HDD Question

[Aeiri]

So I got my old comp up and running, wiped the HDD and got it out(after a great struggle due to crappy mounting brackets).

However, I noticed this HDD has a 16MB cache compared to the seemingly standard 32mb.


My question is: Will this make a huge difference and should I just use it as a secondary storage or will I be good to go? I do alot of heavy gaming, programming, and general web surfing.


The spike in HDD prices makes me sad but I can spend the money if need be. This also brings me to another question: If I need to get a new HDD, should I go with a SSD or just get a mechanical? I looked up and it seems the 120GB Crucial and OCZ(these seem to be the most recommended 2) are around $200. Thats a little much for me, but at the same time I don't see a 60GB being that useful at all considering the games I play take up so much space. I would fit my OS + like 2-3 games max on there.


Also, I am getting a z68 board, so how much of a difference is there with the SSD caching it offers? Is it worth going for at all as a cheaper alternative? Would I be able to install my OS on the SSD and partition off a space of cachable SSD space for the mechanical drive? I really don't know anything about them.

I know down the road it will be a huge pain if I get a SSD and decide to switch then instead of now, but I'm not confident I have the funds to get a SSD now.


TLDR

My current HDD is 16MBCache/7200RPM. Should I break down and buy a 32MB/7200(Or a SSD) or will this suffice for heavy gaming/programming.

[vesseblah]

If the current HDD is big enough to hold your mp3/warez/porn collection, there's no need to get a new one along with SSD. 16 vs 32 vs 64mb of cache makes very little difference, just like 4 vs 8 GB RAM for gaming use. Sure the amount of memory doubles, but the performance gain is 0-10% depending on game.

The point with SSD is that you put windows and everything that must load fast on it, and the speed of the HDD matters very little at that point. You sould not look into the SSD caching of Z68 boards, instead just get 120GB SSD as boot disc and keep the current HDD for storage.

[alturic]

I can tell you if you want games to load amazingly fast, SSD's are the way to go. I use SSD in RAID0, and before these 2 SSDs I had 2 WD Raptors in a RAID0, I wouldn't even want to go back to them since I started using these SSD's. I wouldn't even bother looking into cache sizes on HDD's.

[redmund]

You won't see any appreciable difference between your 16mb cache HDD and a 32mb one. Sure, it might benchmark a little higher, but you won't notice it in actual usage. If you do want to spend some money, a good SSD in the 120GB range is definitely worth it. Your OS loads quicker, is far more responsive and is generally a much more pleasant thing to use. As for gaming, depending on the game it can be worthwhile.

[Aeiri]

Since I am a little tight on funds would it make sense to buy a 60GB now for my OS and a few games with the longest load times, and purchase another 60gb or 120gb down the road when funds are more available? I haven't checked the price differences from a 60 to 120 to know if thats a money efficient way to go about it or not.


My biggest thing is I don't want to have to deal with reinstalling windows and games down the road if I don't get a SSD now(My DSL is total crap because I live in an area with no options. I have to download all games overnight because my comp is unusable with those downloads going).

[vesseblah]

Since I am a little tight on funds would it make sense to buy a 60GB now for my OS and a few games with the longest load times, and purchase another 60gb or 120gb down the road when funds are more available? I haven't checked the price differences from a 60 to 120 to know if thats a money efficient way to go about it or not.

Not really, there's a big difference in $/GB between 60 and 120GB discs. When you can double the size with $50 extra there's no point going for the 60GB which is sure to be too small for more than 1-2 games.