Need help in choosing new HD for gaming rig

Hi all.

I am torn as to what I should do for a very high performance HD to run the upcoming Doom3, HL2, etc etc. I have narrowed the choices down to either a WD Raptor 74GB SATA drive (got phenominal reviews) or do I go with (2) WD Raptop 36GB SATA drives running RAID 0. I know the 74GB outperforms the 36 with a little bit better seek time and the implimentation of TCQ (tagged command queing), but does a single 74GB Raptor beat out 2 36GB Raptors running a stripe RAID array? I am leaning towards the 74GB version but what do you all think? Thanks!

 

I'd go with the 74GB just for more storage space... in a gaming rig I couldn't see having that kind of redundancy. Just my opinion though

 

I'd probably go for the 74GB Raptor, and save up to get a second one. Or just save up now a bit longer for a second one. The 36GB ones are fast, but you'll run out of space fast. (I would, anyhow.) 36GB is going to be as tiny as SATA HDD get (well, not on laptops).

 

RAID 0: Striping with no mirroring. Called Raid "0" because it is not redundant at all, and is not true RAID because of that. RAID 0 generally operates about 60% faster than a single drive, but it doubles the chance of a catastrophic failure.

 

Thanks chicken, for clearing up that raid 0 is not a redundency array. But you have got to take in to account, that the 36 raid array vs the 72 single drive both give me the EXACT same amount of space (36+36 in raid0 = 72).....so the question lies in does raid 0 performance outperform the performance increase in the 72gb models....(and yes, if i had the money, a 72 + 72 GB raptor raid 0 array would be prime )

 

Gotcha, thanks for the clarification

 

If I were you, I'd go for the 2 36 Gb Raptors and RAID them. They should definitely give you a good boost in performance over one 72 Gb drive. Then, I'd also get something like a 120Gb IDE drive and set it up as a backup to your RAID array. Put anything on that that you couldn't lose.

If you pay attention to Best Buy ads each week, (or any local computer store such as Office Max, Staples, etc.) you can find, for example, a 120Gb drive for about $70, or a 160Gb drive for about $90. This way, you'll have the performance of RAIDed Raptor drives and stability of a single IDE drive.

 

Well, a nice 250GB 5400rpm workhorse drive is always a good thing.

 

Hm, this might sound like a bit of a stupid question, but can anyone give me any pointers/explanations about the hard drives; eg go into a bit more depth then merely saying that IDE and SATA are different connections I need to buy a new hard drive, but am a bit confused by all the different types

Budget is around £50