[1X RAPTOR +1X Seagate] vs [2XSeagate]

[yazedad]

i was choosing a HDD for my new GAMING PC and i got stuck with this :

should i use
1X 74GB RAPTOR + 1X Seagate 500GB Barracuda 7200.11
or
2X Seagate 500GB Barracuda 7200.11 in RAID0 ( i don't know how to set it but i can learn)

they both have the same price

BTW : i will be using an evga nvidia nForce 680i SLI motherboard

thanks for you help

[pop pop]

Interesting question. I use 1X Raptor and a Seagate and performance is great. I've never tried Raid, though I want to. I went on Tom's Hardware and the average read throughput for a Raptor is about 75 Mb/s. They don't list a Seagate 7200.11, but for a 500Gb 7200.10AS the average read throughput is about 60 Mb/s. Burst transfers for both could/would be faster. The Raptor is Sata 150 at 10,000 RPM and the Seagate is Sata3 at 7200. On a one a one to one comparison, the Raptor wins, but you pay a premium.

Slap the Seagates into Raid0 and you theoretically double the bandwidth...I think. Even assuming only a 50 percent jump, you overtake the lone Raptor. But then there are a few questions...how comfy are you with Raid? Raid0 means no redundancy. If the Raid breaks, you're pretty much toast.

If it was me, as much as I love my Raptor/Seagate combo, I would go with the Raid0. Maybe I will when I get back from Japan.

Saph and others here will know more of the fine details about performance increases and the risks. Just my 2 cents. YMMV.

[pop pop]

Having thought about it some more...the other specs of your computer will likely come into play more that the HDD configuration, especially for gaming. What's the CPU, RAM, and graphics card?

[yazedad]

lol i didn't refrish the post :P

firstly the case :
THERMALTAKE KANDALF LCS BLACK, WATER COOLED, NO PSU (VD4000BWS)
http://www.thermaltake.com/product/chassis/fulltower/kandalf_lcs/vd4000bws.asp

Power supply
Thermaltake Toughpower 750W (W0116)
http://thermaltake.com/product/Power/ToughPower/W0116/w0116.asp

motherboard
EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 nVidia NForce 680i Chipset SLI
http://evga.com/products/moreinfo.asp?pn=122-CK-NF68-A1&family=400

CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66Ghz (1333FSB, 4mb Cache)

graphic card
EVGA nVidia Geforce 8800GT 512mb KO Factory Overclocked (512-P3-N805-A1)
http://evga.com/products/moreinfo.asp?pn=512-P3-N805-A1&family=19

RAM
OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 / 800 MHz / Reaper HPC Edition / Dual Channel
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_ddr2_pc2_6400_reaper_hpc_edition

thanks for the advice

[yazedad]

bumb...
bumb

[pop pop]

I'm not a gamer, Saph is so maybe he'll chime in. However, with that config, I think you've got what you can get in terms of game time performance. The Raptor or Raid will give you faster boot times and when disk cache is requred that'll be a bit better. Other than that, I see no reason to spend more than you already have...except for fun :D

[Ajmukon]

yeah, it looks good.
But i would get a cheaper CPU now, a Better Motherboard that supports 45nm Processors, and upgrade to a better Processor when the new intel 45nm Penryn Comes out in Jan.