July 2004 Extreme Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 4

Storage

Two Western Digital Raptor 74GB SATA, 10000 RPM w/8-MB Cache

Current Cost: $368
Months on list: 4
Price Change: -$42

As SATA drives continue to take a much greater hold of the overall hard drive market, the old PATA technology will continue to be pushed out until SATA finally becomes standard. For the greater part of a year, our Intel and AMD Extreme systems have come equipped with support for Serial ATA RAID, it's only natural that we take advantage of it for added performance. Considering we like to squeeze every ounce of speed from our systems that we can, the additional performance a dual-disk RAID 0 array is a welcome feature. For those of you who consider data integrity more important than pure speed, we recommend you use a RAID 1 array, where the second drive acts as a mirror of the first, keeping your data safe should one hard drive fail.

Currently, there is no higher-end Serial ATA drive than the Western Digital 74GB Raptor, and if one is good, then and two running in RAID 0 mode is even better. The Western Digital Raptor drives are some of the fastest SATA hardware on the market, with a blazingly fast 10,000 RPM spindle speed, 8MB of cache, and 74GBs of storage. With only 74GBs of storage, and priced at $184 each these drives are very expensive, but certainly worth it for the extra performance.

CD-ROM/DVD-RW: NEC 8X Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW ND-2510A

Cost: $79
Months on list: New
Price Change: N/A

This month we are upgrading to a dual-layer capable DVD recorder, as native burning of dual-layer media will come in handy when low-cost media hits the market. Considering the ultra low price of DVD burners in general, finding one that does the dual-format and dual-layer dance for under $100 is not particularly difficult. The NEC ND-2510A has become an instant classic among bargain hunters and power users alike. The drive features speeds of 8X for DVD+-/R, 4X DVD+-/RW, 2.4X DVD+R DL, 32X CD-R and 16X CD-RW, and can be found at various places online for a measly $79 - an incredible bargain considering the capabilities of this drive.

The NEC ND-2510A is available with either a black or beige faceplate, which allows you to mix and match according to personal preference .

Floppy Disk Drive: Generic 1.44 Floppy Disk Drive

Cost: $8

For those of you who still continue to cling onto the age-old technology of 1.44MB floppy disks we still include one in our extreme machine. Any old floppy drive will do, but we recommend sticking to a known brand like Panasonic, Sony or similar.