Does 8 meg buffer really make a difference?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rockin Ronnie
  • Start date Start date
R

Rockin Ronnie

Just got a new IDE drive with an 8 meg buffer. The old drive had 2. Should I
expect a difference in gaming, productivity apps etc.?

Ron
 
Just got a new IDE drive with an 8 meg buffer. The old drive had 2. Should I
expect a difference in gaming, productivity apps etc.?
Click to expand...

Hi,
yes the 8MB drives seem to run *smoother* than ones with 2MB.
Also you will find that woman begin to throw themselves at you once they
learn you have an 8MB cache Hard-Disk-Drive :P
 
Just got a new IDE drive with an 8 meg buffer. The old drive had 2.
Should I expect a difference in gaming, productivity apps etc.?
Click to expand...

I bet you wouldnt be able to pick the 8MB cache drive from
and identical model with only a 2MB cache in a proper double
blind trial without being allowed to use a benchmark or diagnostic.
 
WD had two versions of the 30GB drive, 2 and 8 MB cache. All other assets
were identical. I could see no visible speed increase while using the 8 MB
version. I simply copied the entire HD from the 2 to 8 MB cache versions
using PM. Defragged the 8 MB upon opening windows the first time. I
thought about doing a benchmark, but I was satisfied that for my purposes,
that either of these drives were not faster than the other.
Dave
 
Just got a new IDE drive with an 8 meg buffer. The old drive had 2. Should I
expect a difference in gaming, productivity apps etc.?
Click to expand...

Not all that much.
8MB drives are often a little faster, but not so much that you would
notice it without a benchmark.

There are a few exceptions. If use visual C++ you will notice it, and
strange enough also when you copy large ISO files and MP3s.

Xbitlabs did a nice review about it:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/display/4-maxtor-hdds.html

Most important reason to buy an 8MB disks nowadays is the extra
warranty. But I understand that Samsung also has 3 years on 2MB disks,
in which case it will just be a matter of price and availability.

Marc
 
Not all that much.
8MB drives are often a little faster, but not so much that you would
notice it without a benchmark.

There are a few exceptions. If use visual C++ you will notice it, and
strange enough also when you copy large ISO files and MP3s.

Xbitlabs did a nice review about it:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/display/4-maxtor-hdds.html

Most important reason to buy an 8MB disks nowadays is the extra
warranty. But I understand that Samsung also has 3 years on 2MB disks,
in which case it will just be a matter of price and availability.
Click to expand...

I 'second' that. Hard disk drive cache-size helps, yet most speed is
gained from a better designed drive (or high platter-density).
 
Folkert Rienstra said:
Which -if you read it- turns out completely flawed, confirmed by
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/display/maxtor-dmplus9.html
Click to expand...


The 2nd article above (maxtor-dmplus9) was written on 06/25/2003 -
BEFORE the first article (4-maxtor-hdds), which was written on 12/17/2003.
What is/are your point(s)? Are you mistaking months (06 vs. 12) with
days (25 vs. 17) as a European would when reading an American date
format?

*TimDaniels*
 
Timothy Daniels said:
The 2nd article above (maxtor-dmplus9) was written on 06/25/2003 -
BEFORE the first article (4-maxtor-hdds), which was written on 12/17/2003.
What is/are your point(s)?
Click to expand...

If you look at page 2 http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/display/4-maxtor-hdds_2.html
you'll find that the second drive in the HD Tach graph obviously
isn't a 60GB/platter drive. It must have a higher density platter
than 60GB to come that close to the 80GB per platter result.

Either they made a mistake or Maxtor is still selling drives with
false labeling (in a nutshell maxtor-dmplus9.html).

Also, the HD Tach results are too high, except for the 6Y120L0-60
results, that appear to be about right.

HD Tach measures 1MB chuncks.
With 1100 sectors/track, that only spans 2 surfaces and HD Tach
can/will measure (closer to) single track transfer rates with
only one head switch instead of two. That falsifies the result.
Are you mistaking months (06 vs. 12) with days (25 vs. 17)
as a European would when reading an American date format?
Click to expand...

Yeah, we obviously have more than 12 months per year, here in Europe.
Get's us all the time.
 
Folkert Rienstra said:
If you look at page 2 http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/display/4-maxtor-hdds_2.html
you'll find that the second drive in the HD Tach graph obviously
isn't a 60GB/platter drive. It must have a higher density platter
than 60GB to come that close to the 80GB per platter result.

Either they made a mistake or Maxtor is still selling drives with
false labeling (in a nutshell maxtor-dmplus9.html).
Click to expand...


If the lablels on the Maxtor drives are "false", i.e. incorrect,
I don't think they could be charged with deception since they
make no claims in their advertizing or in their literature explaining
the meaning of the characters on the label. They could very
well claim that the label was for their own warehousing and
distribution purposes and not for consumer notification. Given
that, I think it was just a Maxtor production line screwup.

*TimDaniels*
 
I was at a party the other night. I was makin small talk and this goregous
woman was yawing. The minute I said "so I went to office depot and got a
Maxtor with an 8MB cache and $60 manufacturer rebate" she was all over me.
Everyone at the party was staring and yelling "get a room" at her. Poor
thing was heartbroken when I told her I'm married :)

Art
 
Yeah, we obviously have more than 12 months per year, here in Europe.
Get's us all the time.
Click to expand...

Does that mean if I move to Europe I won't age as quickly? I'd only have a
birthday every 31 months! J/K. Actually I'm a yank that used to work for a
UK company in London (10 years) and it gets confusing on both sides.

I wish more companies would use short/long international date format. 31
Jan 04 is interpreted properly in most countries. But then you have that
darn keyboard character set thingy in China... LOL!

Thanks for the laugh Folkert!

Art
 
Back
Top