System Performance helped by HD??

spacedude89 · 04-19-2005, 12:57 AM

how much can a hard drive decrease overall computer performance?
i just built a computer and i used my 2 old 40 gig harddrives, they both have 2mb catches.

my total system specs:

Abit AV8 motherboard
AMD athlon 64 3200+ slot 939
1 gig Corsair XMS ram
radeon 9800 pro
Pioneer DVD/RW
Thermaltake Dreamtower with a 400watt powersupply
2 40 gig hds with 2 mb catche

my overall system performance is kinda suckey, i want to get a 80gig raptor but will this help alot, also im sure i dont have any viruses or adware/spyware, i try to keep nothing running while im on it, except a firewall, norton antivirus and i have my xp skinned with Style xp. i have the startup fixed with msconfig so no unessencial programs start up.

So basicly, will a better hd help me?

ripken2004 · 04-19-2005, 01:06 AM

it will certainly help, what rmp are the ones you have now?

xDarkWizardx · 04-19-2005, 01:25 AM

I personally like the raptors, but Praetor is going to come in here and tell you to get a 16 MB cache hard drive and that the raptors are wastes of money. Don't let him bully you into getting something you don't want though.

**The_Other_One** · 04-19-2005, 01:32 AM

Hehe, from what I've read, the raptors are the fastest drives around. Even compared to the 16m Cache drives, the access time of a 76G raptor is about 4.5ms, and most all other drives are 6+

Plus, Maxtor makes the only 16M cache drive, right? Well I've had about 6 or 7 Maxtor drives die on me! WD and Seagate all the way!

spacedude89 · 04-19-2005, 01:43 AM

my current hd are 7200 rpm

**The_Other_One** · 04-19-2005, 01:53 AM

Yeah, most today are 7200RPM. Older/cheaper ones tend to be around 5200. Laptops, or even older ones are 4200. The Raptors are 10000 which is what really helps out

Of course, there are some 15000, but those are all SCSI and probably out of our range. But hey, if all is set up well, just about any speed can be fast. Check out my laptop with it's 20g 5200RPM drive!

**Praetor** · 04-19-2005, 07:22 AM

Quote:

Hehe, from what I've read, the raptors are the fastest drives around. Even compared to the 16m Cache drives, the access time of a 76G raptor is about 4.5ms, and most all other drives are 6+

Four letters ... S...C...S....I ... or solid-state ... or fibre channel....

xDarkWizardx · 04-20-2005, 05:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Praetor

Four letters ... S...C...S....I ... or solid-state ... or fibre channel....

He said SCSI, but those are way too expensive.
You can get a 36 gig SCSI HDD for about the same price as a 74 gig raptor.

Blue · 04-19-2005, 05:33 PM

faster drives always helps. 7200rpm drives are good enough though 8mb cache is also good enough I find. If your system performance suffers then there must be something with your setup that is not configured properly. It would be good if you mentioned what it is that your doing while noticing performance problems.

I figure it this way. Unless your doing stuff that requires HD performance to be high such as moving large files around etc. then you really need not worry about your 7200rpm drives being the factor in your performance prob. Think of it the same as why it is that Raid setups are useless in most cases.

Beings that you have 2 40gb drives with 2mb cache size then it certainly would not hurt to upgrade those. How high and how fast is up too you.

Edit:

I meant Raid 0 in my explanation. Also dont get me wrong, You'd be better off upgrading those drives to faster ones. You'll have a computer with more pep as your looking for

. Just dont need to go crazy with the drive speeds on the average computer as it will be wasted.

**The_Other_One** · 04-20-2005, 05:38 AM

Solid state? LOL, I wish I could get one of those! It's like 40G for $10K!

Though I have seen compact flash to IDE converters. If you could get your hands one a 4G CF card and one of these, imagin how fast windows would load

04-19-2005, 12:57 AM	#1 (permalink)
spacedude89 Diamond Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Oregon Age: 20 Posts: 1,420	System Performance helped by HD?? how much can a hard drive decrease overall computer performance? i just built a computer and i used my 2 old 40 gig harddrives, they both have 2mb catches. my total system specs: Abit AV8 motherboard AMD athlon 64 3200+ slot 939 1 gig Corsair XMS ram radeon 9800 pro Pioneer DVD/RW Thermaltake Dreamtower with a 400watt powersupply 2 40 gig hds with 2 mb catche my overall system performance is kinda suckey, i want to get a 80gig raptor but will this help alot, also im sure i dont have any viruses or adware/spyware, i try to keep nothing running while im on it, except a firewall, norton antivirus and i have my xp skinned with Style xp. i have the startup fixed with msconfig so no unessencial programs start up. So basicly, will a better hd help me? __________________ Desktop: Abit AW9D-MAX ~ Core 2 Duo E6300 @ 2.4GHz ~ Radeon X1900GT Laptop: HP ~ Core Duo T2050 ~ nVidia 7600 First smiles, then lies. Last comes gunfire.

