• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

What hard drive for me?

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

Gregory_WE

Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2002
I've had my old WD800JB (80GB IDE w/ 8MB cache) for over 4 years now and I think it's time for a new one... it's getting awfully loud (I don't remember it being the loudest part of my system - it's just a constant spinning noise, I didn't notice it was the hard drive for a while because it sounds like it could just be a loud fan), and I can use an upgrade anyways.

Anyways, here are my needs:

-Don't want to spend all that much money, I'd like to keep it under $100 but may spend a little more if the performance would be worth it.
-I don't really care about how much space it has, I'm only using like 40 of the 80 GB of my current hard drive.
-Performance is big, although it's not like I'm doing a lot of transfers or unzipping or anything like that. So, I mainly just care about gaming and normal everyday usage.

I've looked at the Seagate 7200.10 320GB, and it seems like it'd be a good choice. I think between that and the Western Digitals with 16MB of cache I'd choose the Seagate, but if you have anything that would convince me otherwise, then I'd love to know. But, I'm also considering a Raptor... probably a 74GB one. How much better would one be (either 8MB or 16MB) than the Seagate? I could buy one used and get it cheaper that way. But, if the Raptor would only be slightly faster than the Seagate (hardly noticeable), then I'd definitely go with the Seagate.
 
As an owner of 3 different generations of Raptors, the newest is the best bet for ultimate performance, but most expensive at $160 for a 74GB. If your not multi-tasking a lot and therefore would benefit from the Raptors quick seek times, just get the 320GB Seagate for $90.
 
Back