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They cost the same ($85, $86). Both WD, 7200rpm.

60GB, 8MB cache "special edition"
15 (83%)
80GB, 2MB cache
3 (17%)
 
Total votes: 18
 
APWNH
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60GB WD SE w/ 8MB cache, or 80gigs w/ 2MB cache? Same price

Wed Apr 23, 2003 5:37 pm

I might be gettin a hard drive cause this one i have is kinda small, and sometimes very slow. i would use up at the most 40gigs, but more's always better, and i also would like to have it be pretty fast (cache is a factor right?).

it would also be appreciated if someone could make a rough approximation as to how much faster things would be if i got one of these. the one i have right now is:

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/current/ ... el=WD200EB

websites for these two HD's:

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.a ... on=wd600jb

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.a ... 22-144-102

if the poll thing gets screwed thats cause this is my first time making one.
 
crazybus
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Wed Apr 23, 2003 5:55 pm

Personally, I'd get the 80gb SE drive but that's just because I eat up as much disk space as I can get.
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LicketySplit
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Wed Apr 23, 2003 6:16 pm

The 60...not to mention that it has a 3 yr warranty instead of 1...the extra cache makes it faster :wink:
 
APWNH
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Wed Apr 23, 2003 6:29 pm

im just not sure how much the 8MB cache will do to the drive. i would think that something like a 5+% increase in speed would be enough to have me forget the extra 20 gigs. formatting and reinstalling windows once in a while would keep HD usage under 40 gigs. with no viruses an o/s should stay stable for a year, right? i can also always get some other good free AV service cause norton expires 3 months after a reinstall of windows (funny how they let me use the subscription over).

i just get tired sometimes (especially when i used to have like 2 gigs available on my old computer) of looking through add/remove programs and the sea of folders for unused things and downloaded things...

oh, and i would like to know, with the everyday tasks like opening/closing programs especially games, will those things speed up a bit with a faster HDD? or is that with more/faster RAM? like the time needed between clicking "exit" in a game (or pressing Alt+Esc, Windowkey, etc) and reaching a desktop with every texture in the taskbar loaded (maybe Word open)? Im thinking maybe this would be helped much more with say 512 of RAM than with a faster hard drive?

and this question is probably also similar to the one above: faster hard drive=faster virtual ram, right?

and yet another question: is this system gonna last long enough to make such an upgrade a good one? if so or if not, when i get another computer (in 2, 3 years maybe), will these hard drives be P'sOS?

if any of these questions are answerable with a quick googling, tell me before you write a laboriously long post, although if you want to that is totally fine.
 
LicketySplit
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Wed Apr 23, 2003 6:39 pm

Read My Lips:::The faster drive will help in all depts...more memory will help also...as far as you system lasting...well...depends on when u get the bug to upgrade..if you dont want the latest and greatest(like some on this forum...i wont mention Forge's name in vain), it will last you as long as u like. Funny u should mention Norton is only for 3 months? Mine is good for a year, and the next year's subscription is only 10 bucks... :wink:
 
APWNH
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Wed Apr 23, 2003 6:44 pm

lol ok yeah i guess if im lucky ill be able to get both ram and HD. The Norton came with my Dell but its only for 3 months, and then the virus defs stop coming in. and it annoys me with a dialogue box every 2 days... Funny thing is, after i format the drive and start over, i gotta install Windows, right? and the CDs from Dell, right? which comes with the Norton. for 90 days, i get AV again.
 
JustAnEngineer
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Wed Apr 23, 2003 7:07 pm

8MB of cache helps significantly. Higher density also results in higher speed.

