Computer Builds

[whiteshadow]

Okay definitely 3.5” HDD drive needed. Seen quite a few bad reports on Seagate with errors (got a 2-5 year warranty though) so not sure if to spunk on one yet. Maybe a WD Black or Blue?

Does anyone have an HDD/Hybrid they’d recommend as a storage drive?

I used to get Western Digital Black HDD's all the time, which are faster but in reality you won't notice any great difference in speed when being used for gaming and general day to day tasks, over a Western Digital Blue.

Imo, unless you are a power user, the WD Blacks aren't worth the extra money.

 

[Nymzee]

I used to get Western Digital Black HDD's all the time, which are faster but in reality you won't notice any great difference in speed when being used for gaming and general day to day tasks, over a Western Digital Blue.

Imo, unless you are a power user, the WD Blacks aren't worth the extra money.

Hey, no this drive is simply to store photos/movies/music/docs etc. so I just want something reliable and cost effective.

 

[whiteshadow]

Hey, no this drive is simply to store photos/movies/music/docs etc. so I just want something reliable and cost effective.

I'd go for the WD Blue HDD.

I have a 4TB WD Blue in my system along with an SSD and 2 other HDD's.

I was hesitant about buying it at first but it works great for gaming and day to day use.

 

[Nymzee]

I'd go for the WD Blue HDD.

I have a 4TB WD Blue in my system along with an SSD and 2 other HDD's.

I was hesitant about buying it at first but it works great for gaming and day to day use.

I can't find a 4TB above 5,400rpm unfortunately.

Think I'm going to go with one of these two: Seagate FireCuda 2TB or Seagate BarraCuda 2TB

Leaning more towards the latter just due to price.

 

[Nymzee]

Actually, if I'm only storing music/pics etc. on it does it even matter if I go for 7,200rpm? 5,400 is much cheaper for much larger drives.

These two 5,400rpm drives come in at a similar price however with similar cache sizes. Can anyone explain the importance of larger cache size? All the failure horror stories from Seagate are putting me off.

WD Blue 4TB (64MB Cache)
Seagate BarraCuda 4TB (256MB Cache)

 

[whiteshadow]

I can't find a 4TB above 5,400rpm unfortunately.

Think I'm going to go with one of these two: Seagate FireCuda 2TB or Seagate BarraCuda 2TB

Leaning more towards the latter just due to price.

WD Cavier Blue is the 7200rpm variety.

 

[Gwladys St. Glory]

Actually, if I'm only storing music/pics etc. on it does it even matter if I go for 7,200rpm?

Nope...

 

[Nymzee]

Actually, if I'm only storing music/pics etc. on it does it even matter if I go for 7,200rpm? 5,400 is much cheaper for much larger drives.

These two 5,400rpm drives come in at a similar price however with similar cache sizes. Can anyone explain the importance of larger cache size? All the failure horror stories from Seagate are putting me off.

WD Blue 4TB (64MB Cache)
Seagate BarraCuda 4TB (256MB Cache)

Which of these two do you reckon then @Gwladys St. Glory ?

 

[Gwladys St. Glory]

@Nymzee

In regards to the RAM issue, the main thing you may have to do to keep it stable, if it isn't from the get-go, is get and set the main specs (clock, RAS, CAS, tRAS, tRC delays etc) for that model in the BIOS, manually. Sound worse than it is but it can fix some instability issues.

 

[Tipp blue]

Couldn't find an unlocked thread anymore on computer building/upgrading so thought I'd open this... with the advent on the complete myth that is Black Friday sales it got me thinking maybe I'll treat myself to some new bits for Christmas. My PC was a custom order off CyberPower back in 2011 so, yeh, old. Only new part I've added is a graphics card last year.

I've just ordered a new Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SSD drive inc. mounting bracket and a new 4TB external hard drive as I've never owned one before. However, can anyone look at my spec below and recommend any cheapish improvements? I game a lot on my PC but it just seems to run slow in general now, games crash etc. I've upgraded all my software, drivers etc. and defragged so I know it's not that. I'm completely dense when it comes to PC's in reality.

CPU: i7 960 Quad 3.20Ghz
HDD: 1TB HDD / 1TB SSD (needs installing and I need to learn how to move my OS over to the faster drive)
Memory: 6GB (3x2GB)
Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 1050Ti 4GB
Motherboard: ASUS P6X58D-E Intel X58
Power: 700W
WiFI: Linksys WUSB6300 AC1200 (I do plug straight in from router now though)

Have you tried turning it off and back on again?

 

[Gwladys St. Glory]

Which of these two do you reckon then @Gwladys St. Glory ?

HDD's are mostly down to personal taste/experience...I've yet to have either a Seagate or WD go bad on me but plenty of others have. If the majority of specs are the same, take your pick. The Seagate does have more cache but that's a bit irrelevant if you're just using as media storage. You could re-purpose your old 1TB drive and slap it in an external enclosure, such as:

Amazon product ASIN B00LS5NFQ2
for media storage and put the new on in the PC, which is what I'd do...just depends on what's best for you.

 

[Nymzee]

HDD's are mostly down to personal taste/experience...I've yet to have either a Seagate or WD go bad on me but plenty of others have. If the majority of specs are the same, take your pick. The Seagate does have more cache but that's a bit irrelevant if you're just using as media storage. You could re-purpose your old 1TB drive and slap it in an external enclosure, such as:

Amazon product ASIN B00LS5NFQ2
for media storage and put the new on in the PC, which is what I'd do...just depends on what's best for you.

I went for the Seagate in the end as cheaper and larger cache. If it fails, I've got a long warranty. I didn't buy any brackets/SATA cables with it though as I'm assuming I can just use my existing tray and equipment.

Reason I didn't use my existing HDD is that firstly it's been the sole working drive for 10 years now and secondly... haven't even got a clue what make/model it is!

 

[Nymzee]

Looking at a new graphics card as well but they're super expensive and I'm not sure how much I'll notice poor performance with my GTX 1050Ti.

Was looking at the AMD RX range (570, 580, 590) @ 8GB but they range from £120-£160 which is just a lot of cash.

 

[Gwladys St. Glory]

Looking at a new graphics card as well but they're super expensive and I'm not sure how much I'll notice poor performance with my GTX 1050Ti.

Was looking at the AMD RX range (570, 580, 590) @ 8GB but they range from £120-£160 which is just a lot of cash.

Biggest factor there is what resolution you'll be playing at. If you're on a 1080p/60Hz monitor you'll likely be fine for the immediate future. Good thing about PC's is you can tweak some settings if it's having trouble keeping up. 4K is pretty much out of question. Proper pairing for the 3600 is around a RTX 2060/70 but you're looking at more than double the cost of what you're looking at now.

 

[Nymzee]

Biggest factor there is what resolution you'll be playing at. If you're on a 1080p/60Hz monitor you'll likely be fine for the immediate future. Good thing about PC's is you can tweak some settings if it's having trouble keeping up. 4K is pretty much out of question. Proper pairing for the 3600 is around a RTX 2060/70 but you're looking at more than double the cost of what you're looking at now.

Only got a 1080p/60Hz monitor at the moment that's why I'm holding off on the graphics card. I'll get a second monitor eventually but not right now.