16mb cache vs 64mb (which HDD is better for gaming?)

[LambentTyto]

I'd like to know which of these hard drives is better for gaming, and will the lesser of the two interfere in any ways if I were to choose it?

Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840

Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148767

Thanks

 

[IRONBATMAN]

I personally prefer Western Digital , but Seagate's Hard Drives should be alright. I don't think the Hard Drives would interfere in the actual game, but maybe some applications would take a few more seconds to load.

 

[dextermat]

Hi,

For gaming you won't see any difference. I would get a western digital black for it's 5 years warranty!

 

[LambentTyto]

I personally prefer Western Digital , but Seagate's Hard Drives should be alright. I don't think the Hard Drives would interfere in the actual game, but maybe some applications would take a few more seconds to load.

I hope so, because I'm about to save a nice little chunk on this 16mb cache one. It's half the size and $10 less, but it's about to go on a black November sale!

 

[geofelt]

A hard drive is used in gaming primarily for launch and level loads. Possibly for checkpoints.
The characteristics of a drive are largely irrelevant.

If you need 1tb, buy that.
Otherwise, the 500gb unit is just indistinguishable to you for gaming(and most other uses too)
Virtually nothing will ever be repeatedly found in cache, so it should not be a selection criteria.

Have you considered using a SSD instead? A ssd will make everything you do feel so much quicker.
It will be 50x faster in random I/o and 3x faster in sequential than the best 10k hard drive.

120gb will hold the os and a handful of games. With 240gb, you may never need a hard drive at all. It is easy to add a hard drive later for storage of large files such as videos or backups.
Look to the Samsung EVO.

 

[LambentTyto]

Hi,

For gaming you won't see any difference. I would get a western digital black for it's 5 years warranty!

I live in Ecuador and I'm having someone who's moving down here bring the parts. I warranty doesn't serve be very well because the shipping back to the states, and then back to Ecuador is prohibitive. I'd rather just go with the cheapest HDD I possibly can.

 

[LambentTyto]

A hard drive is used in gaming primarily for launch and level loads. Possibly for checkpoints.
The characteristics of a drive are largely irrelevant.

If you need 1tb, buy that.
Otherwise, the 500gb unit is just indistinguishable to you for gaming(and most other uses too)
Virtually nothing will ever be repeatedly found in cache, so it should not be a selection criteria.

Have you considered using a SSD instead? A ssd will make everything you do feel so much quicker.
It will be 50x faster in random I/o and 3x faster in sequential than the best 10k hard drive.

120gb will hold the os and a handful of games. With 240gb, you may never need a hard drive at all. It is easy to add a hard drive later for storage of large files such as videos or backups.
Look to the Samsung EVO.

I'm on a tight budget or else I would get an SSD.

 

[geofelt]

Since warranty is not valuable to you, and RMA is a problem, you may want to read this slightly old report on component review rates.
WD seems to do a bit better.
http://www.behardware.com/articles/881-6/components-returns-rates-7.html