OK... I originally was set on Two Raptors 150G X 2 @10,000 RPM = $500Then, I was thinking... Maybe install 250G X 2 @7200 RPM = $160 and then later when I do the DX10 upgrade, add the Raptors as well.What would be the performance difference between the 10K vs 7.2K RPM? Is it worth the upgrade and can I have two sets of RAID 0 if I decide to add the RAPTOR pair later on?Manny

As fast as a 10,000 RPM sounds like it would be, the theoretical best it could perform is 33% faster than a 7200 RPM drive based on RPM alone. I'm sure the practical and measurable improvement is much lower than this.I'd be interested in others knowledge and experience in this area also. Gary

check other specs on the drive like onboard caching. But a third better performance is nothing to sneeze at.

Yea, except in FS, with enough RAM, I've found the majority of HDD access is in the intial loading. Once you are flying, HDD access is minimal and ocassional so 33% performance is hard to notice. Case in point is I notice neglible difference between my desktop rig HDD running at 7200 RPM versus my notbook at 5400 RPM once FS is up and running.Gary

The 3gb/s 7200 hd's with 16mb cache are pretty nice...I have been using the 250gb WD Cavier SE16's...I like them allot...I have never run 2 of them in a Raid0 array before though...I am sure there are other brand names that would perform equal to/or better than those...I see some folks mentioning a Hitachi Drive...I forget which one(model)...I guess I got sorta stuck on the WD's...I have run the 36gb Raptors and the 150gb Raptors as lone/single drives and in Raid0 arrays...I normally have the WD Cavier as a SATA drive for storage/back-up...I Would Not consider the Raptors in Raid0 to be a 1/3 performance boost...I have no way to quantify that...There are HD performance tests you can do...I have not gotten into that...I'm just judging by "Feel"?? If that makes any sense?? I'm sure there are guru's out there that know all about spec's and HD performance...I'm not claiming to be one of them... :( I'd go out on a limb and say...The Raptors in a Raid0 array may offer about 10% over a nice 7200 SATA hd...Again...not sure how that would stack up against two nice 7200 hd in Raid0??Now I'm kinda/sorta pulling those #'s out of my ___...But then again I'm not...I have a buddy..on another forum(engineer type) who actually know's how to use some of that hd measuring stuff...He accumulated some data...I'll see if I can find that thread...It's pretty old by now...In a nutshell...In the testing he did it equated to the Raptors in a Raid0 array lending about 10%...If I remember correctly..He did his testing using two 74gb Raptors...The Raptor150's are suppose to be a tad bit quicker than the older 36gb or 74gb Raptors...Not that I personally can tell any difference... :-shy $340 is allot of money...I wish I had done some Raid with my Caviers in the past so I'd have some good info to pass along...I may do that in the future...As it turns out..I need to get some more hd's for my 4000+ system which I was suppose to have back up and running by now...But it's turned into a parts machine instead and is still not running...I may just get some nice 7200's and try them in Raid0...So...Not too sure if I helped or hurt here... :-hah ...But there is my .02...Have Fun!!

You talking about this Chuck?http://www.pcw.co.uk/personal-computer-wor...t-p120s-sp2504cThe reason I want a good/fast raid HD is.. in FS9, I was using Megascenery. I was getting blurries. I want to beat those blurries. Its only going to get worse in FSX.:)MannyI found one at newegg.com http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...5&CMP=OTC-C173TIts only available in OEM. For a HD does it matter? what comes in the retail pack that does not come in an OEM? the manual and the cable? Do I really need the manual? I can always buy a cable. Wouldn't I need the driver for the HD?

