gogoman123

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Aug 2, 2011
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hi all. i recently put together a new gamin rig. i was using a hdd from my old rig but i recently dropped it and it wont format properly, though otherwise works fine so I dont think it will live long. iam new to all this, the only factors to consider, that i know of, when buying a new hdd are: capacity, spin speed, cache, and interface.
so here are a few hdds iam not sure which one to get:

1.Seagate 500GB 3.5" Barracuda SATA-III 6Gb/s - 7200RPM 16MB Cache:
http://www.ebuyer.com/252857-seagate-500gb-3-5-barracuda-sata-iii-6gb-s-hard-drive-7200rpm-16mb-cache-st3500413as

2.WD 500GB SATAII 32MB Cache - OEM Caviar Green
http://www.ebuyer.com/167819-western-digital-wd5000aads-500gb-hard-drive-sataii-32mb-cache-oem-caviar-wd5000aads

3.WD 500GB 3.5" SATA 6Gb/s Caviar Blue - 7200RPM 16MB Cache
http://www.ebuyer.com/241715-wd-500gb-3-5-sata-6gb-s-caviar-blue-hard-drive-7200rpm-16mb-wd5000aakx

4.WD 750GB 3.5" SATA-II Caviar Green - 7200rpm 64MB Cache
http://www.ebuyer.com/248477-wd-750gb-3-5-sata-ii-caviar-green-hard-drive-7200rpm-64mb-cache-wd7500aars



500gb and 7200rpm is enough for me. is sata3 important? do they even reach that speed? will there be a major difference between 16mb, 32mb and 64mb cache for gaming? should i avoid OEMs or are they ok? is there anything else to watch out for?

thanks
 

ulysses35

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there is very little between HDD's these days, I tend to prefer the Samsung Spin point F series drives (7200 rpm speed) - anything with "Green" in the name is going to be aimed at lower ower systems such as media PC's so avoid them


The fastest drive in youre list is the WD 500GB using SATA 6gbs if your motherboard supports it - though SATA 3 / SATA 6 is backwards compatible


 

gogoman123

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Aug 2, 2011
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thanks all.
@emerald, so out of the 2 u listed, is the WD one a good choice? iam guessing u listed the seagate for more capacity, which doesnt hurt since the price is the same but if the wd one is better, 500gb is enough 4 me. thanks.
 

The Caviar Black has a 5 year warranty and the Seagate is limited to 2 years.
 

gogoman123

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thanks all. i was about to purchase the WD 500GB 3.5" SATA-III Caviar Black Hard Drive - 7200rpm 32MB Cache when i came across this thread:
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=119899

according to that thread, i cannot run win xp on the wd 64mb cache models unless i use some wd software. i was wondering if the model i was going to get http://www.ebuyer.com/246034-wd-500gb-3-5-sata-iii-6gb-s-caviar-black-hard-drive-7200rpm-32mb-wd5002aalx suffers from the same issue

also i read that "mechanical hdds havent saturated sata 2 yet let alone sata 3". in which case, if 2 hdds are identical but one is sata2 and the other is sata3, is there a real benefit to the sata3 or should i just get the sata2 since its cheaper?

thanks