DUAL Velociraptors or SSD

**OleBoy** · January 19th, 2011, 10:24

I'm looking for help because I don't know which is the best approach.

WD VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB (TWO OF THEM) (FOR FSX) $170.00 EA = ----------$340.00

OR

OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTX160G = ----------------------------(For FSX)-------------$310.00
2.5" 160GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

***paulb*** · January 19th, 2011, 10:38

Good question!

I would be very interested in the answer too! I need a new pc for FSX sometime this year.

Forgive me for adding to your question - hope that's OK - but............

There are also (newer?) 450GB Velociraptors - not a lot more expensive, but I think they have a faster transfer time and a larger buffer? This may benefit FSX scenery loading?

With a SSD, are you thinking about also adding a second drive for storage? If I went for a SSD (I could not afford two) then I would need a suitable fast drive (300GB+) for storage.

Cheers

Paul

**OleBoy** · January 19th, 2011, 11:17

I had planned on having the two; (WD3000HLFS 300GB) One for scenery, the other for the rest. I'm not sure that's the best approach either.

I have another for the operating system only.

WD VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10,000rpm (For Operating System) = ----------$90.00

**kilo delta** · January 19th, 2011, 11:37

I'd recommend having the OS on the SSD,rather than the FSX install. If you could manage getting a Velociraptor too,solely for FSX, that would be ideal. 300GB should be big enough unless you're a hoarder like me.

**OleBoy** · January 19th, 2011, 11:43

The OS on the SSD? I never thought of it that way. What's the benefit of going that route? The Velociraptor's not a problem. I had 3 planned from the start. Just trying to narrow things to the better.
.... As far as FSX is, I'm concerned with seek times. I want FSX to be processing the data it needs as fast as possible. Trying to keep things from bogging down.

**Bone** · January 19th, 2011, 11:58

How about an SSD for a dedicated photoscenery drive? Noticebly faster than a Velociraptor?

**kilo delta** · January 20th, 2011, 00:44

It's highly unlikely that the HDD is going to be a bottleneck when it comes to running FSX....certainly not much ,if any, perceivable difference between a 10k Raptor drive and an SSD. Concentrate on the cpu,memory speed and GPU to see the biggest gains in simming.
The reasoning for running the OS on the SSD is that the computer will boot up quicker and the system will operate more fluidly.

Bone, I've my photo scenery on a dedicated SSD drive (went from a WD 150GB Raptor 10k). The reasoning behind this was to help with texture loading and help prevent "blurries" in the photo scenery. I did notice some improvements. Bear in mind that my SSD drives are very old tech at this stage (got them 3 years ago when a 64GB SSD cost £600) and are not nearly as fast as current gen drives.

**FLighT01** · January 20th, 2011, 03:37

I run 2 X 300 V-Raps on my current box. I wish I had a 600 for FSX, the addons really addup in GB's, especially scenery, and I don't even have any photo scenery. I'm just waiting for the dust to settle on SandyBridge to get my second rig rehabed. I am definitely going with a 600 V-Rap for FSX on box 2. 160 couldn't even accommodate my current level of HDD use for FSX. Oh, and yes, 3 years of bullet proof operation with V-Raps (kiss of death).

**Bone** · January 20th, 2011, 05:01

Originally Posted by kilo delta

Bone, I've my photo scenery on a dedicated SSD drive (went from a WD 150GB Raptor 10k). The reasoning behind this was to help with texture loading and help prevent "blurries" in the photo scenery. I did notice some improvements. Bear in mind that my SSD drives are very old tech at this stage (got them 3 years ago when a 64GB SSD cost £600) and are not nearly as fast as current gen drives.

Faster texture loading/reducing blurries is what I'm looking for. Mind you, I don't get a speck of blurries with the Bluesky sceneries, but I do with some of the other stuff when down low and fast.

I've had 150GB Velociraptors for about three years now, and two weeks ago one of them started doing the CLICK_CLICK_CLICK of death. Fortunately, everything is backed up on a Western Digital 1000TB external drive...whew!

Thanks for the tips.

**kilo delta** · January 20th, 2011, 05:11

Originally Posted by Bone

Faster texture loading/reducing blurries is what I'm looking for. Mind you, I don't get a speck of blurries with the Bluesky sceneries, but I do with some of the other stuff when down low and fast.

I've had 150GB Velociraptors for about three years now, and two weeks ago one of them started doing the CLICK_CLICK_CLICK of death. Fortunately, everything is backed up on a Western Digital 1000TB external drive...whew!

Thanks for the tips.

Be sure to overclock your new i7 980x to within an inch of it's life and you'll be in sim nirvana! Let's hope the WD 1TB doesn't suffer the CLICK_CLICK_CLICK too!!! :d

**Bone** · January 20th, 2011, 05:17

Originally Posted by kilo delta

Be sure to overclock your new i7 980x to within an inch of it's life and you'll be in sim nirvana! Let's hope the WD 1TB doesn't suffer the CLICK_CLICK_CLICK too!!! :d

Yes sir, I'll be OC'ing the ba-jesus out of it, lol.

Good point, I guess I need to back up my back up.

**kilo delta** · January 20th, 2011, 05:48

Originally Posted by Bone

Yes sir, I'll be OC'ing the ba-jesus out of it, lol.

Good point, I guess I need to back up my back up.

Ata boy!!! lol

Yep...one thing I've learnt from messing about with photography....don't rely on one form of backup! My HTPC alone has ~4TB of data and I'm gonna need some extra drives to keep that backed up or I'm asking for trouble. I regularly backup to 25GB Blu-ray disks too.

**OleBoy** · January 20th, 2011, 06:05

Thanks for the assist KD. Nows all I have to do is decide on a box to put it in.

**kilo delta** · January 20th, 2011, 06:59

Glad to be of some assistance,Oleboy.

I'm running a Lian Li mid tower case, though if I were building again in the morning I'd definitely consider the full tower Coolermaster HAF932 http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/prod...roduct_id=2810

**OleBoy** · January 20th, 2011, 07:23

I had a chance to get a visual of the HAF cases. I can't say I was tempted. The Thermaltake Speedo is all that catches my eye at the moment. All the good cases (to me) are no longer available. All aluminum fills my need but, rather spendy. A nice mid-tower with convenient top-front or front usb, firewire, headphone array would be nice