how quiet are raptor drives?

TheBuzzer · Post by **TheBuzzer** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 2:21 pm

Just wondering. i am planning on getting 2x 72gb raptor drives. I am also planning to get another storage drive to store all the other stuff.

I am wondering how noisy is the raptor drive compared to other drive.

If it is the same amount of noise as the 720gb seagate drive, I might get the 720gb drive.

falcon26 · Post by **falcon26** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 3:47 pm

raptors are loud as hell imo...I had one for about a week and returned it. It was fast as hell but the noise was just too much...

Jordan · Post by **Jordan** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 8:02 am

I remember SPCR reporting that the noise of the Raptors was pretty damn good when idling but loud with very obvious noise characteristics when seeking.

EDIT: Read here http://www.silentpcreview.com/article246-page1.html

jdunning · Post by **jdunning** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 12:22 pm

I just built a rig with a 74GB Raptor suspended in an Antec Solo case. The only time I can sort of hear it is if it's doing a lot of seeking. I'm pretty happy with it so far.

I don't know that I'd use two, though. One makes a lot of sense for the OS and apps, but you can get a 400 - 500 GB drive for the same price, so the speed premium is fairly steep.

MC FLMJIG · Post by **MC FLMJIG** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 8:44 pm

I love Raptors.

@ idle it is MORE silent than a WD 250GB, When seeking it is slightly louder.

The WD 250 also has a slight hum to it.

Jordan · Post by **Jordan** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 6:28 am

jdunning wrote: I don't know that I'd use two, though. One makes a lot of sense for the OS and apps, but you can get a 400 - 500 GB drive for the same price, so the speed premium is fairly steep.

Gotta agree with that. There's not much benefit to RAID0ing Raptors, either.

speedlever · Post by **speedlever** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 7:25 am

I just built a rig with a 74GB Raptor suspended in an Antec Solo case. The only time I can sort of hear it is if it's doing a lot of seeking.

That is what I wanted to know. Do you find any heat issues with the Raptor in your Solo?

I plan to add 2x92mm Nexus fans to the front of my Solo and am considering the 74Gb Raptor for OS/programs along with a Samsung HD321JK 320Gb for storage.

Did you try the soft grommets with your Raptor in the Solo case or just the suspension only?

nick705 · Post by **nick705** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 3:07 pm

speedlever wrote: Did you try the soft grommets with your Raptor in the Solo case or just the suspension only?

I used to have an older generation 74GB Raptor in a P150 - however I mounted it, either in the trays or the suspension, the seek noise was unavoidable. It was slightly less intrusive using the suspension, but you could still hear it clearly even with music playing at a moderate volume. It wasn't really that bad I suppose (in fact I quite liked it), but I'm using a roughly Raptor-sized (100GB) OS partition on the fast outer sectors of a 500GB Samsung for my new build (suspended in a Solo), and it's eerily silent in comparison.

My thinking was that by short-stroking the drive for the OS's use I might approach the Raptor's overall performance, even with the unavoidable higher latency as a result of the lower RPM. I'm using an additional 500GB Samsung for data - as a bonus I have the remaining 400GB partition on the boot drive for seldom used data, first-stage backups from the primary data drive, etc, etc.

I'm not sure how valid this approach is in reality, or if short stroking gives any advantage these days, but subjectively the Samsung "feels" at least as snappy, although it's hard to make a direct comparison as the system as a whole is considerably faster. Much as I liked my old Raptor, I can't help but suspect that for the most part it's perceived speed advantage was as much psychological as real (the loud seeks may have played a part here).

The Raptor didn't seem to run particularly hot BTW - 40 or so at most under load, even without any front fans in the P150. I don't know about the newer WD740ADFD, but with one platter as opposed to two I should think it would be cooler if anything.

