- Nov 1, 2005
- 1,024
- 0
- 76
Here's the link.
Limit 20 per person, so it's a good way to spend that $2,730 income tax refund you just got.
Limit 20 per person, so it's a good way to spend that $2,730 income tax refund you just got.
Western Digital WD5000AAKS @ ZZF $136.5 Shipped
- Thread starter regpfj
- Start date
Just ordered two, highly rated by SilentPCreview:
SlentPC-WD Caviar
"For once, a hard drive has lived up to its marketing claims. The 500 GB Caviar SE16 is the quietest 3.5" desktop drive that we know of on the market today. Not only is it quieter than all of the other high capacity drives that we've looked at, it also beats the Samsung Spinpoint P80 and gives the venerable Barracuda IV a run for the money. These are old drives with fewer platters that have less than one sixth the capacity of the new Western Digital.
The key to its excellent noise performance is seek noise. While the amount of noise it produces at idle is also low ? about the same as the Samsung Spinpoint P80 ? we have never before encountered a full sized drive with seeks that are nearly inaudible from one meter. For many people, it is seek noise, not idle noise, that is the most important noise factor. It is difficult to push any system to a level where the 21 dBA@1m idle noise becomes the primary source of noise in the system, but seek noise can be noticeable even in a system that is only moderately quiet.
In the context of a desktop system, Western Digital's claim that it requires less power than any other high capacity drive is somewhat debatable. The 8.5W it consumes at idle is average at best and is high when the "high capacity" condition is removed. However, that should not detract from the fact that the peak power consumption during seek is significantly lower than the competition. With AAM enabled, there is virtually no difference between the amount of power consumed at idle and during seeking. In a system where the drive sees heavy use ? a render farm, for example ? the power savings and lower heat could be quite worthwhile.
The only real question mark about the Caviar SE16 is performance. Only one performance review of the WD5000KS has been done by an online web site, and it is not comprehensive enough to draw many conclusions. Of course, such a large drive is likely to be used mainly for archival purposes, so performance may be irrelevant to many users. Our general point of view is that the differences between this and other large capacity drives of similar specifications are not large enough to merit much attention. Ultimately, it is up to users to decide for themselves whether performance is a relevant purchasing factor. For us, the exemplary noise levels of this Caviar SE16 are compelling enough to earn a strong recommendation."
SlentPC-WD Caviar
"For once, a hard drive has lived up to its marketing claims. The 500 GB Caviar SE16 is the quietest 3.5" desktop drive that we know of on the market today. Not only is it quieter than all of the other high capacity drives that we've looked at, it also beats the Samsung Spinpoint P80 and gives the venerable Barracuda IV a run for the money. These are old drives with fewer platters that have less than one sixth the capacity of the new Western Digital.
The key to its excellent noise performance is seek noise. While the amount of noise it produces at idle is also low ? about the same as the Samsung Spinpoint P80 ? we have never before encountered a full sized drive with seeks that are nearly inaudible from one meter. For many people, it is seek noise, not idle noise, that is the most important noise factor. It is difficult to push any system to a level where the 21 dBA@1m idle noise becomes the primary source of noise in the system, but seek noise can be noticeable even in a system that is only moderately quiet.
In the context of a desktop system, Western Digital's claim that it requires less power than any other high capacity drive is somewhat debatable. The 8.5W it consumes at idle is average at best and is high when the "high capacity" condition is removed. However, that should not detract from the fact that the peak power consumption during seek is significantly lower than the competition. With AAM enabled, there is virtually no difference between the amount of power consumed at idle and during seeking. In a system where the drive sees heavy use ? a render farm, for example ? the power savings and lower heat could be quite worthwhile.
The only real question mark about the Caviar SE16 is performance. Only one performance review of the WD5000KS has been done by an online web site, and it is not comprehensive enough to draw many conclusions. Of course, such a large drive is likely to be used mainly for archival purposes, so performance may be irrelevant to many users. Our general point of view is that the differences between this and other large capacity drives of similar specifications are not large enough to merit much attention. Ultimately, it is up to users to decide for themselves whether performance is a relevant purchasing factor. For us, the exemplary noise levels of this Caviar SE16 are compelling enough to earn a strong recommendation."
I've been watching the price on this one for a couple weeks now looking for a sale. The price before today was $138.50. Thanks for pointing out the price drop.
when did SATA drives just plummet below PATA ones? best I can find is ~$165 for 500GB 
Good deal though.
Good deal though.
blckgrffn
Diamond Member
That's a review of ye olde KS. The AAKS should be even better given one less platter -belately catching up to industry standard areal density.
Keep yer peepers peeled for the WD5000AAYS for claimed higher reliability but in any case a five-year warranty.
Hey regpfj, who told you about my refund?! :Q
Nice price on the WD. I just got a Samsung from the egg, but this is a better deal.
Nice price on the WD. I just got a Samsung from the egg, but this is a better deal.
