The new Raptor

[Smooth*{MEOW}*]

http://www.wdraptorx.com/

Pretty cool, until you scroll down and see the price tag.

[INSTINCT]

so is this identical to the raptors we already have ? or is it just the clear window thats new ?, if so its about 100 bucks more then the original worth it ?.

[Smooth*{MEOW}*]

150 gig compared to the current 74 and 36 gig raptors.  10k rpm, same as current.  And I think I read they are SATA 150 (SATA1), when everyone was expecting to see them as SATA 300 (SATA2).

Right now, the 74 gig Raptors are selling for about $135 after rebate, OEM.  I don't think the increased capacity of the new Raptor justifies such a high price as $349 ($295 on Newegg  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136012).  If they were SATA2, had a lower sound rating, and faster read/write/seek times, then maybe I could see it.

New Raptor Specs:

http://www.wdraptorx.com/specifications/

Acoustics
   Idle Mode    39 dBA (average)
   Seek Mode 0    46 dBA (average)

That really stood out to me.  39dba at idle?  Some of your louder case fans running at full rpm don't even reach 39dba.

74gb Raptor specs:

Capacity    74GB
Cache    8MB
RPM    10,000 RPM
Average Seek Time    4.5ms
Average Write Time    5.9ms
Average Latency    2.99ms
Interface    Serial ATA150
Physical Spec
Form Factor    3.5"

As you can see, the seek, write, and latency times are identical.  The only real change I see with this new Raptor is double the capacity.  So if you went with 2 74gb Raptors in RAID, you'd still come out ahead in the money department and it'd be faster with the RAID setup then getting a single new Raptor.

[INSTINCT]

i can hardly hear my raptor...my cpu fan drones out any other sounds , i do hear it seeking during intense passages but very unobtrusive.

[Kat*{MEOW}*]

Sorry, unless your doing serious video editing that's a waste of money.    I'd rather spend the money on RAM so I don't need the disk access, and for gamers 7400rpm is more than enough.  Raid is also a waste of time on a gaming machine.  Give me RAM!!!!!!! <shooter> <shooter> <shooter> <shooter>

Oh give me Ram, lots a RAM,
You can never have eeeenough,
Don't make me cache.

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[THEKATZ*{MEOW}*]

Kat, same feeling here.  I mean RAID?  What, are we hosting a web service with critical service applications?  RAID is more commercial applicable than personal.  And what is it that a personal computer like ours need to have fast access time?  If this is soley a gaming computer, you bet, put your money on some very fast RAM, that is where the game is going to call from.  8mb cache is a good thing on any HD though so look at that but RAID, IMHO is not where I would put my cash.  But if I were to buy another HD, I would seriously look at that Raptor.  The 7200 Raptor I have is working well enough now.

[Smooth*{MEOW}*]

I'll probably be putting the current 74 gig raptor into my new build.  People saying you can get lots more storage space for the same price are correct, but I wouldn't use it.  The 20 gig internal I use now is only 3/4 of the way full, so I'd rather channel my money into faster load times.

Instinct, that could have alot to do with the layout and construction of your case.  I've read that steel cases contain sound better than aluminum cases.

TK and Kat, I was just making a comparison between 2 74gb raptors and 1 150gb raptor.

[THEKATZ*{MEOW}*]

TK and Kat, I was just making a comparison between 2 74gb raptors and 1 150gb raptor.

Roger that Smooth, I realise that.  I see a lot of selling featurs for HD and other things usually use the bonus the product has that in the long run will not really benifit the common user but is very alluring(sp?).

[Kat*{MEOW}*]

I'm with ya Smooth.  I was trying to make the same point as TK. 

IMHO there is a whole lot of stuff out there being marketed at the home computer builder, that stresses functions and preformance that the home user really does not need.  The difference in load time between a 7400 rpm drive with an 8 ms seek time, and a 10,000 rpm drive with a 4.5 ms seek time, will be indistinguishable to the user.  There may be a certain placebo effect, where becuase the user has it, he thinks it's faster, but in reality while it may be slightly faster, the user will not notice it. 

Case in point.  I rebuilt my system using a socket 754 Asus MoBo and a 3200 64bit AMD CPU.  I have the same hard drive installed in both systems.  The old system had 1 gig of PC2700 memory, the new system is using 1 gig of faster PC3200 memory.  BF2 loads is about half the time it used to take.  I attribute this to the faster CPU and memory.  Not a faster HD.

Many of the enthusiests boards have been making a big deal about RAID.  RAID does not make a system faster, it only provides redundancy in storing data.  It was developed for those applications that can not afford to suffer a loss of data due to a hard drive failure.  We've had a RAID setup where I work for the entire 10 years I've been there.

The point being that many hardware makers are marketing thier products as must haves to the community, while in fact, these products are nice for bragging rights, but provide the average enthusiest with no real value for the dollars spent. 
The point is, we the consumers and enthusiest's need to be knowledable and show the manufacturers that we are, by spending our dollars wisely, and not just based on some factor of KEEEEWWWWLLLLL.

[INSTINCT]

agree Kat but remeber Keeewwwlll is ......keeeeeewwwllll! 

one good reason to own a raptor is its very accomplished lifespan ..raptors have a superb rate of longievity and durability, bieng a tad overengineered and an enterprise class HDD will equte to a very robust and long lived drive ,making it perfect to run your O/S from.

as far as gaming ..i must tell you joint operations ,bf2,doom3, and hl2 all loaded maps a hell of a lot faster than my 7200 barracuda.,however seagate does make sata and sata2 drives with NCQ technology that operate at 7200 rpm and have a performance rivaling that of a raptor.