So here is my plan. I would like to get a 500GB HD for OSX and a 74GB Raptor drive for windows (for gaming). Now the first thing I want to know is getting the raptor drive going to be beneficial for my gaming? Will windows with the bootcamp drivers even see that it is a 10,000RPM drive? More questions to follow later. I really apreciate the help.
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Hard Drive upgrades.... Confirmation is needed.
- Thread starter djhspawn
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Why would you want a 10k for windows? I don't think it will help gaming at all even if it does work. Why not use the 10 k for your OS X system then use the 500 for data/windows?
Your kidding right? Windows will looove the 10K drive, gaming load times will be so much faster.
OS X would also love it, but...
Well yeah game load faster but actual game performance will not increase. Which I would think is not really worth it. As You probably spend most of you time in OS X. If gaming is all your doing in XP it will help you bootup faster and get into the game faster. Thats about it.
I rock two 20K 74GB Raptor drives (RAID 0) on my PC, and my PC boots way fast. However I started with on raptor drive, and it was the best performance upgrade I have done in a long while. Personally I would get a 150GB Raptor (or RAID 0 two of them) for OS X and use the stock drive as a storage drive and get a 74GB Raptor for OS X. That is me and I am speed whore.
Getting a 10k rpm hard drive will not significantly improve game performance where it counts. Yes, it will yield faster load times but no, it won't improve fps or any realtime measure of game performance. Why? If your game has to cache or load off the hard drive still, then the game is either very poorly optimized or you have insufficient VRAM on your video card or system RAM.
I would only recommend a Raptor if you're A) willing to dish out the money for marginal gains on load times or B) you're doing HD intensive work like video or sound production in which case a 74gb Raptor is probably a little small.
I would only recommend a Raptor if you're A) willing to dish out the money for marginal gains on load times or B) you're doing HD intensive work like video or sound production in which case a 74gb Raptor is probably a little small.
FYI, I don't know about games but I tried a single 150 Raptor for OS X and applications. I tried it out for a week and found it to be not worth the money. I've just been issued an RMA and it's going back to Newegg tomorrow.
What I found while using the drive was that OS X loaded a second faster. It also shaved a few seconds here and there on the launch of applications (but the MacPro is already so fast it's hard to tell). The trade off was EXCESSIVE seek noise and high price per MB. The drive itself is quiet when idle, but when you do anything that requires disk access, it does a LOUD rata tat tat tat... like microwave popcorn. My MacPro WAS virtually silent until I put that crap drive in. I'm trading it in for a WD Caviar 320. The new drive will be a lot quieter, cheaper and have I will have more space.
Those of you who say the Raptor is not that loud.. I call BS. Uh.. compared to what? Your lawnmower? Well, maybe if you listen to loud music or work in a sweat shop then maybe. Noise sensitive buyers beware!
Finally, I think the application for the Raptor is limited. The only valued use I see for it is maybe two of them in an (expensive) raid for games or scratch. Any application that requires fast disk access. But for OS and general computing... it's overkill. Who wants to listen to tap tap tap when they are surfing the web? I'd even say the speed of the drive is not really that noticeable unless you have a slow machine. The MacPro is already wicked fast and the Raptor is NOT going to make it that much faster. I boot in like 5-10 seconds already! You are better off buying more ram or setting up a simple raid for scratch. That's what I'm going to do! And it only cost me $30 restocking fees to learn my lesson. I got suckered into buying the Raptor because of various posts that said "the Raptor is the best investment in my computer I've ever done" and other mis-information like that.
What I found while using the drive was that OS X loaded a second faster. It also shaved a few seconds here and there on the launch of applications (but the MacPro is already so fast it's hard to tell). The trade off was EXCESSIVE seek noise and high price per MB. The drive itself is quiet when idle, but when you do anything that requires disk access, it does a LOUD rata tat tat tat... like microwave popcorn. My MacPro WAS virtually silent until I put that crap drive in. I'm trading it in for a WD Caviar 320. The new drive will be a lot quieter, cheaper and have I will have more space.
Those of you who say the Raptor is not that loud.. I call BS. Uh.. compared to what? Your lawnmower? Well, maybe if you listen to loud music or work in a sweat shop then maybe. Noise sensitive buyers beware!
Finally, I think the application for the Raptor is limited. The only valued use I see for it is maybe two of them in an (expensive) raid for games or scratch. Any application that requires fast disk access. But for OS and general computing... it's overkill. Who wants to listen to tap tap tap when they are surfing the web? I'd even say the speed of the drive is not really that noticeable unless you have a slow machine. The MacPro is already wicked fast and the Raptor is NOT going to make it that much faster. I boot in like 5-10 seconds already! You are better off buying more ram or setting up a simple raid for scratch. That's what I'm going to do! And it only cost me $30 restocking fees to learn my lesson. I got suckered into buying the Raptor because of various posts that said "the Raptor is the best investment in my computer I've ever done" and other mis-information like that.