Those looking to squeeze the most performance possible out of their desktop PCs no matter the cost can plop a few hundred dollars on a solid state drive and enjoy the sweet ride – check out our recent roundup here. However, if having lots of storage space without compromising much on speed or price is more your thing, you might be interested in Western Digital's latest addition to the Caviar line.
Unlike their relatively slow 2TB Caviar Green, the new 2TB Caviar Black and RE series drives have their platters rotating at a full 7,200 RPM. Each drive contains four platters sporting 500GB each along with a new 64MB cache scheme, dual processors, and five-year warranties. Also featured are dual actuators which apparently deserve a lot of the credit for getting such high-density platters up to speed.
The company says its Caviar Black series is intended for gaming, high-performance desktop systems and workstations; while the 2TB RE4 drive is essentially an enterprise-class version hopped up on RAID-specific features and additional validation testing.
The first will be available shortly from local and online retailers at a $299 price point – the same starting price for the original 2TB Caviar Green that now sells for about $210 – while the latter is currently being qualified by OEMs and should debut in the next couple of weeks at a still undisclosed price.