WD 2TB 7200 RPM?

[macmert1981]

Hey to you all, my hard drive recently malfunctioned and now I need to replace it, the thing is, my system is three years old, I have an old MSI motherboard (which I can not remember the model) and I even have an 8800 GTS on it... So it is an old PC but it was doing ok by me since I dont play many of the new games (I find most of them boring, but that is another case).

1. I did a little digging and found Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB 64MB 3,5" WD20EARS, but in Tom's Hardware it says the disk is 5400 RPM, the retailer says it is 7200 RPM. Which one is true?

2. Since I am trying to buy a disk that has good performance, what do you guys suggest? I am pretty sure my motherboard doesn't support SATA III so I don't prefer buying a SATA III disk, I may consider it if it is affordable.

3. Do you think WD 20 EARS is enough for a gaming machine? Keep in mind that I will buy this HDD around 120$ so do you think it is a good bargain or should I look for alternatives?

Thank you all...

 

[Rusting In Peace]

1. Pretty sure this drive is in fact 5400RPM

2. Don't use a green drive because you won't get suitable performance. SATA2 is not saturated by single HDDs so forget SATA3 because only high end SSDs in raid 0 make good use of SATA3.

3. Whilst this drive will work I can't say I'd recommend it for your gaming machine unless you mean to use this drive only for storage.

 

[Hawkeye22]

1. The drive varies it's speed between 5400 and 7200.

2. The drive varies it's speed, because it's an green drive, not a performance drive. It will sacrifice performance for less power. I suggest a WD Black drive.

3. The price is decent on the green drive, but green drives are for data storage, not gaming or for your OS, at least not in your situation.

 

[j2j663]

I own 3 of the WD 15 EARS drives. If you go onto WD website you can read more about them. Basically they are power saving drives so they have an "intelligent" controller in them that lets them vary the drive speed. It will not go lower than 5400 and it will not go higher than 7200.

I could not tell you about the performance of a single drive as I have mine in a raid 0 array (well backed up of course) to improve the performance. But from the reviews I read they are meant to be power saving drive that you can leave on 24/7, they were not built for speed. If you have another drive that you can put games and your OS, it will be a great storage drive.

Basically it comes down to your preferences. It is not going to crawl, but at the same time you will definitely notice snappier performance from say a WD black drive.

Oh and +1 to Rusting In Peace about the SATA3, you will never saturate a SATA2 connection with a single HDD so if I were you I would actually avoid paying the premium for a HDD that has a SATA3 connection.

[edit] Sorry Hawkeye we were apparently writing the same message at the same time, but you beat me to it.

 

[jsc]

1. Pretty sure this drive is in fact 5400RPM

Actually, the WD website doesn't say what the speed is.

Ilike the Greens for storage.

 

[macmert1981]

So Black for performance, green for storage...

Can you suggest an alternative then? Maybe Seagate? Or Samsung's later models?

 

[Hawkeye22]

So Black for performance, green for storage...

Can you suggest an alternative then? Maybe Seagate? Or Samsung's later models?

Yes, WD green for storage, blue for balanced, black for performance.

I haven't got any samsung F4's, but I hear good things about them. If price is an issue, I'm sure either will be fine.

 

[klsdivan]

I thought that the F4's are green drives and not 7200rpm, F3's are 7200 and are good value for money at least in the UK they are. F3's are not as good as WD Black but you would find it hard to tell the difference

 

[Rusting In Peace]

I think if you really want a performance drive and you don't want to go to a SSD then you should be picking up a VelociRaptor. That's the 150GB version which should be enough for your games and OS.

 

[Hawkeye22]

I thought that the F4's are green drives and not 7200rpm, F3's are 7200 and are good value for money at least in the UK they are. F3's are not as good as WD Black but you would find it hard to tell the difference

The F4 series consists of more than one drive. This is a 7200rpm drive.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152244&cm_re=samsung_f4-_-22-152-244-_-Product

 

[lakewoodadam]

I would recommend the Samsung 1.5TB F4 Green for back-up and storage only, if you want some performance get a F3 1TB or even two in RAID0.

 

[macmert1981]

I will look for a black WD then... I also have an external 1TB WD and I am quite satisfied with it, so I guess I will have another WD...