Newbie Harddrive Question

[chillz]

hey all, i got a quick question to ask. tho i'm not new to building basic PCs, this is my first attempt at a mid-range gaming rig. the basic specs are:

- Intel Core 2 Quad CPU
- Gigabyte CrossfireX Mobo
- 2x ATI Radeon 4850 vidcards
- 4GB 800MHz DDR2

not the best available components, but they're good enough for the games i play. now i'm looking to upgrade to Vista 64 and want to run it as well as all my games and programs on a dedicated HDD while saving documents and other files on a seperate one. with this in mind, would i see much difference in performance and gameplay between a SATA 10,000rpm 8MB cache HDD and a SATA2 7,200rpm 32MB cache NCQ HDD? and would i see any lag or a lowering of performance if say i'm playing a game off the main HDD while downloading a movie onto the second HDD?

i would greatly appreciate any help yall can provide. thanks!

[gigabit]

I just orderes this.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288

[chillz]

ya, that's actually the SATA2 HDD i'm thinking of getting, tho it's cheaper here:

http://www.infonec.ca/site/main.php?module=detail&id=351220

the SATA HDD i am also thinking of picking up (depending on the answers to my questions) is either the Western Digital WD360GD (8MB cache) or the WD360ADFD (16MB cache).

so again, will i see much difference in performance and gameplay between the SATA and SATA2 HDDs listed above? and would i see any lag or a lowering of performance if say i'm playing a game off the main HDD while downloading a movie onto the second HDD?

[gigabit]

The raptor would be faster,But i dont think it would make much of a differnce for games other than loading a little faster.But from what ive seen these 500GB sata II HD's are pretty fast also.To me its not worth getting raptors unless im gonna put them in raid.Oh one more thing how much is shipping from Infonec?Neweggs is free which might make up the differnce

[meionm]

Pick 640gb western digital
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218

It is better choice than the old raptors. The difference between raptors and regular drives would lay in time for loading maps, after that it would the same.

[chillz]

great, thanks for all the help! i think i will go with a 640GB HDD with a 32MB cache. about $10 more than the one you posted, Meionm, but it's still good value. and Gigabit, there is a shipping charge with Infonec, unless there's one of their retail stores near you of course.

once again, thanks for helping me make my decision guys!

[gigabit]

Dam i didnt see the 640 with 32MB cache:bang head

[tuskenraider]

Dam i didnt see the 640 with 32MB cache:bang headCache is overrated. There isn't one 32MB cache drive that outperforms the best of others of similar size.

[gigabit]

Ive been wanting to test one out

[Amtrak]

A cache size jump from 16mb to 32mb is pretty useless. I'd suggest the 640gb Western Digital, as well - one of the fastest 7200rpm drives available.

[gigabit]

A cache size jump from 16mb to 32mb is pretty useless. I'd suggest the 640gb Western Digital, as well - one of the fastest 7200rpm drives available.
It doesnt really matter for me because its only gonna be a storage drive anyway.Im getting tired of keeping hundreds of CD's and Zip drive disks around.But if it turns out to be faster than my current HD's i may grab a second one for raid.
My current drives suck at loading windows and games.I had 2x120GB Seagate ST3120026AS's with 8mb of cache and they ran circles around my 2xWD RE2 WD1600YS in Raid 0 and they have 16mb of cache so i know that cache doesnt mean that much

[ou_phidelt]

Don't forget the Seagate 640GB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148335&Tpk=640gb), equal to slightly better performance but a longer 5yr warranty.

[Blazing fire]

Don't forget the Seagate 640GB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148335&Tpk=640gb), equal to slightly better performance but a longer 5yr warranty.

Hi, I'm rather skeptical about its performance. Do you have some reviews or comparison done? That would be great! :santa:

[ou_phidelt]

Nope nothing professional just different user reports across various forums.