warranty on an electronic device and when
I went to use it the company was out of business. A lot of credit card
companies will double the manufacturer's warranty if you buy the product on
the card at no additional fee on the card. ON the other hand there are
hardware sellors that discount 3 or 4% for cash so the extended warranty via
credit card does cost.
 
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