Western Digital's Raptor series of high performance desktop hard disk drives have been immensely popular since their birth in 2003. These drives have been finding their way into many enthusiasts and gamers rigs as the number one choice at the consumer level.

Fast forward five years and WD see fit a new breed of 10,000RPM beasts to enter the market. Dubbed the "VelociRaptor" series, WD plan to unleash the first model today known as the VR150. Though the official announcement hasn't yet surfaced from WD themselves, PCGamesHardware has managed to source some details on the new drive including images and performance results.

Update: The folks at Tech Report have just dished up a full blown review of the VelociRaptor which you can find here. PC Perspective and Hot Hardware have also followed suit.

Though the new VR150 retains the Raptor's well rounded 10,000RPM spindle speed, this drive is actually quite different to any Raptor we've seen pop up from WD in the past; it is in fact a 2.5" sized drive with 300GB capacity, but it is enclosed in a 3.5-inch IcePack acting as a heatsink for the drive as well as allowing it to be mounted in standard HDD bays.

Some other specs include a 16MB buffer, SATA 3.0 Gbps interface, maximum noise output of 36dBA and an MTBF of 1.4 million hours.

Keep an eye out on Western Digital's website for their official announcement on the new VelociRaptor range over the next day or so.