What to look for, SATA II to SATA III?

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I've just filled my second Samsung HD321kj and think it;s time to spec up a bit. What exactly should I be looking for when aiming for better performance? Is it as obvious as a faster RPM, larger cache and SATA III? or have I just jumped into false thinking? I'm currently looking at a 750GB, 7200 RPM, 64MB, SATA III HDD (WD7502AAEX)

Another question, if I pick up a SATA III HDD will I be able to get the 6GB/s with an PCI adapter? (I was told you wont get 6GB/s SATA III with a SATA II MOBO. true or false?) What PCI will it use and will it suck a chunk more power from my rig?

Thanks

Nix
 
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SATA 3 offers no noticable benefit with a HDD.

A HDD isn't fast enough to get near saturating the bandwidth of SATA 2.

The drive is the limitation, not the interface.

HDD prices are silly at the moment but if you're getting one then rather than spending £150 on a WD7502AAEX spend £120 on a Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB
 
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So in terms of RPM and Cache is faster/bigger better?

I'm not too bothered about a large amount of memory really 750G will suffice, obviously if a larger size is cheaper then it's no brainer but I have the current WD7502AAEX on order for £57 including postage although I have to check to see if this is still available at this price or at all considering the floods.
 
As a rough rule faster RPM drives will transfer data faster than slower RPM drives but there are other factors such as platter density to take into account.

Cache size makes no difference that you'd notice without a benchmark.

If you have a drive on order at £57 then stick with it and hope it turns up.
 
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