Hardware News

Western Digital VelociRaptor 600GB HDD Reviews

Patrick "MACMAC" MacMillan

2010-04-08 11:00:00.0


Hardware Secrets, LanOC, and PC Perspective have reviewed the just launched VelociRaptor 600GB hard drive, the latest 10,000 RPM enthusiast HDD from Western Digital.

Let's see what they had to say:

  • Hardware Secrets:

    "The good news is that this new performance level comes with a interesting price tag: the 300 GB VelociRaptor can be found for USD 240, so we are talking about a 37% price increase for 100% more storage and 25%-30% more performance. That’s a terrific deal in our book.

    If you need storage space and performance, we think the new VelociRaptor 600 GB is the perfect choice for its target audience (database servers and very high-end desktops). If you don’t need that much storage space, you can pick the new 450 GB model and save a little bit."


    Click here to read the full review.


  • LanOC:

    "I included the price per GB graph to give everyone an idea of the value of the new Velociraptor. A MSRP of $328 for the 600 GB and $299 for the 450GB may seem a little pricy. But when you figure the capacity and performance you get, it’s not a bad deal. The Velociraptor is for the enthusiast who doesn’t want to compromise capacity with their performance. When I first heard Western Digital was bringing out an update to the Velociraptor I was hoping to see a switch to the ultra-fast 15k RPM drives, but they did manage to pick up a nice boost over the last models. It looks like the standard hard drive still has a little fight left in it!"


    /review/hardware/storage/2950-western-digital-velociraptor-600gb]Click here[/link] to read the full review.


  • PC Perspective:

    "The new VelociRaptor 600GB offers great performance at a *lower* cost/GB than its predecessor. While most of the specs match the older 300GB model, the increased platter density gave a nice boost to sequential transfer rates. The dual core processor and SATA 6Gb/sec interface are welcome improvements to the Raptor line, but since HDD's barely challenge SATA 3Gb/sec, the move to 6Gb/sec in this arena appears to be more future-proofing than ground breaking at present. Mixed random access workload testing puts the new model roughly on-par with the older 300GB Raptor. All in all, the new 600GB VelociRaptor continues Western Digital's trend of squeezing as much performance as possible out of SATA Hard Disk Drives."


    Click here to read the full review.

While this may be the best consumer HDD ever, it is a poor value to my eyes. For the same price ($328), you can buy an Intel X25-M G2 80GB and a 1.5TB HDD, which will provide you both superior performance and storage capacity.

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