40,000,000 bytes:
$ 74 WD 400JB

60,000,000 bytes:
$ 86 WD 600JB
$ 92 Max 6y060p0

80,000,000 bytes:
$ 97 WD 800JB <--- Good Value!
$ 99 Max 6y080p0
$139 Max L01p080 Retail

120,000,000 bytes:
$116 Hit IC35L120AVV207-1 Damage hates "Deathstars"
$128 WD 1200JB
$130 Max 6y120p0
$172 Max L01p120 Retail

160,000,000 bytes:
$177 WD 1600JB
$1?? Max 6y160p0
$249 Max L01p160 Retail

180,000,000 bytes:
$182 Hit IC35L180AVV207
$186 WD 1800JB

200,000,000 bytes:
$209 WD 2000JB "Drivezilla"
$219 Max 6y200p0
$310 Max L01p200 Retail

250,000,000 bytes:
$351 WD 2500JB
 
APWNH
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Wed Apr 23, 2003 7:26 pm

so somethin like that 250 gig monster would be pretty fast too with its 3 "platters". soo 80 gigs are faster than 60 gigs? hmm. too bad they cost so much...
 
sativa
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Wed Apr 23, 2003 7:45 pm

get the 60 gig 8meg cache. you will definitely notice your computer will be speedier.

hell i even noticed the difference and i went from a 7200 2meg drive to the 80gig 8meg WD.
 
Alex
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Wed Apr 23, 2003 7:46 pm

60, for reasons already stated.
 
JustAnEngineer
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Wed Apr 23, 2003 8:01 pm

http://www.storagereview.com/articles/2 ... 0JB_1.html

Storage Review says that the new WD2500JB performs the same as the WD2000JB, except that it's 25% larger.
 
APWNH
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Wed Apr 23, 2003 8:22 pm

cool. now i just have to figure out if my parents'll think its a good idea to do this upgrade. is it a good learning experience, i.e. its somewhat moderately time-consuming, right?

lol i had this huge nice feeling of accomplishment when i modded that MX460 card for it to fit in this machine. next computer im gonna have, im building it. can't wait. now i have to repeat a question (god how many did i ask?): in 2 years, will these 7200rpm 8mb cache drives be worthless, or (as it seems) is hard drive technology not going anywhere real fast right now? cause 5400rpm drives have been around for quite a while as far as i know.

its so weird... $85 seems like a whole lot of $$, but if i was an and made even as little as 50 bucks a day id go and get it cause it definitely would be worth less than 2 days' work!!! now my dad sure as hell makes more than taht.... i DO have a bit of allowance, too... how much is SDRAM nowadays??
 
APWNH
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Wed Apr 23, 2003 8:31 pm

is Apacer (brand of RAM) any good?
 
LicketySplit
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Wed Apr 23, 2003 8:33 pm

Do you realize that 1 1/2 years ago...u couldnt get a 40g 7200 drive for under 125 bucks? :lol:
 
IaMcRaP
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Wed Apr 23, 2003 8:52 pm

I think that JustAnEngineer hit on the important note of the fact that the higher density will give you a higher speed. However, I think more emphasis should be placed on that fact.

My personnal opinion is that the 80gb 2meg cache and the 60gb 8meg cache models will perform about the same. You will also have an extra 20gb thrown in for free. The only thing the JB model has in its favour is the 3 year warranty as opposed to the 1 year warranty(this is not the case in Europe).

I currently have a WD120JB and am impressed with its performance but it suffers from an incredibly annoying harmonic whine. Beware! Previously, I had 2 other 7,200rpm WD drives of lower capacity and neither of them suffered from these acoustics.

N.B. No matter how much space you get you always seem to use it up!
 
eric
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Wed Apr 23, 2003 9:24 pm

60 all the way!!
P4 2.4@ 3.0 Asus P4PE, Corsair PC3200, Leadtek Ti4600, WD 80gig SE, Turtle Beach Sound, Enermax Power
 
PRIME1
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Wed Apr 23, 2003 10:49 pm

According to <a href="http://www.techbargains.com/">TechBargains</a>
Office max is going to have a 120GB WD drive for $70 After Rebate. Starting Sunday

Some of the drives shipped may also be 8MB cache versions. May be worth a shot.
 
yarbo
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Wed Apr 23, 2003 11:09 pm

word too slow? Abiword is very fast. NAV keeps running out of time? AVG Antivirus is free and has free updates forever (and seems faster).

