15k SAS drive, SSD Drive, or Raptor drive?

[Mr. Gruntsworthy]

So, I'm considering purchasing a nice new drive for my PC so that the boot time, access time, and overall speediness of the drive is increased exponentially (as in the near future I will be using my computer for heavy 3D modelling and related game development work), and am torn on what to consider replacing my 160GB Seagate drive with. (It's not even a fast drive I have at the moment--it's the seagate equivalent to a WD Green drive).

My options:

NCIX.com - Buy IBM 146GB 3.5IN 15K RPM 8MB Hot Swap SAS Hard Drive - IBM - 40K1044 - in Canada
A 15,000 RPM 3.5" SAS hard drive, normally meant for servers. $375. Over what I want to spend, unless the speed is worth it.

NCIX.com - Buy Western Digital Velociraptor WD1500HLFS 150GB SATA 10000RPM 5.5MS 16MB Cache 3.5IN Hard Drive OEM - Western Digital WD - WD1500HLFS - in Canada
A 10,000 RPM 3.5" Velociraptor, 150GB. Much, much cheaper, and is tried, tested and true. $156

NCIX.com - Buy OCZ Vertex 2 Extended Sandforce 120GB 2.5IN SATA2 Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD - OCZ Technology - OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G - in Canada
An OCZ Vertex SSD. 120GB, $190.

Feel free to make suggestions other than the following, but keep in mind:

-- For my boot drive, I have an emphasis of speed over space; but my bare minimum is 120GB.
-- I'd like to not spend over $250, unless that 15k rpm SAS drive is really fast.
-- Noise is of no issue. I actually like a little background white noise, it helps me sleep.
-- Drive will be used for OS and apps installations; media, files, projects, and other things will be stored on a separate WD Green drive.
-- Current PC specs are in sig.

Thanks for taking the time guys :D

[BlueByte]

As long as you have lots of space elsewhere go SSD. I have two Corsairs in raid 0 (just OS and apps no data) and its crazy fast. 496MB read and I forget the writes but a bit slower. IO's are through the roof as well... I have always ran raided drives on my desktop to get that little bit extra but its the access times and small file read write performance that just make the difference with SSD. my last setup was 4 raided SATA drives that toped out at 400MB same read test, but this is just a whole other ball of wax.

[enaberif]

SSD is overall faster in general use than SAS or Raptors

[Perineum]

I'd like to do SSDs but I just don't trust them yet....

Anyone got any ideas on the failure rates?

[LarkStarr]

for heavy 3d modelling work I'd invest in more ram and a quad core 775 chip then an SSD drive, that'll give you the better boost in power.

[Squeetard]

Originally Posted by Perineum

I'd like to do SSDs but I just don't trust them yet....

Anyone got any ideas on the failure rates?

Yea, they are zero. Or at the very least far far more reliable than spindles. Why don't you trust them, do they wink at your wife or something?

To the OP, the only way to exponentially increase storage speed is to go ssd. Or stuff a 10 disk stripe of mech drives in your comp.

[LarkStarr]

and yet, the original vertex drives have had a FLURRY of failures lately... hmmmm... I wouldn't call that zero ;)

[lowfat]

Definitely an SSD. VRaptors are not worth the money anymore and SAS drives and never worth it for a home desktop machine. The difference in performance between your current 160GB and the Vertex 2 should be just outstanding.

[JD]

Another vote for SSD.

And yes, some of the Indillix drives of the past are starting to die out, but that was when things were in their infancy. Perhaps people were rough on them too. Who knows the full story...

I've had a Vertex 60GB in my laptop for just over a year now without issues. And a Vertex 2 120GB in my desktop for 6 months. Both are running great and I keep them up-to-date with firmware.

But as others have said, if you're doing modelling and stuff, I think you should really consider a 4 or 6-core CPU and possibly 8GB+ of RAM too. Possibly a Quadro/FireGL video card too if you really get into things.

[Arinoth]

I would definitely say go for an SSD as you'll see the performance increase using that over a 10k RPM hard drive and wasting your money on a SAS hard drive. Just make sure to run it with a surrogate hard drive to prolong its lifespan.