Check out this review of new Samsung models, e.g. the SP8004H - they incorporate some new sound-reduction technology and according to this review appear to be pretty snappy for a 2 meg cache drive:
http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/sto ... g_40_80gb/
Too bad SS doesn't offer a 8 meg version for a killer RAID array...
They have a slightly lower bel rating than the ATA V's - they look like they could be worth a review by SilentPC...
New Samsung drives - lower bel than ATA V
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
The review of the new 120 GB Samsung on Tom's Hardware Guide found it to be quieter than the Seagate Barracude IV.
You can find the results here.
You can find the results here.
THG review only talks about idle noise
The chart they display is for idle noise; they don't have any discussion about seek noise except when they say "when it is not being accessed, then you practically cannot hear it", which makes me think that it does make some noticable seek noise. As to how loud that seek noise is, I don't know. Of course, seek noise can sometimes be adjusted by setting the drives acoustic settings using a utility like the one from IBM, so maybe the Samsung can be made very quiet. But THG doesn't say enough about seek noise to know.
It's also important to remember that one of the things that contributes to the perceived quietness of the Barracuda IVs is that they don't sound very different between idle and seek. A constant low noise level is much less distracting than near silence punctuated by the woodpecker-on-speed sound of noisy seeks.
It's also important to remember that one of the things that contributes to the perceived quietness of the Barracuda IVs is that they don't sound very different between idle and seek. A constant low noise level is much less distracting than near silence punctuated by the woodpecker-on-speed sound of noisy seeks.