Silent DAW/PC: Raptor or Nidec?

halfpower · Post by **halfpower** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 2:15 pm

I have a silent DAW/PC in the works. I intend to put a second hard drive on while I experiment with some other operating systems. The options I'm considering are a 36GB Raptor ($123), a 74GB Raptor ($180), and a 160GB Samsung with a Nidec motor ($100). I currently have 127GB free on a 160GB SATA Nidec, so a 74GB is definitely large enough and I can probably work with a 36GB drive.

Are the seeks on the Raptor definitely too loud for recording? Would the extra money that could be spent on a Raptor, improve performance more if it were spent on memory instead? I read MikeC's review and the Raptor did not come across as being much louder than a Samsung. Posts by forumites, however, have been less kind to WD. Any thoughts?

Steve Rosenthal · Post by **Steve Rosenthal** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 2:31 pm

What DAW hardware/software are you using (or planning to use) and what's your typical workflow?

--Steve

Shadowknight · Post by **Shadowknight** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 5:26 pm

I've had both a Raptor and a Samsung Nidec in a Smartdrive 2002, resting on foam.

With the Samsung, the seeks were completely silent in that setup (see my sig to get an idea of how quiet my system is), and I could only hear seeks with the case open, with my ear near the Smartdrive.

The Raptor seeks are QUITE audible, (as opposed to Quiet) in the same setup. No idea how loud the seeks would be directly mounted to the case. I've noticed very little speed increase vs. a 7200rpm drive.

If you need minimal noise for your DAW, go with another Samsung, maybe invest in a smartdrive or sumsuch to completely eliminate seek noise, if you haven't already.

atomidude · Post by **atomidude** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 5:43 pm

i owned the two drives, too. had to sell the raptor, doesn't belong in a silent pc

you won't notice any speed improvement unless you are running hdd tests all day. so go for the nidec samsung, atm must be the most silent hdd imho. and if you also get a hdd silenceing solution (i use the silenx enclosure), you got yourself a 160GB hdd as quiet as a CF

Shining Arcanine · Post by **Shining Arcanine** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 7:08 pm

atomidude wrote:i owned the two drives, too. had to sell the raptor, doesn't belong in a silent pc
you won't notice any speed improvement unless you are running hdd tests all day. so go for the nidec samsung, atm must be the most silent hdd imho. and if you also get a hdd silenceing solution (i use the silenx enclosure), you got yourself a 160GB hdd as quiet as a CF

I used to have a 36.7GB Raptor. Then I switched to a 320GB Western Digital Caviar (which is faster than the Samsungs by leaps and bounds) to make things quieter and I definately noticed a performance difference. Things are no longer as responsive as they were with the Raptor and they take longer to do.

atomidude · Post by **atomidude** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 8:58 pm

oh man, what's responsive? HL2 needs an extra 5" to load or something? what i was trying to say in the previous post is that the raptors, while excellent drives, don't belong to the silent computing league. if you wanna put up with all the seek noise, while having the software loading a tad faster or shaving off a few seconds at boot, by all means, use raptors. but if you wanna have a pc so quiet that you turn it off by mistake, thinking it was on, like i do sometimes

, get something like samsung or seagate. the choice is yours.

halfpower · Post by **halfpower** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 3:59 am

Steve Rosenthal wrote:What DAW hardware/software are you using (or planning to use) and what's your typical workflow?

I'm using a 1212M and EmulatorX. At the moment I'm using Cubasis VST4 (which came with the 1212M/EmulatorX package) and Audacity. I will probably upgrade. To what? I don't know. I also have an Asus A8V Deluxe with a Athlon 3500 Winchester, and 2x512MB of PC3200 3-3-3. I'm not a professional though.

halfpower · Post by **halfpower** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 4:59 am

Shining Arcanine wrote:Then I switched to a 320GB Western Digital Caviar (which is faster than the Samsungs by leaps and bounds) to make things quieter and I definately noticed a performance difference.

I'm looing at the specs for the Caviar, and I don't get it. Why would it be any faster than SpinPoint?

madman2003 · Post by **madman2003** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 6:14 am

Higher data density compared to samsung p80,(100+GB platters instead of 80 GB) three platters instead of two platters. Samsung generally has higher latency. Could be more reasons, but these are a few.

Sooty · Post by **Sooty** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 6:25 am

The 74gb Raptor recently got a new FDB motor, which has transformed it from a loud drive to one of the quietest. I think some people here are talking about their experiences with the old version Raptor.

SPCR test of new version.

Shadowknight · Post by **Shadowknight** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 6:59 am

My Raptor is the FDB version. Whine is louder than a Samsung, but still inaudible in a closed case. Still has issues with the seek noise, though, per his original question.

Steve Rosenthal · Post by **Steve Rosenthal** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 12:21 pm

halfpower wrote:
Steve Rosenthal wrote:What DAW hardware/software are you using (or planning to use) and what's your typical workflow?
I'm using a 1212M and EmulatorX. At the moment I'm using Cubasis VST4 (which came with the 1212M/EmulatorX package) and Audacity. I will probably upgrade. To what? I don't know. I also have an Asus A8V Deluxe with a Athlon 3500 Winchester, and 2x512MB of PC3200 3-3-3. I'm not a professional though.

My guess is you wouldn't see much difference in performance with a 10k drive over a 7200RPM drive unless you were doing insane amounts of edits.

I run a digi 002R with a Seagate Cuda in two partitions. (see system 1 in sig) I have yet to see a drive performance-related error when mixing 20 - 32 track sessions (even at 96k). Drive-related noise is virtually inaudible, even under load.

Pick a nice, quiet 7200RPM drive.

--Steve

Shining Arcanine · Post by **Shining Arcanine** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 1:28 pm

atomidude wrote:oh man, what's responsive? HL2 needs an extra 5" to load or something? what i was trying to say in the previous post is that the raptors, while excellent drives, don't belong to the silent computing league. if you wanna put up with all the seek noise, while having the software loading a tad faster or shaving off a few seconds at boot, by all means, use raptors. but if you wanna have a pc so quiet that you turn it off by mistake, thinking it was on, like i do sometimes , get something like samsung or seagate. the choice is yours.

When I said my computer was more responsive with a Raptor, I meant that it was more responsive across the board. I had not played a FPS at any point in the year until yesterday so my definition of responsive doesn't have anything to do with level load times. Nor does it have anything to do with bootup as my computer runs 24x7.

Shining Arcanine · Post by **Shining Arcanine** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 1:33 pm

halfpower wrote:
Shining Arcanine wrote:Then I switched to a 320GB Western Digital Caviar (which is faster than the Samsungs by leaps and bounds) to make things quieter and I definately noticed a performance difference.
I'm looing at the specs for the Caviar, and I don't get it. Why would it be any faster than SpinPoint?

Technically speaking the Caviar hard drives aren't faster than the Spinpoints (just like a 2.13GHz Pentium-M with a 533MHz FSB isn't faster than a 2.13GHz Althon 64 with a 533MHz FSB) as they spin at the same speed (just like identically clocked Pentium-M and Althon 64 processors operate at the same frequency) The Caviar hard drives perform better than the Spinpoints (just like a 2.13GHz Pentium-M with a 533MHz FSB performs better than a 2.13GHz Althon 64 with a 533MHz FSB). This is due to Western Digital's firmware (sort of like how the Pentium-M's higher performance is due to its architecture).

If you don't believe me, just look at Storage Review's benchmarks.