Fastest?? F3 vs WD black 640GB vs.Seagate 7200.12 barracuda

[Gunner4250]

Hi,
been hearing a lot about these 3 drives.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395&cm_re=Seagate_7200.12-_-22-148-395-_-Product

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181&cm_re=Samsung_Spinpoint_500GB-_-22-152-181-_-Product

which one is better for the price?
I am really looking for a fast drive to play games

 

[Gunner4250]

oh and every one of those are labeled as 'bare drives'.
does that mean newegg literally hands you a bare drive, will there actually be an antistatic bag?? wouldn't static destroy most drives because the bottom circuitry is exposed?

 

[Gunner4250]

gentle bump (sorry i do need a reply rather soon, ill be ordering them within days)

 

[RetiredChief]

OEM, or Bare drives means that thay is all you get is the drive. No box, no sata cables, and no screws. They do ship wraped in a ESD protected wrap. and the "Peanuts" are the antistatic type.

As to drive's I prefer the WD 640 Black's for quality. I don't think you will find a big "real" life difference in the 3 Drives. Will see differences in benchmarks. Last 4 drives I've bought have been the WD 640 Blacks, ALL oem drives. On Sunday I picked up a Seagate 1 Tbyte drive - still in Box so can not say how it compares.

Only your first link goes straight to the drive.

 

[DutchMunky0890]

I agree on the WD Caviar Black. I have been using one for around a year now and it works great. And back when i bought it benchmarks but it above all 7200 rpm hdd on the market but i can't say that is still the case I just like to assume so.

 

[rofl_my_waffle]

Get the Spinpoint F3. It is faster than the caviar blacks and also much quieter.

The caviar blacks are also good. I would just avoid seagate personally because I had tons of drives fail from them.

 

[Gunner4250]

OEM, or Bare drives means that thay is all you get is the drive. No box, no sata cables, and no screws. They do ship wraped in a ESD protected wrap. and the "Peanuts" are the antistatic type.

As to drive's I prefer the WD 640 Black's for quality. I don't think you will find a big "real" life difference in the 3 Drives. Will see differences in benchmarks. Last 4 drives I've bought have been the WD 640 Blacks, ALL oem drives. On Sunday I picked up a Seagate 1 Tbyte drive - still in Box so can not say how it compares.

Only your first link goes straight to the drive.

for the links, you have to open in a new tab and then you can see the page (strange, but i don't know why)

If I get the OEM drive, is there any cables that I have to buy?? Or are the PSU cable the only ones I need. Do i need to get the 'drive to mobo' cables form elsewhere?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The current generation drives are have higher areal density which equates to 500 GB per platter drives. Check out the performance charts and pick whatever 500 GB per platter drive performs best under your usage patterns. The 2 TB WD Black and XT from Seagate are good choice but at smaller capacities, you are limited to the Seagate 7200.12 or the Spinpoint F3. The 7200.12 excels in gaming, multimedia and pictures whereas the F3 wins at music and movie maker. The 7200.12 also shows significant advantages in surface temps and sound level. See the comparisons here (copy past link in manually, link won't work in forum):

(http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-3.5-desktop-hard-drive-charts/compare,1006.html?prod[2371]=on&prod[2770]=on)

Look at the tests that reflect your usage and choose accordingly.

 

[davcon]

^+1 DOH! i was gonna post that nice one Jack!
Everyone will have different personal experiences when it comes to luck or reliability.
For example i use Seagates and have never had a failure.
Had two WD failures.

 

[1tym]

this article compares a bunch of 500gb HDDs the 640 gb WD is not in there although a 500GB WD Black is in there not sure if it's 500GB platter.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/display/500gb-hdd-roundup.html

i think it would be between Samsung and Seagate because they are newer and use 500GB platter which would be faster, produce less heat and noise.

 

[foscooter]

If I get the OEM drive, is there any cables that I have to buy?? Or are the PSU cable the only ones I need. Do i need to get the 'drive to mobo' cables form elsewhere?

1). 15 pin cable to power the drive from PSU (should be part of the cabling if you have a modern PSU).
2). 7-pin SATA cable from drive to mobo (mobo manufacter may have included a couple if this is a BYOPC).

Make sure you get a SATA cable rated for the drive you want, 3.0Gbps. Some retailers sneek in 1.5Gbps SATA cables even if you buy 3.0 drive. This may "run" the drive, but just be aware of it.

But look into this: Buying OEM drives + the cables to hook it up > a retail boxed version, if this is your first (and only) SATA HDD. Check it out!