[Snagprophet]

Hi, I'm getting a gaming PC from here:

http://www.ukgamingcomputers.co.uk/m...-pc-p-100.html

I know it costs more to have built for you, btw.

I don't know what to do about the hard drive, however, because I have been told seagate aren't that great and that they're fail easily. Is this true? If so, should I get the cheapest HD from the site put into the tower and then add another one when it arrives here?

In case you were wondering I was planning on this build:

power: 650 watts
processor: i5 3.3
ram: corsair 8gigs
gfx: nvidia gforce gtx 550 ti 1gb
hard drive: 1tb seagate

Cheers.

[theGeezus]

Western digital is better just grab any 1TB 7200rpm western digital, as I'm on my iPod I can't really scavene the site atm


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[Keckers]

I have a western digitial caviar black and my system files HD and it gets the job done with respectable boot times.

[charlie9872]

6850 over the 550ti.

[Deist]

For gaming, I suggest you try out a WD Cavier black hard drive

[Scott1541]

Graphics card is crap, go for a GTX 560/Ti or HD 6850/6870

[Dez]

I've never known any issues with Seagate drives. The different brands nearly all come from the same factories anyway.

[ELs123]

Seagate are one of the better brands for HDD I found.

7200RPM is good for primary.

anything used very little (storage for example) you can drop the RPM a bit as you wont be noticing the slightly slower load times as you probably only use it once in a while.

No less than 1TB as the prices at the moment cant be justified from most places.

[neon]

I've got an SSD for OS/programs and a Samsung F3 for games (and a barracuda for storage). The 7200rpm of the F3 is just fine for gaming. I've got steammover if I ever want to put games on the SSD but I rarely use it. Unless you play lots of games with really long loading times, a 7200rpm HDD is fine. Get a cheap one like the F3 IMO


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[The Polymath]

(Original post by Snagprophet)
Hi, I'm getting a gaming PC from here:

http://www.ukgamingcomputers.co.uk/m...-pc-p-100.html

I know it costs more to have built for you, btw.

I don't know what to do about the hard drive, however, because I have been told seagate aren't that great and that they're fail easily. Is this true? If so, should I get the cheapest HD from the site put into the tower and then add another one when it arrives here?

In case you were wondering I was planning on this build:

power: 650 watts
processor: i5 3.3
ram: corsair 8gigs
gfx: nvidia gforce gtx 550 ti 1gb
hard drive: 1tb seagate

Cheers.

I would say that Seagate are just as reliable as any other brand, but I'd say the most popular drives by far are the Samsung Spinpoint (I don't think it comes in SATA 3.0 though?) and the WD Caviar Black.
I got a 7200rpm 64mb cache WD Caviar Black 750GB for about £40 back in August, but due to the flooding and all that they've gone way up, so you'd probably want to go for a 32mb cache one instead. I've got a 500GB Goflex Ultra Portable Seagate external drive and it works like a charm

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by Snagprophet)
Hi, I'm getting a gaming PC from here:

http://www.ukgamingcomputers.co.uk/m...-pc-p-100.html

I know it costs more to have built for you, btw.

I don't know what to do about the hard drive, however, because I have been told seagate aren't that great and that they're fail easily. Is this true? If so, should I get the cheapest HD from the site put into the tower and then add another one when it arrives here?

In case you were wondering I was planning on this build:

power: 650 watts
processor: i5 3.3
ram: corsair 8gigs
gfx: nvidia gforce gtx 550 ti 1gb
hard drive: 1tb seagate

Cheers.

£670 ish for all that :/ doesn't seem like a good deal at all
it's mATX as well, a cheap motherboard with everything minimum.

Try and customise this http://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/sy...ekly_sales_II/

Change it around to a Antec 300, 8gb corsair, 6850 HD, Coolermaster 650Watt
under £700

[Darkphilosopher]

(Original post by neon)
I've got an SSD for OS/programs and a Samsung F3 for games (and a barracuda for storage). The 7200rpm of the F3 is just fine for gaming. I've got steammover if I ever want to put games on the SSD but I rarely use it. Unless you play lots of games with really long loading times, a 7200rpm HDD is fine. Get a cheap one like the F3 IMO


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

+1 for the Samsung F3

[Chad_Bronson]

(Original post by Snagprophet)
Hi, I'm getting a gaming PC from here:

http://www.ukgamingcomputers.co.uk/m...-pc-p-100.html

I know it costs more to have built for you, btw.

I don't know what to do about the hard drive, however, because I have been told seagate aren't that great and that they're fail easily. Is this true? If so, should I get the cheapest HD from the site put into the tower and then add another one when it arrives here?

In case you were wondering I was planning on this build:

power: 650 watts
processor: i5 3.3
ram: corsair 8gigs
gfx: nvidia gforce gtx 550 ti 1gb
hard drive: 1tb seagate

Cheers.

Hi there

I've had a history with Western Digital hard drives. Their desktop drives worked like a treat in the 8 years I've had it (80GB hard drive, had since 2003), but their laptop drives SUCKS! IMO anyway

Seagate? Weren't too fantastic and given a choice I would avoid them (But your mileage may vary, since Seagate is a very popular brand and many have had an excellent experience with them)

Having said that, Maxtor were supposed to be crap but I've had a positive experience with them

Since all hard drives are pretty much manufactured in the same way, there is little point trying to quibble over brands. Get a BRANDED one (very important) at whatever is on sale.

