SSD vs. RAID 0 Velociraptors

[kookooshortman55]

I'm sorry if this question has been asked before, but I was curious on your opinions on going SSD vs RAID 0 Velociraptors. I currently have 2 300GB Velociraptors set aside for a computer build I'm going to do in a few weeks, but I'm debating whether it's worth the money to also get a 60GB SSD for my OS and heavy programs like Photoshop.

From what I read, Velociraptors in RAID 0 have an average read of ~180MB/s and the specs on the OCZ Agility 2 I was looking at says ~285MB/s read. I was wondering if the speed difference in loading on the SSD as opposed to the raptors would justify the extra cost in your opinion. Thanks!

 

[jevery]

Yea, that's a tough question. The difference in cost is significant - As is the difference in speed. All I can say is that now that I've got an SSD, I won't be gitting rid of it anytime soon. Actually I'll be buying another for my Son's rig.

 

[Russ88765]

Wow, speedwise if one ssd 60gb can beat 600gb's of beastly hard drives by that much.. Perhaps a better comparison to make, is what can you get with an ssd that costs the same as 2 velociraptors? I would plan my options around my budget.

 

[87dtna]

If you can deal with the smaller size, SSD is the way to go. It's not all about transfer rates either, it's the access time. Velociraptors are fast because they spin at 10k RPM so they have faster access time. Most 7200 RPM drives have around a 10 millisecond access time give or take. VR's have I think around 6 milliseconds, and SSD's are .1 milliseconds.
The agility 2's are great, very speedy. Like I said, if you don't need the space, SSD's are the way to go. If you can afford it, get two agility's and run them in RAID 0.

I once had three 30gb vertex's in raid 0, and was getting over 600mb/s read speeds and 450mb/s write speeds

 

[kookooshortman55]

Hahah, alright. I mean, looking at the specs the transfer speeds on the SSDs are obviously faster, I was just curious if I would really notice those speed differences under normal computing. Usually those speeds are found from benchmarking programs right?

The capacity doesn't bother me. According to specs the Raptors in RAID should load programs about 2 to 3 times faster than the setup I have now. I was just going to put my OS and programs like Photoshop and AutoCAD on the SSD, which shouldn't take up too much space. And again, most of this depends on what the Black Friday sales look like. If I can find an SSD for a good price, this is where the question comes up.

 

[87dtna]

You will absolutely notice a difference in normal computing, thats where most of the gains are actually which is why an SSD is THE best upgrade for a PC bar none.

I have a 60gb vertex, I don't even have a storage drive and I have everything on it and 2 games which takes the bulk. I still have 5gb free space. I have COD WAW and black ops on it. Actually before black ops I still had almost 20gb of free space. Loading times are waaaaay faster, I'm usually the first to spawn everytime.