new hard drive

[boka_do]

Im going to get a new 120GB drive and am looking at 2 by different
companies.
drive 1 is a ata133 and 2 MB buffer
the other 1 is a ata100 with a 8 MB buffer.
for a gamer what is better a higher ata or a higher buffer
all other specs are the same

 

[V W Wall]

Im going to get a new 120GB drive and am looking at 2 by different
companies.
drive 1 is a ata133 and 2 MB buffer
the other 1 is a ata100 with a 8 MB buffer.
for a gamer what is better a higher ata or a higher buffer
all other specs are the same

No drive now made can saturate even the ATA66 interface, although the
7200RPM ones are coming close. I assume both drives are 7200. The
larger buffer may be more useful. The SATA drives start out at 150,
but the drive mechanics can't come close to that speed.

I've noticed that some drives with 8 MB buffers come with a
3 year guarantee.

Virg Wall

 

[xyzzy]

boka_do wrote:

No drive now made can saturate even the ATA66 interface, although the
7200RPM ones are coming close. I assume both drives are 7200. The
larger buffer may be more useful. The SATA drives start out at 150,
but the drive mechanics can't come close to that speed.

I've noticed that some drives with 8 MB buffers come with a
3 year guarantee.

Not only the extra interface bandwidth but also the extra buffer is
pretty useless in practice. ATA100/2MB/120GB is the sweet spot for
HD's right now. I believe Samsung has good (3yr) warranty on some of
their drives.

 

[DaveW]

100 ATA with 8MB cache will play games slightly faster.

 

[kony]

Im going to get a new 120GB drive and am looking at 2 by different
companies.
drive 1 is a ata133 and 2 MB buffer
the other 1 is a ata100 with a 8 MB buffer.
for a gamer what is better a higher ata or a higher buffer
all other specs are the same

"For a gamer", spend the least amount possible on a (modern) hard
drive, and put the saved $ into a newer video card, sooner.


Dave