If you want maximum reliability without mechincal failure, you want a SSD drive, which are allegedly faster since they don't have mechinical parts inside. IMO there pointless though, since hard drives are known to be very reliable and offer better bang for buck than SSD.

As for the brand? Western Digital are excellent if you get the desktop drives.

I have just ordered a computer myself on Thursday, should be here tommorow or the next. When I rip it open to do some modifications, I'll be sure to let you know what brand of hard drive is inside.

[Dez]

(Original post by Chad_Bronson)
If you want maximum reliability without mechincal failure, you want a SSD drive, which are allegedly faster since they don't have mechinical parts inside. IMO there pointless though, since hard drives are known to be very reliable and offer better bang for buck than SSD.

I would not recommend buying a SSD for the purpose of reliability. They might not have any mechanical parts to go wrong, but they most certainly still can go wrong, and unlike with regular HDDs, you'll get absolutely no warning. They're also still a bit too new to accurately say generally how (un)reliable they can be.

[Intriguing Alias]

(Original post by Chad_Bronson)
.

I don't think it's fair to make the comments you have. You've made some pretty sweeping accusations based on (likely little amount of) personal anecdote. Saying that WD are brilliant for Desktop HDDs but terrible for Laptop HDDs? If I haven't misunderstood you've based their desktop greatness on the one 3.5" Hard Drive you've owned by them.

And with regard to SSDs - it depends what you count as 'bang' as to whether or not they're worth your 'buck'. Personally I feel booting up extremely quickly, zipping around windows and loading programs/games significantly faster is quite a significant 'bang'. There is always compromise (I've got a 256GB SSD and will be getting a 2TB HDD for my films/music etc. in a couple of months time). Also what Dez said above.

[Chad_Bronson]

(Original post by Dez)
I would not recommend buying a SSD for the purpose of reliability. They might not have any mechanical parts to go wrong, but they most certainly still can go wrong, and unlike with regular HDDs, you'll get absolutely no warning. They're also still a bit too new to accurately say generally how (un)reliable they can be.

SSDs though are generally quite reliable. Of course, it would be ignorant to say they are immune from failures, but it's the same with SD cards; if you treat them right, you're data will last for a very long time on them - but your true that we should not entirely bank on SSD drives.

I have a normal hard drive, mostly because SSD costs a lot more than normal ones do, and the speed benefit is pretty much moot against a fast normal hard drive.

[Chad_Bronson]

(Original post by hassi94)
I don't think it's fair to make the comments you have. You've made some pretty sweeping accusations based on (likely little amount of) personal anecdote. Saying that WD are brilliant for Desktop HDDs but terrible for Laptop HDDs? If I haven't misunderstood you've based their desktop greatness on the one 3.5" Hard Drive you've owned by them.

And with regard to SSDs - it depends what you count as 'bang' as to whether or not they're worth your 'buck'. Personally I feel booting up extremely quickly, zipping around windows and loading programs/games significantly faster is quite a significant 'bang'. There is always compromise (I've got a 256GB SSD and will be getting a 2TB HDD for my films/music etc. in a couple of months time). Also what Dez said above.

Ah, I do apologise - No, I have experimented with more hard drives than just 1 WD drives in desktop formats; I was referencing them two as the longest I've had them I've used a few of them in the computing experience I have had, and WD tend to be very good, if not excellent hard drives for reliability.

I don't bank on any laptop (or 2.5in drive) to save my data on. They are smaller, so it makes them more fragile and prone to the 'click of death' of unreadable hard drives. This goes for WD, Hitachi, Samsung, etc - any brand of laptop drive.

That in mind, I've had excellent results with 2.5in Toshiba hard drives

Just to pick up on something you said about being much faster - the reality is with opening folders / getting things done quicker isn't that much faster than a really fast hard drive. Despite that, it depends on other specs too - My Windows XP laptop with 3GB ram and dual core processor opens files and folders in half the time I can snap my fingers.

SSDs may be new technology, but hard drives are proven to be long lasting if they are bought under a reputable brand name.

But I apologise for the confusion

[Kaiser45]

(Original post by Snagprophet)
Hi, I'm getting a gaming PC from here:

http://www.ukgamingcomputers.co.uk/m...-pc-p-100.html

I know it costs more to have built for you, btw.

I don't know what to do about the hard drive, however, because I have been told seagate aren't that great and that they're fail easily. Is this true? If so, should I get the cheapest HD from the site put into the tower and then add another one when it arrives here?

In case you were wondering I was planning on this build:

power: 650 watts
processor: i5 3.3
ram: corsair 8gigs
gfx: nvidia gforce gtx 550 ti 1gb
hard drive: 1tb seagate

Cheers.

I have had a few seagate hdds over the years and all of them are still running. Though in my current rig I have a crucial m4 64gb ssd as my boot drive, wd 2tb green for software/games and 2 x wd 3tb green for storage. I would recommend from my experience having an ssd as your OS boot drive.

Also you mentioned you are getting an I5 3.3, make sure it's the I5 3570K as it has an unlocked multiplier.

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my Desire HD

[Snagprophet]

(Original post by Kaiser45)
Also you mentioned you are getting an I5 3.3, make sure it's the I5 3570K as it has an unlocked multiplier.

And what would that do?

[Intriguing Alias]

(Original post by Snagprophet)
And what would that do?

Means you can overclock it a lot. Not so important now, but it could delay purchasing a new CPU by a year or so