# SSD or VelociRaptor



## happy (Apr 18, 2012)

Hi, so I am about to buy an 120GB Patriot Pyro SE, but I just found 2 300GB Velociraptors for 120.  I don't plan to raid; however, maybe I will in the future.  The Patriot is around 150.  So which one should I get.  Opinions are greatfully appreciated.

Thanks


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## mauriek (Apr 18, 2012)

i think you should try SSD, the performance gain for entire system is great, however if you really need the space 300GB Velo is good with transfer rate but never going to match SSD access time. If its up to me i will skip velociraptor and get 2 regulard harddrive and RAID 0 them so i still have good transfer rate with lower cost than velociraptor.


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## Athlon2K15 (Apr 18, 2012)

go for the Pyro


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## LagunaX (Apr 18, 2012)

Since you can't overclock your i7-2600 the only thing you can do to really speed up your system significantly is to go SSD (well, I guess you could do ddr3 2133 ram too...).

The new Velociraptor 1TB soon to be released has SSD-like reads and writes of greater than 200mb/sec but the random seek time is still not SSD quality. It is also going to be $319+.

Why are you getting that Pyro 120gb SSD anyways?

This 120gb Mushkin one is $119 no messing around with rebates and is just as fast!:
Mushkin Enhanced Chronos MKNSSDCR120GB 2.5" 120GB ...


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## happy (Apr 18, 2012)

LagunaX said:


> Since you can't overclock your i7-2600 the only thing you can do to really speed up your system significantly is to go SSD (well, I guess you could do ddr3 2133 ram too...).
> 
> The new Velociraptor 1TB soon to be released has SSD-like reads and writes of greater than 200mb/sec but the random seek time is still not SSD quality. It is also going to be $319+.
> 
> ...



You don't think 120 for 2 300 velociraptors a good deal?


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## puma99dk| (Apr 18, 2012)

well 120 sounds like a good deal, i have had a couple of 150gigs VelociRaptors not in raid and i bought a used last generation Intel G2 80gig ssd and it's still faster booting, showing things compared to the raptors.


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## LagunaX (Apr 18, 2012)

$120 is a good deal, but not fast enough even in raid 0 to compare to a modern SSD.

For the $120 I'd get the Mushkin 120gb SSD in a heartbeat and not worry about losing ALL OF MY DATA if one of the RAID 0 drives went bad. 

An additional 1-2TB storage drive is cheap enuf for storage.


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## slyfox2151 (Apr 18, 2012)

SSDs hands down.


0.1ms 500mbps.... Raptors cant even compete.


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## happy (Apr 18, 2012)

LagunaX said:


> $120 is a good deal, but not fast enough even in raid 0 to compare to a modern SSD.
> 
> For the $120 I'd get the Mushkin 120gb SSD in a heartbeat and not worry about losing ALL OF MY DATA if one of the RAID 0 drives went bad.
> 
> An additional 1-2TB storage drive is cheap enuf for storage.



I have a 1tb F3 and have read that it is comparable to the 300GB VelociRaptor.  I guess I should invest in an SSD then right?  But thing about SSDs is that they degrade when you fill them to their limit?



slyfox2151 said:


> SSDs hands down.
> 
> 
> 0.1ms 500mbps.... Raptors cant even compete.



So I should just use my F3 for OS then and save that 120 to buy a SSD later?


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## LagunaX (Apr 18, 2012)

Mushkin for OS.
F3 for storage.

You'll upgrade long before the SSD even begins to degrade - when's the last time you've used the same hard rive daily for over 5 years?


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## Vulpesveritas (Apr 18, 2012)

LagunaX said:


> Since you can't overclock your i7-2600 the only thing you can do to really speed up your system significantly is to go SSD (well, I guess you could do ddr3 2133 ram too...).
> 
> The new Velociraptor 1TB soon to be released has SSD-like reads and writes of greater than 200mb/sec but the random seek time is still not SSD quality. It is also going to be $319+.
> 
> ...



but it's Async whereas that Pyro SE is synchronous NAND...
But yeah, get an SSD.  Here's a synchronous Mushkin for $140: Mushkin Enhanced Chronos Deluxe MX MKNSSDCR120GB-M...
Just a thought.


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## Outback Bronze (Apr 18, 2012)

Depends if u want storage or speed. I have both and although ssds are fast i still cannot knock the veloci raptors.


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## LagunaX (Apr 18, 2012)

I can't either.
I use a 600gb Velociraptor in one rig and A SSD in another.


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## Aquinus (Apr 18, 2012)

I would get the SSD, you'll have more benefit with loading applications and booting. Physical media is well suited towards storing larger sets of files. Stuff I use a lot is on my SSD raid-0, stuff I don't use as much goes on my RAID-5.

Mine is like this:
Windows, SSD.
Civ 5, SSD.
StarCraft, RAID-5.
VMWare Workstation, SSD.
VMWare virtual machines, RAID-5.
Video, Music, and Pictures, RAID-5.
Web Browsers, SSD.
etc.

The basic theme is where most commonly used applications and files get put on SSD, files and applications where 1gb/s won't make a difference or amount of storage is more important, use the HDD (in my case a RAID-5 of 3x1Tb drives.) For things like video, as long as it can be read quick enough to be viewed smoothly, it doesn't matter that it resides on the RAID.

Also a little info about RAID-5 for those who don't know what it is. It is data stripping with a parity "drive" (really a parity block every n blocks in the RAID where n is the number of drives.) Think of RAID-0, but you have an extra drive so every n blocks, you store information about the last two blocks. So if any drive fails, the parity blocks can reconstruct any data from either of the two other drives, but not both at once. (3-drives have 1-drive tolerance for failure, 2 drives of the 3 must fail to lose all the data.) Also, when a drive fails your RAID-5 is still accessible, but it runs "degraded," since it is a drive short.

So SSD RAID-0 backs up to the RAID-5, and the RAID-5 backs up to an external drive. I used to boot off of RAID-5, but over time it slows down quite a bit. The secondary benefit of RAID-5 is that read speeds are improved because you're reading like RAID-0 across 3 drives. Conversely, write speeds are hindered because you need to write 33% more data (with 3 drives,) just to write the extra parity block... but believe me, it's worth the redundancy... but that is slightly off topic.


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## happy (Apr 18, 2012)

Outback Bronze said:


> Depends if u want storage or speed. I have both and although ssds are fast i still cannot knock the veloci raptors.



I'm just trying to save some money.  Storage wise.  300GB is more than adequate for my needs whereas 120GB is on the low side.  I have a 160GB SATA HDD and it's down to 80GB.  I also have a 1TB F3 that I just pulled of another system.  Would the F3 be in par with the velociraptor?  I've read some reviews saying they are pretty much the same except for boot times.  I never used my F3 for OS so I would not know the boot time.  I would install it right now but, hell, it will take too long for me to do it again if I decide to go for a velociraptor or ssd.  So if boot time is not really an issue for me.  Should I spend the extra cash on a velociraptor or ssd.  Or should I just save my money and use the F3 for OS.

Thanks


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## Cotton_Cup (Apr 19, 2012)

if getting an ssd go for crucial m4 or intel 510 (these I have experience on) but for me actually 120 bucks for 2 velo rap 300gb is a steal if you can guess how much they cost in my area. per piece.


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