Western Digital VelociRaptor WD6000HLHX

While you probably wouldn’t stick the VelociRaptor into an enterprise-class server, it’s ideal for a home server –
whether you’re streaming media about the place, hosting online games or running your own website from a hall closet. It’s also ideal for hardcore gaming machines, where disk speed really does make a difference: not often during gameplay, but at those load screens when you’re starting up a game, saving, loading or moving from area to area.

At its core, the VelociRaptor is a 2.5-inch hard drive: the 3.5-inch model we tested just ships encased in a solid metal heatsink with pass-through SATA connections. You’re really going to want the 3.5-inch model for the confines of a high-spec gaming case, as this little drive puts out a fair amount of heat and that heatsink helps disperse it.

So, why not buy one today? Well, the only objection I can see is price. At $449, the 600GB VelociRaptor is literally four times the price of some 1TB 7200RPM drives. Capacity is dirt-cheap: performance and reliability aren’t.
Altogether, an excellent choice for heavy disk-users – I might pick up one for my own gaming machine if my hardware budget ever recuperates enough to allow it.