2TB for gaming

[KrypticMind]

This thread is a lot like tb4601's thread, but instead of HD movies, I need a new drive under $150 where the primary purpose is gaming. Does gaming require the same things from a drive as HD movies? Anyway, these are the ones I'm considering.

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3EG HD203WI
HITACHI Deskstar HD32000
HITACHI Deskstar 7K2000 HDS722020ALA330
Western Digital Caviar Green WD20EARS

Would the lower RPMs affect gaming much? Then looking at the drives with higher RPMs, I hear they get very hot. As you guys can see, I'm kind of at a loss of which to choose from. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[sub.mesa]

High rpm drives are best as system drives which will see more seeks than a data/download drive that only stores large files.

If you can't afford an SSD, then a 2TB 7200rpm disk would be your best bet, and short-stroke the C: partition and other stuff you want to be in front of the disk; for optimal performance. Large files are best stored at the end of the disk, as these typically do not see random read/writes.

 

[treepop]

High rpm drives are best as system drives which will see more seeks than a data/download drive that only stores large files.

If you can't afford an SSD, then a 2TB 7200rpm disk would be your best bet, and short-stroke the C: partition and other stuff you want to be in front of the disk; for optimal performance. Large files are best stored at the end of the disk, as these typically do not see random read/writes.

what do you mean short stroke? does this mean partition say 100gigs for windows?

 

[Eschertias]

More or less.

For gaming, any regular HDD from the last year or so will be more than adequate. If you're playing online games, you'll find that with an SSD you load the map long before anyone else does, and have to sit there picking your nose for a minute as the server catches up with you.

In almost all cases, random IOPS doesn't mean much on a desktop level drive. The high end WD Black 7200 drives will max out at about 190 IOPS, while the green ones will max out at like 125ish IOPS, and unless your drive is fragmented to hell and back, it won't make much of a difference in game load times.

 

[treepop]

More or less.

For gaming, any regular HDD from the last year or so will be more than adequate. If you're playing online games, you'll find that with an SSD you load the map long before anyone else does, and have to sit there picking your nose for a minute as the server catches up with you.

In almost all cases, random IOPS doesn't mean much on a desktop level drive. The high end WD Black 7200 drives will max out at about 190 IOPS, while the green ones will max out at like 125ish IOPS, and unless your drive is fragmented to hell and back, it won't make much of a difference in game load times.

thanks for the input. I am basically thinking of replacing the HD in my sig. I am not sure how much faster a new HDD will be though.

http://www.frys-electronics-ads.com...stern-Digital-1-5TB-Serial-ATA-300-Hard-Drive

this one looks pretty decent and a decent price.

I have another question. Isn't it true that the larger the drive the faster, since there are more platters and inputs and outputs are parallel? thus more platters = more io

so in the case of the HDD I linked. an HDD with the same technology but 2TB would be faster correct?


thanks

 

[Eschertias]

thanks for the input. I am basically thinking of replacing the HD in my sig. I am not sure how much faster a new HDD will be though.

http://www.frys-electronics-ads.com...stern-Digital-1-5TB-Serial-ATA-300-Hard-Drive

this one looks pretty decent and a decent price.

I have another question. Isn't it true that the larger the drive the faster, since there are more platters and inputs and outputs are parallel? thus more platters = more io

so in the case of the HDD I linked. an HDD with the same technology but 2TB would be faster correct?


thanks

Nope, the read/write heads are fused to a single actuator system, so they aren't able to move independently. Depending on how you look at it, more platters gives it a better chance of having the data it needs near the heads at any given time, but it doesn't make a appreciable difference.

Larger drives have faster sequential IO, because there is more data moving under the heads at any given time period.

I'm not sure how much faster it will be compared to your current one, but I have a whole brick of those drives, and they're working out very nicely in my media server box.

Honestly, if you're really worried about gaming, you should save up a bit and pick up a 60 or 80GB SSD. They're not needed, and most of the time just a fancy extravagance, but if you want the best, they're it.

 

[treepop]

Nope, the read/write heads are fused to a single actuator system, so they aren't able to move independently. Depending on how you look at it, more platters gives it a better chance of having the data it needs near the heads at any given time, but it doesn't make a appreciable difference.

Larger drives have faster sequential IO, because there is more data moving under the heads at any given time period.

I'm not sure how much faster it will be compared to your current one, but I have a whole brick of those drives, and they're working out very nicely in my media server box.

Honestly, if you're really worried about gaming, you should save up a bit and pick up a 60 or 80GB SSD. They're not needed, and most of the time just a fancy extravagance, but if you want the best, they're it.

good to know...it looks like I will just stick with my current drive......even though windows 7 ranks it s 5.4 hehe

 

[E4g1e]

good to know...it looks like I will just stick with my current drive......even though windows 7 ranks it s 5.4 hehe

The WEI score IMHO is near-useless. (That means that it only serves to weed out really sluggish systems because scores of all same-generation systems are too close together to draw any meaningful conclusions.)

 

[KrypticMind]

So... I guess I should go for one of the Hitachi for speed then?