04-19-2005, 01:25 AM	#3 (permalink)
xDarkWizardx Silver Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 127	I personally like the raptors, but Praetor is going to come in here and tell you to get a 16 MB cache hard drive and that the raptors are wastes of money. Don't let him bully you into getting something you don't want though. __________________ Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe Athlon 64 FX-57 2GB Corsair XMS (2-2-2-5) 2 Western Digital 74GB Raptors (Raid 0) 1 Western Digital 300GB (Storage) Audigy 2 ZS 2 nVidia eVGA GeForce 7800 GTX (SLI) Aspire X-Navigator 500 Watt, 5 Fans Sony 23" LCD (16ms) ^^Dream Computer^^

04-19-2005, 01:32 AM	#4 (permalink)
The_Other_One Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Lexington, NC Age: 25 Posts: 13,432	Hehe, from what I've read, the raptors are the fastest drives around. Even compared to the 16m Cache drives, the access time of a 76G raptor is about 4.5ms, and most all other drives are 6+ Plus, Maxtor makes the only 16M cache drive, right? Well I've had about 6 or 7 Maxtor drives die on me! WD and Seagate all the way! __________________ Primary- i7 920 \| 6GB RAM \| 9800GT \| 160+160+500GB Secondary- Athlon X2 4200 \| 2GB RAM \| 7600GT \| 80+250GB Netbook - Atom N280 \| 2GB RAM \| GMA945\| 160GB

04-19-2005, 01:43 AM	#5 (permalink)
spacedude89 Diamond Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Oregon Age: 20 Posts: 1,420	my current hd are 7200 rpm __________________ Desktop: Abit AW9D-MAX ~ Core 2 Duo E6300 @ 2.4GHz ~ Radeon X1900GT Laptop: HP ~ Core Duo T2050 ~ nVidia 7600 First smiles, then lies. Last comes gunfire.

04-19-2005, 01:53 AM	#6 (permalink)
The_Other_One Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Lexington, NC Age: 25 Posts: 13,432	Yeah, most today are 7200RPM. Older/cheaper ones tend to be around 5200. Laptops, or even older ones are 4200. The Raptors are 10000 which is what really helps out Of course, there are some 15000, but those are all SCSI and probably out of our range. But hey, if all is set up well, just about any speed can be fast. Check out my laptop with it's 20g 5200RPM drive! __________________ Primary- i7 920 \| 6GB RAM \| 9800GT \| 160+160+500GB Secondary- Athlon X2 4200 \| 2GB RAM \| 7600GT \| 80+250GB Netbook - Atom N280 \| 2GB RAM \| GMA945\| 160GB

04-19-2005, 01:06 AM	#2 (permalink)
ripken2004 Platinum Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 534	it will certainly help, what rmp are the ones you have now?

04-19-2005, 05:33 PM	#9 (permalink)
Blue VIP Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: London Ontario Age: 36 Posts: 3,563	faster drives always helps. 7200rpm drives are good enough though 8mb cache is also good enough I find. If your system performance suffers then there must be something with your setup that is not configured properly. It would be good if you mentioned what it is that your doing while noticing performance problems. I figure it this way. Unless your doing stuff that requires HD performance to be high such as moving large files around etc. then you really need not worry about your 7200rpm drives being the factor in your performance prob. Think of it the same as why it is that Raid setups are useless in most cases. Beings that you have 2 40gb drives with 2mb cache size then it certainly would not hurt to upgrade those. How high and how fast is up too you. Edit: I meant Raid 0 in my explanation. Also dont get me wrong, You'd be better off upgrading those drives to faster ones. You'll have a computer with more pep as your looking for . Just dont need to go crazy with the drive speeds on the average computer as it will be wasted. __________________ FOLDING FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND :F@H Team 44358 Last edited by Blue; 04-19-2005 at 05:38 PM.

04-20-2005, 05:38 AM	#10 (permalink)
The_Other_One Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Lexington, NC Age: 25 Posts: 13,432	Solid state? LOL, I wish I could get one of those! It's like 40G for $10K! Though I have seen compact flash to IDE converters. If you could get your hands one a 4G CF card and one of these, imagin how fast windows would load __________________ Primary- i7 920 \| 6GB RAM \| 9800GT \| 160+160+500GB Secondary- Athlon X2 4200 \| 2GB RAM \| 7600GT \| 80+250GB Netbook - Atom N280 \| 2GB RAM \| GMA945\| 160GB

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