Final Piece: which hard drive?

[askandrewask]

Hey all!

Thanks to your help, I've been able to complete my computer without any problems. I love you toms =D

However, the reason for this question is that I'm using my mom's old 34gb IDE hard drive, temporarily. It sucks... really bad, and i want a fresh install of windows seven on a good hard drive.

the question, is:

what hard drive should I buy? I don't need any more than 250gb, since my old computer I barely pushed past the 200gb mark. At the moment I just play games, and I don't want to spend more than about 60 dollars.

My system is:

i7 860
radeon 4770
MSi gd65 mobo
gskill 2x2gb ripjaws
liteon optical drive
700w power supply
HAF 932 case
(crappy) 34gb harddrive

I have been thinking about seagate barracuda 7200.12 250/500gb, or spinpoint F3 250/500gb
however, I'm not sure if the famed f3/barracuda speeds hold up at the 250 gb lvl. Please don't recommend caviar black unless it fits my budget

I prefer to use the Egg, but I have a microcenter near my house.

Thanks for your answers in advance!

(Best answer wasnt necesarily the best individual answer, but the total amount of help. thanks!)

 

[gracefully]

the denser the platters, and the less platters there are, the faster the drive. If you can, get the 500GB variants. I think the F3 is better there.

 

[askandrewask]

I've heard about the platter density factor before, but im no enthusiast, i just want a computer that will run great. if its a difference of a millisecond or two, then i might go with the cheaper one. so.. is there a greatly noticeable differnce in speeds in denser platters?

 

[gracefully]

Maybe a few, say 5-8 MB/s. But then again,they are probably running at 60+MB/s anyway. You're talking about milliseconds, you might be referring to access time. That's a different thing altogether. Access time is vital for random I/O. However, mechanical HDs suck at random I/O anyway, so if you're just an average user, you don't need to pay it much attention.

 

[askandrewask]

hey, i just found a sale going on, for the baracuda 500gb, but its the 7200.9... was this one of the defective families, like the .11 family?

 

[gracefully]

Typically, newer hard drivers are better, faster, and more energy-efficient. I wouldn't suggest getting an older model unless there's a really good bargain for it.

 

[daft]

even if its a bargain, i wouldn't get it. even if you do. i wouldn't suggest putting anything you can not risk losing. i own the 7200.12 500GB. its very nice. i can often get real transfer rates upwards of 90+MB/s when transferring between drives or over gigabit network to another 7200.12 drive. i would suggest it

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Hard Drives - Check out the performance charts and pick whatever 500 GB per platter drive performs best under your usage patterns. The 2 TB WD Black and XT from Seagate are good choice but at smaller capacities, you are limited to the Seagate 7200.12 or the Spinpoint F3. The 7200.12 excels in gaming, multimedia and pictures whereas the F3 wins at music and movie maker. See the comparisons here (copy past link in manually, link won't work in forum):

(http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-3.5-desktop-hard-drive-charts/compare,1006.html?prod[2371]=on&prod[2770]=on)

Look at the tests that reflect your usage and choose accordingly.

I'd drop down to the HAF 922 and a 500 - 650 watt PSU unless you are doing serious OC's and thinking twin GFX cards. A Corsait CX or VX would be a good match for the HAF's. Unfortunately, newegg's combos for the 933/932 only offer OCZ PSU's which have had mixed reviews ....some good / some bad. Here's some other Combo Options:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCombos.aspx?Item=N82E16811129058&SubCategory=7&SortField=0&PageSize=10&page=1

 

[askandrewask]

thanks for the info guys, and Jack, thanks for the link for hard drive performance, I looked at my budget decided to screw it and get the cheapest one, and go for a raid array with nicer drives sometime when im richer. 500gb F3's in my future i see . anyway, thanks everyone =D.

 

[askandrewask]

Best answer selected by askandrewask.