Btw, I think I'd go with the SE for the extra warranty.
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APWNH
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Thu Apr 24, 2003 5:41 am

actually i think the warranty isnt all that important because every appliance thats broke in my house had its warranty expired by a good 2 years. but... guaranteeed to have it for 3 years no matter what is a very good thing.

now IaMcRaP says that the capacity also is a factor on the drive's perf. is this actually that significant coompareed to the 8MB? any more opinions/facts? ill go get some more benchmarks. the thing is, people are saying, get the 60, sooo i think now if i can only spend 85 bucks im gettin the 60 and if i got 100 bucks im definitely gettin the WD800JB. im definitely gettin the SE's with the cache and the warranty and all. thanks people!

im also hunting for cheap 512 sticks of SDRAM now cause i want to see a big improvement with this little sucker... now "generic" brand RAM, i should steer clear of, right?
 
muyuubyou
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Thu Apr 24, 2003 5:50 am

2+ HD configurations rule. Keep a) a fast one with big cache for system+apps and b) a big one for data.

a)60Gigs + 8Mb cache
b)80Gigs + 2Mb cache

I voted for the 60Gigs one because if I were to choose, and I only used 1 HD, that would be the best choice IMO.
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APWNH
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Thu Apr 24, 2003 6:04 am

i probably need the speed more than most people, and with 60 or 80 gigs (if i can get $100) its more than enough space. what do you fill it up with? i do like to make backup CD images of the games and other software that i have, but even that would take up maybe 5 gigs?
 
APWNH
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Thu Apr 24, 2003 7:59 am

!!! wow look what i found:

http://www.bestbuy.com/Detail.asp?m=488 ... e=11162091

$140-60=$80

wd800jb!

but my dad says "what are you gonna use it for" and i say "when we build a system..." "itll be worth nothing then"

well are there any sites or places or anything that says specifically that this thing'll last? its just about my only argument.

well anyone need a top-of-the-line 80gig 8mb cache WD hard drive, go order it on best buy before 4/26! there were other stores with the same thing, just go to techbargain.com, thats where i found it.

well at least i can get some ram.

and this can wait.

aww this sucks.
 
crazybus
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Thu Apr 24, 2003 8:27 am

Dude just buy it........."Where am I going to use all this space?"
Well let me see if you have broadband you can eat all that space in no time. Take me for example. I've got like 15gb of movies, 10gb of cd images, over 5gb of other stuff I've downloaded and of course games like UT2003 take almost 3gb. Don't worry what you're going to do with the space. And about the drive not being worth anything when you get a new computer? What's that about? As long as you look at the $/GB when you buy your drive you're not going to be wasting any money. The bigger drive you buy now the more likely it is going to be useful in the future.
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muyuubyou
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Thu Apr 24, 2003 8:33 am

OK crazybus, but keep in mind that HDs DO GO SOUTH sometimes (earlier than you may expect). Cheapo CD-Rs too. You'd better have back-ups of the things you need or you can lose everything the moment you least expect it.

Better keep the important stuff separated because making back-ups of 80GBs can be really cumbersome. ;)
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APWNH
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Thu Apr 24, 2003 8:54 am

WTF? PC133 is more expensive than PC2700!?

holy crap.

looks like there wont be no upgrade any time soon.....
 
muyuubyou
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Thu Apr 24, 2003 8:59 am

WTF? PC133 is more expensive than PC2700!?

holy crap.

Yep, and PC-100 more expensive than PC-133, and HD<20Gb more expensive than HD=20Gb.

Happens when technologies go mainstream ;)
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crazybus
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Thu Apr 24, 2003 9:01 am

Lol, I should know. My WD died within a week of me getting it. Good thing I didn't have much on it. But yes backups are greatly important. I've got all my important stuff backed up.
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APWNH
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Thu Apr 24, 2003 9:25 am

soo... no upgrade soon, or no upgrade period? prices gonna go down for that ram?

damn a WD800JB is cheaper than some normal or even low-quality 512 SDRAM chip!

didn't i read somewhere that the technology won't allow faster drives than the WDxxxxJB's right now unless we switch to serial ATA. is this serial ATA gonna get mainstream anytime soon?

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