Is it possible to quiet one of those new Raptor 10k 74GBers?

gourdo_1 · Post by **gourdo_1** » Tue Jan 06, 2004 9:10 pm

I'll answer this question for you: Yes it is, with elastic suspension as described at the top of this forum. And my gosh, how well it works.

The WD740GD (GD stands for gosh darn) Raptor is curently the reigning 10k RPM performance champ, the fastest SATA drive on the market, rivaling even 15k SCSIs for speed.

So I bought one the other week for close to $300 (ouch) and put it in my Antec SLK3700. I also bought one of the most silent performance drives on the market, the Samsung 1614C, figuring that would be my silence goal to achieve with the Raptor.

The Raptor idles very quietly indeed, for a 10k RPM screamer... but let me tell you: it seeks like the 9GB LVD SCSI seagate I've used for years at work. It kinda sounds like there is a little elf playing a snare drum in my case when I boot Windows (though it's so fast to load that he stops playing after the first two notes).

Those little rubber grommets that go in the 3-1/2" drive bays do muffle HDD sounds a bit, but the Raptor is still way loud when seeking (subjectively speaking of course)...

So I ripped the old elastic out of an old pair of boxers I hadn't worn in a while and suspended the drive in a 5-1/4" drive bay just to judge what kind of effect it might have.

Night and day. I can't hear the drive idle at all now, and I can barely hear it seek over the noise of the Zalman 7000 CPu fan when the case is closed. It is quieter both idling and seeking than the Samsung with grommets.

So, the only problem is a bit of extra heat (hits 46C under heavy load according to dtemp), which can be rectified by hanging a fan behind the 5-1/4" drive bays as seen elsewhere on this forum.

I can't believe how easy it was. No elaborate HD sandwich, no expensive encolsure and i'm convinced this WAS one of the loudest seeking drives out there.
--Gordo

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 7:09 am

Hopefully you washed the boxers first.

gourdo_1 · Post by **gourdo_1** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 10:20 am

Ralf Hutter wrote:Hopefully you washed the boxers first.

Yes, of course they were clean

That was only a mock-up anyway, I'm going to suspend both drives with some fresh elastic.

hyperslug · Post by **hyperslug** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 3:36 pm

gourdo_1 wrote:
Ralf Hutter wrote:Hopefully you washed the boxers first.
Yes, of course they were clean

That was only a mock-up anyway, I'm going to suspend both drives with some fresh elastic.

...from your briefs?

gourdo_1 · Post by **gourdo_1** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 3:56 pm

hyperslug wrote:...from your briefs?

I knew I shouldn't have mentioned where I got the elastic from. Live and learn I suppose.

JimK · Post by **JimK** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 4:57 pm

Gordo,

No nasty comments fron me. Just a big THANKS. These are the two drives I am planning to use in a 3700 BQE when I build a new rig next month.

Great to hear from someone on this forum about how they really perform. Also nice to hear that they actually are fairly quiet.

Jim

hyperslug · Post by **hyperslug** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 8:19 pm

Yeah I'm just kidding. I too am really glad to hear your input on the Raptor, especially its potential for near silence. I'm not keen on sacrificing performance when it comes to hard drives b/c they're often the bottleneck.

mpteach · Post by **mpteach** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 8:40 pm

I think certain slow loading forum websites are the bottleneck

halcyon · Post by **halcyon** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 10:57 am

Thanks Gordo!

Now only if the price was 200 USD cheaper

gourdo_1 · Post by **gourdo_1** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 6:32 pm

hyperslug wrote:Yeah I'm just kidding. I too am really glad to hear your input on the Raptor, especially its potential for near silence. I'm not keen on sacrificing performance when it comes to hard drives b/c they're often the bottleneck.

This is so true. Many folks think you need a gazzion gigahertz processor to end up with a fast computer, probably because that's what Intel would like you to think. I suppose it depends on what you do primarily. If you're into flight simulators, 3d animation rendering and video encoding, you can adequately utilize a lot of CPU horsepower, but it's amazing how often a fast hard drive and sufficient RAM is overlooked by budget conscious cosumers in favor of the lastest greatest Intel or AMD offering (because 3GHz is so much better than 2.4!).

I've always focused on matching components and a fast hard drive has so many performance benefits especially in modern operating systems like WinXP that it's silly to ignore it. Yet if you buy a Dell or other big name box, you have no idea what kind of drive you're getting.

Putz · Post by **Putz** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 10:46 pm

I second this opinion. I have believed this for years.

mpteach · Post by **mpteach** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 9:53 am

true, i third the opinion.

I went went several months with a 40 conductor ribbion on my HD untill i read these forums and saw the light.

halcyon · Post by **halcyon** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 2:48 pm

Amen.

Now if I could just get my SCSI performance (the feel of it) back that I have never ever been able to replicate even with the fastest IDE drives, regardless of how they bench.

Must be the tagged command queueing and wiser bus mastering cards that cause it, but even my slow 7200 rpm scsi disks made my system fly whereas my brand spanking new 7200 rpm fastest SATA drives seem so much more cpu bound and laggy.

Hoping that NCQ drives and controllers for SATA will finally hit mainstream this year.

Currently we only have Seagate 7200.7 (100GB/platter version only) and WD 70+ GB Raptor disks that offer NCQ.

And the only controller that I know of that offers NCQ is SIL3124, which AFAIK is not even available for PCI (PCI-X only).

Yeah, fast and plentiful I/O can really help your system a lot.

hyperslug · Post by **hyperslug** » Sat Jan 10, 2004 5:29 am

Well I'm more concerned about consistency than speed. Once I've set it to a task, fast or slow I really don't care. But I absolutely cannot stand it when my computer gives me the hourglass while the hard drive grinds away desperately trying to catch up. It's like being put on hold. "Dude! I paid $1000 for you! When I click, you better do something!"

SCSI is the only thing that jumps at my command.

Trip · Post by **Trip** » Thu Feb 05, 2004 12:30 am

Gourdo, if you didn't have the Zalman 7000 then I'd fully believe you but that CPU fan is reputedly a little loud.

Sorry, I have to ask to be certain: how did you compare the grommetted Samsung and the suspended Raptor? I mean you unplugged one, listened, and then unplugged the other? Could you stop the CPU/PSU/etc. fans for a minute and listen more closely?

Does the seek have a high pitch? When you are trying to study, do you randomly get the urge to rip the drive out and toss it out the window? Just thinking of my old Deskstar makes my ears ring!

Have you considered an enclosure for the drive? and why haven't you suspended your Samsung? If I understood you correctly it is now the loudest component in your system. RAM sinks on the side of the HDD may have a similar effect to this and allow you to more quietly run the fan that cools your HDD.

Great work! I just wanted to be certain. Even if you don't think it is quiet enough for MikeC, I am still impressed that you tamed a raptor well enough to enjoy. You may have the only suspended raptor in America - at least the only suspended one made using only a pair of boxer shorts.

Rumor has it that Mike hides one deep within his gaming rig, disguised as a Spinpoint

'nuthern ina smartdrive