Is 8MB cache REALLY that good?

[Darthtanion]

For those who have been mulling over the idea of picking up one of the 80GB WD drives with the 8MB cache, but don't know if there is any real difference, there is. After picking one up myself, I compared it to a Seagate Barracuda IV drive, which isn't really a slouch in it's own right. The results are below in the screens I took of HD Tach 2.61

Oh, and for those who are diehard Sandra fans, the results were something like this:
* Seagate - 22,833
*WD - 32,230

Simple math tells us that the new WD drive scored a very impressive 41.1% higher than the Seagate. :D

[aznx]

the seagates have always been significantly slower, but quite:)

the new 7200s are somewhat faster though

[Suicide]

Quiet yes, and also extremely reliable... I've used seagate drives for YEARS and have yet to have to RMA one single drive... only screwed one seagate drive, and that was due to well, my own stupidity at the time, I physically damaged the drive (remember kids, drinking and computing don't mix :D) IBM drives, fast yes, I've had to send back plenty in the last 6 years. Fewer problems with the IBM drives i've used, than with the maxtor's i've had... but that's a whole other topic :)

Oh and so ya know :) My score for my 60GB Seagate Barracuda IV, 7200rpm, 2MB cache, was 26540 in sandra... a far cry from 22,833 :) (Oh and that was with accoustic managment enabled... I'm sure if I disable it, and run that test again, I'll score an extra few points)

[Onebadass]

My Maxtor 120GB 7200rpm 8mb buffer is noticably quicker than my WD 120mb 7200rpm with only a 2 mb buffer, I've tried both seperatly on the same system and beleive me there is a big difference in the speed programs will open up, plus the 8 mb cached drive is so quite compared to the clicking, overworked 2mb drive, its amazing. 8 mb cache is the way to go for the larger drives in my opinion, I'm not sure if it would be as noticable on smaller drives.

[tukinnam]

one way to look at the difference between 2mb cache vs 8mb is a SDRAM vs DDR.. and there is a difference there

[Darthtanion]

the seagates have always been significantly slower, but quite:)

the new 7200s are somewhat faster though

The Seagate drive tested was a 7200RPM model.

[Wiggo]

I have a WD Protege 40GB (5400rpm) here and it does better than the Barra IV 60GB hdd I have which turned me to WD fulltime. The WD BB series is now my selected budget system hdd while the JB series is for outright performance systems (numbers can't be ignored especially when ya can feel it as well). Sorry but Maxtors tend to die real quick when the PCI bus is overclocked and I like my PCI bus pumped a bit.

[aznx]

lol darth, not the seagate ata iv...the 7200.7s are faster, the iv is an older generation

[FLaCo]

I'm using a 40JB for my job's comp at my desk and man...when you compare it to my other co workers' computers...good stuff...total ownage.