Thats a pretty good deal. Those 1TB are prob just around the corner. Too bad they aren't RE drives with the 5 year warranty, or i would jump at 4 of em.
They are pretty good
I bought this for $150 from newegg a few weeks back and so far so good. Runs very quiet in my p180 case.
I want in on this deal, but I get a blank page whenever I go to the website. Anyone else getting this problem?
Yeah you should hop on it, but I have a rant about them if you care to read below.
They're ok. Newegg has a shorter processing time so your orders get there faster. Also they don't like to ship to an address other than your CC billing address. If you like to ship to your work for example you incur a 48h minimum wait period while they "verify" the address. Usually this goes on for days longer until you call and manually verify the address. Happened to me and my roomate. After 6 business days I called and he said they failed to notify it wasn't automatically approving. Seems to happen a lot according to the reseller ratings. Newegg always ships the next business day even with standard shipping even to another address. Would rather spend 5-10 more and get it from them. Other than that the prices are usually the best and they were pretty easy to deal with.
blckgrffn, ZZF (formerly Googlegear) is in the same league as Newegg. Obviously folks will have preferences of one or the other for their own reasons. Both are excellent stores.
ZZF is in the same league as Newegg only if you don't need to return, exchange, or do any RMA at all. Once you have to contact their customer service for anything, you'll find they don't respond to you. Read resellerratings reviews and you'll know what I mean. ZZF's rating is 5.36/10. Newegg is 9.84/10. There's no comparison. From the comments, it's clear ZZF does not want to support their sales even if the item is DOA. They basically ignore you until you're forced to contact the manufacturer for RMA.
Does anyone know if the SATAII drive will work on my NF7-S SATAI connection to my motherboard? I may want to hold off purchasing this if that's the case...
Standard procedure is to add your additional addresses to the financial institution's record. Ergo, I have a "billing address" and a "bidness address", either of which will be processed automagically.
docinthebox, my personal experience with one return to ZZF was good. My personal experience with one return to Newegg was bad. You have good personal reason to prefer Newegg and I have good personal reason to prefer ZZF.
It is useful to know that ZZF's reseller rating has been going down. There's a big difference between their lifetime and six month (8.45 vs. 5.39). It's entirely possible that my good return experience is not what you'd get today. Certainly the negative comments on resellerratings are cause for concern.
I have had a recent very bad return experience with Newegg, and the problems were organizational (briefly, their accounting organization/system is all broken), so it's unlikely to get fixed soon.
It is useful to know that ZZF's reseller rating has been going down. There's a big difference between their lifetime and six month (8.45 vs. 5.39). It's entirely possible that my good return experience is not what you'd get today. Certainly the negative comments on resellerratings are cause for concern.
I have had a recent very bad return experience with Newegg, and the problems were organizational (briefly, their accounting organization/system is all broken), so it's unlikely to get fixed soon.
Cmetz, what I said was based on two very recent RMA incidents, one with Newegg and the other with ZZF. The bottom line is, Newegg cares about their rating on Resellerratings. After I posted my negative experience, I was literally contacted by Newegg within several hours and they more than rectified the problem. Whereas for ZZF, after numerous emails and a negative review on resellerratings, still no response. ZZF has shown they don't care. You can rate them anything - they just don't care. That's the difference.
Read a couple of the most recent reviews at resellerratings about ZZF. The common theme is: need to RMA, was a major PITA to contact ZZF, they don't respond, and they don't care.
Read a couple of the most recent reviews at resellerratings about ZZF. The common theme is: need to RMA, was a major PITA to contact ZZF, they don't respond, and they don't care.
FWIW: I ordered this drive yesterday around noon and it shipped out 6hrs later according to FedEx. I'll have it Monday.
:thumbsup:
I agree, I installed this yesteday! It's extremely quite, does not get hot. I had it on my desk next to me as I ghosted my old drive image to it. I hadn't tested it or benchmarked it until this morning....WOW! It puts my 74G Raptor to shame, based on HDTach and Sisoft Sandra. Over 70Mbs average in HDTach with a high of over 90Mbs, and over 220Mbs burst rate....I bought mine from Newegg for a little more. Get it you'll enjoy, I'm sure.
ALC-X
videopho
Diamond Member
- Apr 8, 2005
- 4,185
- 29
- 91
Damn...This is HOT!
I dunno if I need one right away but if I do I need to remove my RAID0 160GB (2x80) off my rig to make room for this monster which now could even be faster than my RAID0.
On the store comparison side. I've bought from ZZF and NE but based on my own research NE seems to have the edge on Customer Service though I have had not yet to return anything I bought from ZZF.
I dunno if I need one right away but if I do I need to remove my RAID0 160GB (2x80) off my rig to make room for this monster which now could even be faster than my RAID0.
On the store comparison side. I've bought from ZZF and NE but based on my own research NE seems to have the edge on Customer Service though I have had not yet to return anything I bought from ZZF.
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