See these two reviews: Seagate 7200.9 500 GB (A four platter drive) Seagate 7200.9 160 GB (Same family, one platter) The difference in noise level at idle is 3 dBA@1m (24 vs. 21 dBA@1m)... half of what your theory predicts. The primary acoustic difference in the presence of a high pitched whine in ...

My logic said that doubling the platter count increased the noise by 3dB. If doubling the platters also doubled the number of motors and bearings, 3 dB would be the correct figure. But the number of motors remains one , and neither does the number of bearings increase. So, from an engineering stand...

My logic said that doubling the platter count increased the noise by 3dB. So a four platter drive should be 6dB louder than a 1 platter drive. Conversely, cutting it in half should make the drive 3dB quieter. My logic also states that it would take a 16 platter drive to increase noise production by ...

Mike, I do not think that your statement that "The noise measurements place the Spinpoint T slightly better than either the Western Digital or Samsung's previous drives" is entirely accurate, because the WD5000KS is a 4 platter drive, while the HD400LJ is a 3 platter drive, which means that the WD50...

AI Gear is simply using the motherboard to vary the speed of the fans. Intel had something similiar on their 875P motherboard and it ended up making things much noiser, as the motherboard was programmed to maintain the temperatures below the temperatures I would have allowed. Not to mention, hearing...

There is a chance I"ll be asked to put together the nicest computer possible... fastest, highest storage, quietest. Money is no object. What would y'all recommend? The only limitations is that it must all be contained in a mid-tower enclosure. The nicest computer that I could build? Here it is: Int...

C2D @ idle: 26W? Mobo: XW RAM: 5W GFX: 51W max HDD: 10W idle, 20W spin-up PCI: 10W? DVD: 0W when not in use, 10-20W when burning FAN: 2W So the mobo must be using as much as 80W!!! That's impossible! One thing to check is that RMClock's voltage adjustments are being implemented correctly, check the...

BB stands for ball bearing, and is a terrible idea for quiet hard drives. No it does not. The first B stands for 2MB cache and the second be stands for being an IDE drive. Someone posted a complete listing of what the suffixes means on storage review once. Anyone that is interested in it could prob...

Does anyone have any advice to give?

I brought a WD3200KS from Mwave.com. It is a three platter drive. I can tell due to the HDTach sustained transfer result being virtually identical to my WD3200JB. It seems to be quieter than my WD3200JB, which I brought a few months after Western Digital released it. From how my two 320GB drives sou...

My PC's specifications until a few weeks ago were: Intel 2.4GHz Pentium 4C w/SP-94 + 92mm 5v Panaflo Intel D875PBZLK Motherboard 1GB of Corsair TWINX1024-3200LL Memory ATI Radeon 9700 Pro w/VGA Silencer Rev. 3 at low Western Digital 320GB IDE Hard Drive They are now: Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 w/XP-90 +...

I would not accept that. Unless they are willing to give you another Phantom 350, or a Phantom 500 because they do not have a Phantom 350, I would decline.

Try doing a RMA with Antec. You should get better results.

That is great news. I will enjoy reading the review when it is online.

Get an Antec P150 case or an Antec P180 case. They are among the best avaliable.

I wonder if SPCR will review it.

Mine came with 4. You might want to contact Antec to see about getting the fourth.

Theoretically, the single platter version should make 3 dB less noise than the dual platter version, Only if all the noise came from the platters. The motor, actuator* and elements of the noise due to vibration of the chassis would remain the same. *The actuator noise and vibration might be slightl...

I suggest you RMA it. My WD3200JB failed, but I was able to transfer off my OS and all of its files before it stopped working (if it stopped working and if it did, it did so in Western Digital's possession) and the replacement Western Digital sent me was just as quiet as the last.

As we have seen in the review, this claim is not altogether borne out, but it's another good silent-ish option for a desktop system, depending on mounting. The Samsung MP0402H is a single platter drive. The Western Digital 120GB Scorpio is dual platter drive. Unless SPCR reviews a single platter ve...

Is this because the Phantom500 PS is not capable of runing such a system? As in on inital turn on the surge srops tooo much in the PS causing it to turn off? I read this on some other forum this is quite common with new gen high end PCIe cards? It is quite common with generic power supplies because...

I recommend an eVGA card.

I have an order with BestByteInc.com for the ZM80D-HP but they cannot locate their stock so it is delayed until next week and I found a way to get the VM-102 in the United States. There are only two left so I need to figure out if I will cancel the order with BestByteInc.com and place an order for t...

Is there any possibility of getting samples of 1, 2 and 3 platter Caviars from Western Digital for review?

IdontexistM8 wrote:Have the higher capacity WDs lost that idle tick noise I've had on two 3200JBs?

I have a WD3200JB and it does not have an idle tick noise.

To be quite honest, those figures would be only true if the system was running at its theoretical maximum. A Seasonic 430 Watt PSU should be more than sufficient, and it should have plent of headroom.

The Caviar SE and the Caviar SE16 are pretty much the same thing but with different caches. The reduction in noise in the 320GB Caviar SE should come from having three platters instead of four, meaning that you should get the same reduction from the SE16 version.

Apparently AAM is disabled (compleatly) on these drives as they're aimed at the performance user. Best bet is to suspend it (with some airflow to cool it) or stick it in a high-end enclosure like the SmartDrive 2002C (expensive!). Are you sure? I have a WD360GD and it has AAM. I think that you need...

I know that Western Digital Raptors are quiet when idle and noise when seeking but I am curious, how are these drives when seeking when AAM is enabled?

Here is a recording of the noise, discard the obvious seek. Link I have a WD3200JB and it does not really whine. It emits a constant soft noise that sounds like disk on a FDB motor spinning but it is very low and it is not annoying. I am curious, though, what metal is your case made out of and is y...

The Inquirer has a bit http://theinquirer.net/?article=32315 more info on this drive. 64GB for $1000. You could buy a second laptop computer for that price, but so it goes... More tidbits on pricing from the Inquirer maybe $400 for a 64GB drive by this time next year. That's approaching the realm o...