It's worth bearing in mind that if you do get a Raptor as an OS drive and find the seek noise tiresome to live with, the drive isn't really much use for anything else due to its low capacity - you could retire it to a remote server or stick it in a USB enclosure, but it makes for an expensive bit bucket...

digitalfeed · Post by **digitalfeed** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 6:34 pm

I found the Raptor hard mounted in my brother's cheap flimsy aluminum standard computer case to be louder than my Seagate hard drive. That being said, I can describe the seeks more muffled compared to mine. My hard drive's seeks are quite sharp. I didn't mind the seek noise from the Raptor though. The idle noise was unnoticeable even hard mounted. In his setup, we were concerned with speed rather than noise so it was a slight comprimise. If the seeks a bit bothersome, I'm sure an enclosure would help muffle it some more.

speedlever · Post by **speedlever** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 9:17 pm

Hmm. Well, from a cost perspective, I can get an 80Gb drive for about $40. The Raptor will run about $140 on sale.

Still, I'd be willing to pay that premium if the performance is there and the noise/heat can be easily dealt with in the Solo case by suspension mount and fans.

However, if the real performance is only marginally better than other 7.2k drives (considering heat and coolant issues), then I might as well save the $$ and get a smallish Seagate or Samsung HD.

jdunning · Post by **jdunning** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 1:10 am

speedlever wrote:That is what I wanted to know. Do you find any heat issues with the Raptor in your Solo?
...
Did you try the soft grommets with your Raptor in the Solo case or just the suspension only?

No heat issues here. The Raptor is suspended in the top slot, with a 500GB WD5000KS suspended below it (I haven't tried the grommets). With the rear TriCool on low and a single $3.99 80mm fan in the front undervolted (maybe ~7V?) the Raptor is idling at about 34 C, with the WD around 37 C, according to SpeedFan (thanks to Towermax). I'd always thought of the Raptors as loud and hot, so I've been pleasantly surprised.

nick705 · Post by **nick705** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 1:59 am

speedlever wrote:Hmm. Well, from a cost perspective, I can get an 80Gb drive for about $40. The Raptor will run about $140 on sale.

Still, I'd be willing to pay that premium if the performance is there and the noise/heat can be easily dealt with in the Solo case by suspension mount and fans.

However, if the real performance is only marginally better than other 7.2k drives (considering heat and coolant issues), then I might as well save the $$ and get a smallish Seagate or Samsung HD.

I doubt if a small (80GB) 7200rpm drive will have the performance of a bigger (say >250GB) drive - it will have a relatively low areal density and will need longer seeks to traverse the same amount of data, all without the Raptor's high RPM to compensate.

I'm not trying to put you off the Raptor - it's unnecessary for my needs, but I'm getting less tolerant of noise as I get older and my priorities have changed somewhat. If the seek noise doesn't bother you that much and you like the idea of having the current state of the art performance-wise (even if it's largely theoretical), I'm sure you'll be very happy with it. The seeks aren't *that* bad - the noise is nowhere near as offensive as, say, the idle whine from a 7200.10, and as you say you can mitigate it to some extent by fiddling around with different mounting methods.

In fact, you should probably get one anyway, just to satisfy your curiosity and stop you constantly wondering if it would have been a better option...

roadie · Post by **roadie** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 3:34 am

My Raptor 74Gb has been quieter and cooler than both of my Maxtors from new. All drives are suspended via stretch magic in my case.

MC FLMJIG · Post by **MC FLMJIG** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 4:17 am

Once you've used a Rapt it's very difficult to go back to a reg drive.

Quieter until it has HEAVY seeking.

speedlever · Post by **speedlever** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 5:34 am

Good feedback folks. Thanks a bunch.

My current rig has so much fan noise that most anything I do has to be an improvement. It's always been pretty noisy. I think I've replaced every component in it except for 1 optical drive and the intake and exhaust fans. It started life as an Asus A7V/AMD Thunderbird 1 Gb CPU box running W2k.

Current rig:
P4S533, Old Antec case
P4-2.4 Northwood
eVGA 6600GT