16mb VS 8mb cache

ldd · Nov 11, 2006

Hi everyone!

I'm looking to buy a new hard drive for my computer and was just wondering if there's any real advantage to buying one with 16mb cache vs 8mb. I've been told 16mb cache makes the drive access info faster, is that the only difference? Is it worth spending more money for 16mb? Especially considering that I'm basically computer illiterate anyway.

Thanx in advance

Nodsu · Nov 11, 2006

The disk cache size is totally irrelevant. Seek time and sustained throughput are the characteristics you have to look at.

ldd · Nov 11, 2006

Ok, thanx

Now this is going to sound very stupid to you...but how do I check those?

Tmagic650 · Nov 11, 2006

You could use a drive test utility to test disk throughput. Here are some options:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads4.html

Nodsu · Nov 11, 2006

Manufacturers usually quote the average seek time in the drive specifications and it is a pretty good measure of the actual disk performance in everyday use.

You have to dig deep into the spec sheets or find some benchmarks for throughput. They don't want to tell you the real numbers because these are so much less than the marketing BS you see

ldd · Nov 11, 2006

Thanks for the input guys, much appreciated

tipstir · Nov 11, 2006

That extra 8MB cache is good for media recording otherwise 8MB or 2MB cache is good enough.

16mb VS 8mb cache

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