I realize this post may be off topic or posted in the wrong section... please bear with me...any help offered would be greatly appreciated.
I recently rebuilt my PC from an HP to the following...the only constant here is the tower, everything else is changed.
My MoBo is Gigabyte - MA785GM-US2H
My processor is a 2.6 Ghz AMD Phenom II x3 710 (literally 3 cpus in one)
My RAM is 3Gigs.
I've just installed a WD Caviar (blue box) 500Gb SE16 7200 RPM 16MB cache HDD...
The problem is...a lot of good things have been said about this HDD... that it is as quiet as a church mouse and so powerful...yada yada yada..
The only reason I purchased this HDD is because the previous HDD I was using... was loud as anything...and would freeze on me..
Well guess what... I feel and see no difference whatsoever...
I tried Win 7 and reverted back to XP thinking perhaps the OS was the problem... this WD HDD is as loud as you can pick em... and even though task manager tells me the cpu is at 2% capacity... some programs.. firefox, Dreamweaver etc... hang for a moment or two (program not responding)...
Any advice? Did I buy a lemon (HDD) here... do I send it back?
Any recommendations?
Pretty please...I'm getting desperate.
Wanna Hear a Catfight? WD Blue
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
Don't know how often the 500GB Blue has been recommended. The 640 is commonly recommended (heck, I have 3) but since WD came up with this rainbow coloring scheme they have gone back and slapped those labels on their entire lineup--even older drives. And even production variances have been reported on the forums (all my 640 Blues are different versions).
That being said, what drivers are you using and what SATA mode are you in? The AMD South Bridges have a terrible AHCI implementation, better off going in standard/IDE mode.
That's a standard HP case? Could also be lousy design (light materials, hard mounted, panels resonating, etc).
If you can return the drive it's worth a shot also.
Also, Welcome to SPCR!!!
That being said, what drivers are you using and what SATA mode are you in? The AMD South Bridges have a terrible AHCI implementation, better off going in standard/IDE mode.
That's a standard HP case? Could also be lousy design (light materials, hard mounted, panels resonating, etc).
If you can return the drive it's worth a shot also.
Also, Welcome to SPCR!!!
-
dhanson865
- Posts: 2198
- Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 11:20 am
- Location: TN, USA
Send it back assuming the restocking fees & S&H aren't cumbersome. Sell it to someone who doesn't care about noise if they are.
Samsung EcoGreen F2 HD502HI 500GB 3.5" Hard Drive (SATA, 5,400 RPM, 16MB) is quiet but no speed demon. The biggest plus is this is a drive with a single 500GB platter.
WD Caviar SE16 640GB Hard Drive (Serial ATA-300, 7,200 RPM, 16MB) is a better drive than the 500GB Blue. I've bought several of the Black 640GB and one Blue 640GB and can't complain about any of those. Don't assume that the 500GB Blue and the 640GB blue are the same thing.
But if you really want quiet consider one of the options below
Intel X25-M Gen2 80GB 2.5" Solid State Drive SSDSA2MH080G2R5 which is a $250+ item or its little brother the
Kingston 40GB SNV125-S2/40GB which is a ~$100 item right now and is a little hard to find for the next couple of weeks.
Be very careful what you buy when buying hard drives or SSDs. Retailers and even manufacturers will often sell the louder, slower, more expensive product right along side of the quieter, faster, newer product.
Research it down to the specific model number and avoid buying products like Western Digital hard drives that retailers won't tell you the full model number of before you buy it.
640GB = only one style of platters right now so you don't have to worry about the model number.
500GB = either 500GB single platter or 250GB platters
320GB = either 320GB single platter or 160GB platters
you want an SSD plus a one platter drive or two high capacity platters. You do not want two low capacity platters and you never want three or four platters of any capacity.
If you want speed look at WD Blue 640GB or WD Black 640GB. If you want low power and high capacity look at Samsung HD502HI 500GB or the 1TB seagate LP drive. If you want silent and fast but don't need the high capacity look at the Intel or Kingston SSD but only the approved models.
Samsung EcoGreen F2 HD502HI 500GB 3.5" Hard Drive (SATA, 5,400 RPM, 16MB) is quiet but no speed demon. The biggest plus is this is a drive with a single 500GB platter.
WD Caviar SE16 640GB Hard Drive (Serial ATA-300, 7,200 RPM, 16MB) is a better drive than the 500GB Blue. I've bought several of the Black 640GB and one Blue 640GB and can't complain about any of those. Don't assume that the 500GB Blue and the 640GB blue are the same thing.
But if you really want quiet consider one of the options below
Intel X25-M Gen2 80GB 2.5" Solid State Drive SSDSA2MH080G2R5 which is a $250+ item or its little brother the
Kingston 40GB SNV125-S2/40GB which is a ~$100 item right now and is a little hard to find for the next couple of weeks.
Be very careful what you buy when buying hard drives or SSDs. Retailers and even manufacturers will often sell the louder, slower, more expensive product right along side of the quieter, faster, newer product.
Research it down to the specific model number and avoid buying products like Western Digital hard drives that retailers won't tell you the full model number of before you buy it.
640GB = only one style of platters right now so you don't have to worry about the model number.
500GB = either 500GB single platter or 250GB platters
320GB = either 320GB single platter or 160GB platters
you want an SSD plus a one platter drive or two high capacity platters. You do not want two low capacity platters and you never want three or four platters of any capacity.
If you want speed look at WD Blue 640GB or WD Black 640GB. If you want low power and high capacity look at Samsung HD502HI 500GB or the 1TB seagate LP drive. If you want silent and fast but don't need the high capacity look at the Intel or Kingston SSD but only the approved models.