Raptor 150 GB vs Caviar 750 GB Performance Test
Commentary
Overall the Caviar finished the tests 20 seconds faster than the Raptor; both drives traded blows with each other and were close except in Stalker and Fear which seemed to absolutely love the Caviar for some reason. I tested each drive multiple times in those games to confirm the results. Fear seems to be extremely sensitive to disk performance and I have noticed this in past testing of hard-drives. Also Stalker’s saved game loaded much quicker on the Caviar.
The 150 GB Raptor was the performance king when it was introduced two years ago but clearly advances in 7200 RPM drive technology including perpendicular recording have erased that status, at least as far as these results go. The best part is that the Caviar is a lot quieter (especially when seeking), cooler, lighter plus it has fives times the storage capacity. Additionally it has a much lower cost per gigabyte too.
Conclusion
Realistically if you’re looking for fast game loading times I suggest you consider the latest range of 7200 RPM drives as there are some excellent models with very large capacities and great performance. In many cases they are faster than the 150 GB Raptor and also cost vastly less per GB.
Checking reviews of the latest VelociRaptor you’ll also see 1 TB hard-disks like Western Digital’s Caviar Black still offering very competitive performance to the latest Raptor variant but again, at a far lower cost per GB.