There are some nice 7200 hd's which use 16mb cache...That is what I was thinking of...Hummm..not ever seen that Samsung before...OEM is Kewl...That's the only way I've ever purchased a Hard Drive...I assume your right about the cable and manuel vs "Retail"?? Not sure what you would need a manuel for?? If you needed it for some reason..You can normally download it from the hd manufacturers website...Hard drives are pretty much just a hard drive...not allot of overhead with them..he heYou will get cabels with your motherboard so that's not an issue...No hard drive specific drivers required...Only SATA/Raid drivers which will also be supplied with the motherboard...Here are a couple of 3gb/s 16mb cache drives similar to what I was thinking of...The one I have expierence with: (P.S. use to be more expensive..:( )http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16822144701Some other's I've never used...(I'd like to reserch these myself for the 4000+...)..http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16822148155http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16822145134Note...With SATA drives...Notice the SATA interface...You'll see:SATA 150 (150mb per second data transfer rate)SATA(II) 3gb/s (300mb per second data transfer rate)That is where the nice 7200 hd's make up a bit...Some are using the 3gb/s SATAII interface along with the 16mb cache...Thus slightly closing the gap on the Raptors...Now this is a little misleading!! That data transfer rate is limited buy a bunch of technical stuff that I can't begin to explain...In another nutshell...You really dont get 300mb per second data transfer rate...It's like a burst type of thing and is also limited by some busses and other technical junk I can't remember...Which equals out to the Raptors still being faster(Even though they are the SATA 150 interface) due to the 10000 RPM thingy...But the do cost some bucks...So it's all relative...Hope this helps??Edit: P.S. Now you want Fast: (See Important!!)http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16822141141Important!! That is a SCSI Hard Drive and requires A)Money B)Motherboard which will support SCSI C)Knowledge beyond my capabilities..Thus only shown here for Entertainment purposes!! However...Some of the Dudes, Geeks, HardCore guys are running SCSI...Pronounced sku

I think Samsung is the world's slowest drive. But it is also one of the quietest.Here's my data running HD tach. I have a dual raptor 36Gb / 10K Sata 1.5 RAID0 and a WD 7.2K SE16 250Gb Sata 1.5:................ Raptor Array....... single WD 7200Burst speed.....199.7 Mb/sec.........131.9 Mb/secRandom access.....8.6 ms...............13.2 msCPU utilization.....4%...................0%Average read.......71.9 Mb/sec..........46.4 Mb/secInteresting that the RAID array is faster, but uses more CPU (maybe that makes sense). Not sure how that stacks up in FS9 though.Note that this is on an NF3 250 plus chipset. the RAID is on Sata 3/4 which is supposed to be faster than 1/2.scott s..

Kewl..I looked up HD Tach...I ran on my single WD Cavier 250gb SataII 3gb/s 16mb cache...Here are my results:Burst speed.....165.0 Mb/secRandom access.....13.3 msCPU utilization.....2%Average read.......52.8 Mb/secThat's interesting...Falls in between your SATA 150 Cavier and your Raptors in Raid...Kinda works as advertized...I have to go to work...I'll be interested to test the FX-57 system later tonight...I'll try and see if I can get a reading on a single Raptor to toss in the mix also...This is neat!!Have Fun!!

FYI --CompUSA has the Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB Hard Drive(7200RPM, 300 MB/s transfer rate ) on sale for for $60 after rebates this week (9/18_JRR

Its a mail in rebate of $60. I have never used the mail in rebates. Do they really pay it on time? This costs $$119.99.Manny

>You talking about this Chuck?>>http://www.pcw.co.uk/personal-computer-wor...t-p120s-sp2504c>>The reason I want a good/fast raid HD is.. in FS9, I was using>Megascenery. I was getting blurries. I want to beat those>blurries. Its only going to get worse in FSX.Manny, how is a faster hd going to affect the blurries? Have I missed something? I've always seen that the blurries were the result of gfx card running out of mem and the cpu not being able to keep up. (Actually technically, the program itself was starving the texture rendering of cpu cycles.)RhettAMD 3700+, eVGA 7800GT 256, ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8, etc. etc.

>>Edit: P.S. Now you want Fast: (See Important!!)>http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16822141141>>Important!! That is a SCSI Hard Drive and requires A)Money>B)Motherboard which will support SCSI C)Knowledge beyond my>capabilities..Thus only shown here for Entertainment>purposes!! However...Some of the Dudes, Geeks, HardCore guys>are running SCSI...Pronounced sku

Well, Rhett.From what I understand from the Megascenery forum, their advice for blurries is to tweek in such a way, the disk is defragged and then do an alphabet sort such that the megascenery folders named "AA_mega...." are placed on the outer cylinder of the disk and what not.. .which leads me to believe its to do with faster access to the files.That was my reasoning behind it .Manny

>Kewl..I looked up HD Tach...I ran on my single WD Cavier>250gb SataII 3gb/s 16mb cache...Here are my results:>>Burst speed.....165.0 Mb/sec>Random access.....13.3 ms>CPU utilization.....2%>Average read.......52.8 Mb/sec>I have HD Tach too. And I also have a single WD 250 gig SATA3/16mb cache hard drive. I am going to run HD Tach on it and compare what I get with what you've got. If that was run on your FX57, it will be interesting to see if your faster cpu affects the throughput any as reported by HD Tach.RhettAMD 3700+, eVGA 7800GT 256, ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8, etc. etc.