western digital caviar black

kingshaun2k · 23 Jan 2011 at 00:26

Can anyone tell me if this storage device is any good

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-336-WD

I'm currently using the 32mb cache one but i'm sure its broken so i'm buying another or would you recommend a different one to this?

Would i see any improvement over the 32mb cache one?

My Specs are:-

- Intel i7 2.8Ghz @ 3.6Ghz
- 6GB Ram
- Asus P6TD
- Ati 5970
- Western Digital Caviar Black 32mb cache (640gb) (Think its broken)
- Windows 7 64bit
- Titan Fenrir Cooler

kingshaun2k · 23 Jan 2011 at 00:29

I also use this computer for gaming!

SylverFyre · 23 Jan 2011 at 02:24

I replied in your thread in the optical storage part of the boards - oops

gropingmantis · 23 Jan 2011 at 09:42

I use one and it's great. I've noticed a significant improvement in boot times and game loads as well as file transfers. I'm using the SATA 6Gbps port on my motherboard. Previous drive was a 320GB Caviar Blue.

rpstewart · 23 Jan 2011 at 09:43

Depending on the age of the 640Gb drive you may see a speed improvement if the 1Tb has denser platters (I've lost track of which drive has what these days).

The larger cache and SATAIII interface will make no discernible difference to performance.

appletree · 23 Jan 2011 at 17:24

rpstewart said:
Depending on the age of the 640Gb drive you may see a speed improvement if the 1Tb has denser platters (I've lost track of which drive has what these days).

Yes the 1TB version has a 500 GB platters whereas 640GB version doesn't. I have both at my work PC which is no coincidence as both are among the best performing drives you can buy (for OS and general usage) unless you want to go to 10K rpm HDDs or SSDs. Note however that larger platters help only in sequential transfer speeds (where the 1TB version is slightly faster) otherwise it is difficult to distinguish. For example I remember seeing reviews where older 320/333GB platter Black drives scored slightly above 500GB platter in certain tests (but it was an older 1TB model which is now discontinued - not the 640GB one if I remember correctly). It's always difficult to say how the drive will perform just from the specifications but as already said increased cache size adds very little to nothing in performance.