tough decision on: Maxtor 8mb cache or WD regular

Ok i have a 100$ store credit at best buy, the Maxtor 8mb cache 80gb came for 99$ after rebates and WD 60gb (2 mb buffer) came for 59$ after rebates...

now i dont need the extra capacity, but does the speed difference warrant the extra money? I heard the WD's had higher access times? now thats important to me, i dont mind waiting two seconds longer on an install, but when i click something i want it to fly accross the screen lol...so tell me is the maxtor that much faster?

and anything else you might suggest that is worthwhile for 40$ at BB if i get the WD? i wanted new speakers but all the ones that were better than 2.1 are more than that ....

now i dont need the extra capacity, but does the speed difference warrant the extra money? I heard the WD's had higher access times? now thats important to me, i dont mind waiting two seconds longer on an install, but when i click something i want it to fly accross the screen lol...so tell me is the maxtor that much faster?

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the maxtor is not that faster, access time 8.9ms vs 9.5ms??! the difference is small, but the 8Mb cache actually helps a lot, your games will load faster raw transfer speed should be 20-30% faster

you dont HAVE to use the credit right now do you, its not going to expire or anything right? So why not just wait till you see something you really want, or if you want new speakers save some cash and then combine that with your credit.

WyrmMaster said:

you dont HAVE to use the credit right now do you, its not going to expire or anything right? So why not just wait till you see something you really want, or if you want new speakers save some cash and then combine that with your credit.

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well the thing is that i have been running a 5400 rpm drive, and im getting impatient, i dont think i have the heart to return both of these shiny wrapped boxes...i really want a new harddrive, and if indeed there is a 30% increase in loading times, then ill keep the maxtor, but i havent been able to find any reviews for it, only the SEs, speakers i can live without, im not too picky and the 2 60watt speakers that came with my sony home stereo are decent....

thanks for the advice, and keep it coming

ahh, yah, in that case you do need a faster drive

I dont know how it compares to the WD se, but when i went from my IBM 60gxp to my WD se there was a noticible difference, and a huge benchmark difference (atto harddrive benchmark). I would say get the maxtor, you should be able to use the space someday right?

thanks, yeah ill probably be keeping the nice hard drive

You sure there isnt a WD Special Edition drive there with the 8MB cache that you can get instead? Maybe they can order one or something... I dunno, that's what I'd recommend.

-YB

WD drives run hot and loud compared to maxtors. I have both kinds. The maxtor special edition is a diamondmax 9 plus drive, meaning it has DLB. These berrings allow the drive to be extremely quiet and cool running allowing a longer lifetime despite most users abusing their hdds with excessive heat. the 8MB cache helps with caching fs data like filenames to directories or even small files that are repetively accessed or written to. If you're in the business of using the hdd for mass storage of large files then it's not going to end up making a big deal of difference if any at all. Since you're dealing with files well over 8MB in size, heh. The fact that it's 7200 rpm and not 5400 simply means your response time is going to be quite noticably faster but in the end, transferrate is the same for a 7200rpm ata133 drive than the exact same kind but in 5400rpm. also read the partition thread because the advantage of the faster access time of the larger new drive may be wasted scurrying around trying to find files intersperced in your GB upon GB of other various files. So going from a smaller drive to a larger drive may get worse over time

So it depends on what you're going to use the drive for. rotational speed and cache make more of a deal when you are dealing with numerous tiny files with not many large files in the filesystem. More important is the longevetity of the drive. DLB is going to extend the life of your drive likely a considerable amount. If i saw a maxtor 8mb cache and wd 8mb cache drive of the same size and speed I'd choose the maxtor for that fact alone. I run my drives 24/7 with the only downtime being a half day to drive from school to home or vice versa at the end of semesters. I know a wd will be louder and hotter running so they're not my preference. But I have both kinds of drives in my computer and i haven't had one die on me in a very long time from either company. But i also have a quiet case fan passing cool air directly over them in a little hdd rack I made so they aren't running in temperatures over spec.