2x250GB Barracudas Raid 0 or 1x750GB Spinpoint F1

[alexp999]

okay I need more HDD space. Now I'm really getting into PC gaming, the size of todays games means that two 80GB's in raid really dont cut it. So i want to upgrade my HDD's.

i was looking at getting either 2 of these for Raid 0:

250 GB Seagate ST3250620AS Barracuda 7200.10, SATA 300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.5 ms, NCQ


Or one of these:

750 GB Samsung HD753LJ Spinpoint F1, SATA 300, 7200 rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ

only reason is that I have heard that the spinpoints are fast, and that raid on an intel SB taxes the system a bit away from game performance. i wanted to see what you guys thought.

or maybe you have a better suggestion (keeping in budget of about £60)

Cheers!

[staffsMike]

I would probably go the single HDD route.. Not a big fan of raid arrays for home use.

Western Digital 640GB AAKS would get my money. Fast, quiet and pretty cheap for what it is

[alexp999]

A couple of people said that to me over at TPU. What gets me is that when i went from one single 80GB to two in RAID 0. The performance difference was amazing. or have things come on along way in 2 years. 9NB mine was at the bottom 2 yrs ago, lol) they only have 2mb cache!!!

oh, i would leave you a thanks if I knew how. (or is it another limitation of being a new member?

[staffsMike]

Lol yeah you need 20 odd posts to do it, no worries though.

The 640GB uses two 320GB platters which are the highest density platters money can buy right now. They are superbly fast in most operations, rivaling the new VelociRaptors which is some feat.

[alexp999]

Lol yeah you need 20 odd posts to do it, no worries though.

The 640GB uses two 320GB platters which are the highest density platters money can buy right now. They are superbly fast in most operations, rivaling the new VelociRaptors which is some feat.

So if i pickup a a good HDD with 640GB, that will probably be as quick as my 2x80Gb raid 0 setup anyway?

[Zhaoman]

yes, if they used the ultra high density platter staffsMike mentioned, its all about platter size these days

on a side note, I had no idea the new WDs had such good platters; must check that out!

[alexp999]

okay well going by that, it would be between:

640GB Samsung HD642JJ Spinpoint F1, SATA II, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ

and

640 GB Western Digital WD6400AAKS Caviar SE16, SATA 300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms


What do people think. I have had a WDD fail on me, I have never had a samsung, but I have been told the F1's are good from someone on TPU. HDD's I have had recently are seagates and do really well. But since I have been quietening my PC, even on anti-vibration mounts I can hear the seagates under load.

[Zhaoman]

I know the 750Gb F1 is fast, very fast and from personal experience my Samsung Spinpoint is running very quietly for 2 years; but I would trust staffsMike on this one and go with the 640Gb Western Digital, the platter density sounds insane.

[alexp999]

I know the 750Gb F1 is fast, very fast and from personal experience my Samsung Spinpoint is running very quietly for 2 years; but I would trust staffsMike on this one and go with the 640Gb Western Digital, the platter density sounds insane.

The samsung I posted uses the same platter size 9from what I can tell) so its down to the MF really. They both have the same seak time, same cache, same capacity and same platter size. But which would perform better and/or be quieter?

Cheers.

[staffsMike]

Yep sammy is much the same drive in specs. I hear of more samsungs failing that WD though and personally never had a WD faliure having owned many of their drives and 4 current AAKS

[alexp999]

I heard that too. reading about a bit, the WDD seems slightly quicker anyway. Plus it is cheaper and in stock at scan. . only 2 more weeks till I get paid then i can go on a PC upgrades shopping spree!!!

[C-Bag7]

I went from 2 seagate 250gb 7200.10 drives in raid 0 to 2 750gb F1's in raid 0 and using a benchmarking program called passmark (performance test V6.1) my HDD scores went from 547 to 1022. I think raid is great as long as you have a 3rd seperate drive as a back up for your data.