Which Hard Drive is best for me

[aaqibi]

So I am a little confused in purchasing new Hard Drive kindly tell me which is best for me. I am using my PC for Gaming...

1. WD Caviar Black-500GB-WD5001AALS-32MB/7200 RPM
or
2. WD Caviar Green-640GB-WD6400AARS-64MB/7200 RPM

I know that Caviar Black is faster than Caviar Green but the Green one is coming with 64mb cache so i am a little confused because I have read that Black uses much power it's noisy & it gets heat up. So I think that Green would be good because it's less noisy & runs cool.

Also I have read that green runs at 5400rpm how is that possible when company writes 7200rpm in Green specifications.

 

[jdp245]

The spec sheet for the WD6400AARS is here.

The spec sheet for the WD5001AALS is here.

The Caviar Greens actually use a variable rotational speed, so it isn't fair of the retailer to call it a 7200 RPM drive. I don't know what its max speed is, but I thought it was 5400 RPM, like you suggest.

The sustained read/writes for the disks are about the same according to WD, but I would imagine the main difference between them would be latency times. The Caviar Black is likely better there. (Suspiciously, WD leaves this spec out of the Green spec sheet. Hmmm.)

I would go with the Black, all things equal. Better performance, and likely if you are gaming, the HDD sound isn't going to be that big of a deal.

 

[raybob95]

The spec sheet for the WD6400AARS is here.

The spec sheet for the WD5001AALS is here.

The Caviar Greens actually use a variable rotational speed, so it isn't fair of the retailer to call it a 7200 RPM drive. I don't know what its max speed is, but I thought it was 5400 RPM, like you suggest.

The sustained read/writes for the disks are about the same according to WD, but I would imagine the main difference between them would be latency times. The Caviar Black is likely better there. (Suspiciously, WD leaves this spec out of the Green spec sheet. Hmmm.)

I would go with the Black, all things equal. Better performance, and likely if you are gaming, the HDD sound isn't going to be that big of a deal.

NOBODY needs more than 32MB cache or even 16MB unless you're maxxing out a 10,000RPM 2TB Drive.

The Black only uses something like 8W, which is nothing. They only say that the Greens are way more power efficient to gain more money. The Greens use like 5W. That's a 3W difference. NOTHING, compared to the fact that your computer itself uses several hundred watts and that your CPU alone can use over 100. The Black is also not very noisy at all. As for me, I can't hear it over the fans in my PC, and they're not very loud.

Overall, the Black will be much much faster, and more reliable. Plus, you're getting the extra capacity.

Basically, for the Green, you're getting a slow drive for less money. For the Black, you're getting a really fast drive for only a little bit more money.

 

[aaqibi]

NOBODY needs more than 32MB cache or even 16MB unless you're maxxing out a 10,000RPM 2TB Drive.

The Black only uses something like 8W, which is nothing. They only say that the Greens are way more power efficient to gain more money. The Greens use like 5W. That's a 3W difference. NOTHING, compared to the fact that your computer itself uses several hundred watts and that your CPU alone can use over 100. The Black is also not very noisy at all. As for me, I can't hear it over the fans in my PC, and they're not very loud.

Overall, the Black will be much much faster, and more reliable. Plus, you're getting the extra capacity.

Basically, for the Green, you're getting a slow drive for less money. For the Black, you're getting a really fast drive for only a little bit more money.

so then what is exactly the purpose of larger cache memory?
I thought it would impact the speed of read & right the same way cache perform their role in Processor & Rams Architecture.

 

[raybob95]

so then what is exactly the purpose of larger cache memory?
I thought it would impact the speed of read & right the same way cache perform their role in Processor & Rams Architecture.

The higher cache really is just for the spec sheet. Now, if you're running 12 HD Video Streams at the same time, then it MIGHT be faster by like 2 or 3% at the most.

 

[Canuck1]

Well, for what the OS wants, it sounds like for storing games? OP, if you want it for an OS, don't get the Green drive. It will be too slow. I suggest the WD Black but imho, even better would be a Samsung drive. The F1 and F3 SpinPoint are 7200RPM drives. I prefer the Samsung since it is lower power and lower temps than the Caviar Black.

raybob, but, if you are using a storage drive, you might want it lower power and lower heat than a faster drive. I see your point but you don't necessarily need the speed for data but then it also depends how often you will write to the drive and how fast it reads if it is that important but I think read access times are usually comparable among 5400rpm drives. WD Green WDxxEARS are said to be 'fast 5400 RPM drives but that is if the partitions are aligned properly.

 

[raybob95]

Well, for what the OS wants, it sounds like for storing games? OP, if you want it for an OS, don't get the Green drive. It will be too slow. I suggest the WD Black but imho, even better would be a Samsung drive. The F1 and F3 SpinPoint are 7200RPM drives. I prefer the Samsung since it is lower power and lower temps than the Caviar Black.

raybob, but, if you are using a storage drive, you might want it lower power and lower heat than a faster drive. I see your point but you don't necessarily need the speed for data but then it also depends how often you will write to the drive and how fast it reads if it is that important but I think read access times are usually comparable among 5400rpm drives. WD Green WDxxEARS are said to be 'fast 5400 RPM drives but that is if the partitions are aligned properly.

I never said not to buy WD Green Drives. I may soon be getting one myself. I just said that getting them for the lower noise, heat, and mainly Power Consumption is aboslutely ridiculous. Most drives produce almost no noise, don't exceed 40C, or use over 10W. But for people who don't care about performance and want a cheaper drive just for storage, then the Greens are a great idea.

It's like comparing a Ford Taurus to a Ferrari. The Ferrari uses more power (gas), and is way louder. Does that make it a worse car? Depends what you're using it for. If you don't care about performance, go with the Ford Taurus, because it's cheaper and does everything else just fine.

 

[jdp245]

The biggest difference between them in practical terms is probably the warranty. The Black gets 5 years while the Green gets 3.

 

[Canuck1]

It's said that if a drive fails, it will fail early on. That is without any outside interference (not including impact or something).

The WD Black is good but the difference between the Green that I see is the speed, 7200rpm v.s. 5200rpm (Green). One's for an OS and one is strictly for storage. The Samsung drives have both, too, but their OS drive, the F3 series is actually low heat/temps/power so much that its not inconceivable that they could be for storage too (and be faster). I checked the charts here and they are only a few degrees more, are almost just as quiet and maybe 5 watts more. That's not bad. The WD black is not as close.

 

[aaqibi]

Ok guys we have talk much about the Green & Black version but what about the version which comes in between both.
The CAVIAR BLUE

How much powerful is this version because I have read that runs at 7200 rpm also comes with 32mb of cache. How much it is faster than Green one & how much low grade than the Black & why...?

 

[Canuck1]

The Blue ones don't have any less than 750GB yet. I read that larger capacity Blue drives will be released soon. Until the tests and benchmarks, though, I won't comment much about them. My OS drive is a 320GB Blue, though, so I thought they were good enough to get when it came out. I prefer Samsung F3 for an OS drive, though, unless you can get a SSD.

For storage, I am not as particular. However, I think you can't go wrong choosing a Samsung. WD might be okay with the Greens but they have the already mentioned peculiarities.