Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1000DHTZ Gaming Advice

[vicar]

Is there any major gains to had in using WD velociraptor hard drive in storing and playing games.?

Am i just better off getting a 7200 hd, if yes any recommendings pleade i am looking for a 1TD drive.

Thanks for looking and any adve given is much appriciated.

[Bugbait]

Depends on your patience level and the games you play. For 3D, texture heavy games it can speed up load times. Major gain? Debatable and very subjective. For me, load times on Dirt3 were annoying on my old Samsung F1 7200rpm so I upgraded to a 120Gig SSD for games. Big difference, screen transitions are nearly instant and level loads times are far quicker. Then again, I'm fairly impatient when it comes to waiting for levels to load on any game.

If you already have a VRaptor then use it, otherwise consider SSD instead unless the budget to storage ratio doesn't allow it.

[vicar]

Cost is the main problem with SSD's. 512GB or 1TB is way out of my budget hence the Vraptor route.

i have also ben loooking at hybrid drives like the Seagate Momentus XT (750GB). It looks like a toss btw these two, but i am drawn towards the Vraptor bkc of storage and cooling, not knowing if the ssd in the Xt will make any diff at all.

[Samwood]

Two 7,200 RPM HDDs in RAID0 is a cheaper alternative to a single VelociRaptor. You could also short stroke the drives to improve latencies.

[vicar]

Many thanks Bugbait and Samwood for all your help and advise. It's decision making time now.

[Jonj1611]

Two 7,200 RPM HDDs in RAID0 is a cheaper alternative to a single VelociRaptor. You could also short stroke the drives to improve latencies.

Don't forget though if you short stroke a drive you significantly lower its capacity.