Which HDD to get for gaming?

[sapped]

Hey guys,

I'm thinking of building a new PC specifically for gaming, and am wondering which HDD should I get cos this is one of the least looked at parts.

The components I'm getting are:
R9 290 GPU
i7 4790k CPU
Asrock Extreme4 Mobo
8GB DDR3 RAM 2400 C10

Here's the list I'm looking at:
http://au.pcpartpicker.com/parts/internal-hard-drive/#sort=d7&qq=1

There seems to be a crazy amount of good rating for Western Digital WD10EZEX and Seagate ST1000DM003, are these the best for gaming?

Also this is the store I'm using since I can get a special price there:
https://www.umart.com.au/umart1/pro/index.phtml?bid=9

So I'm curious which one should I get since there's so many HDD choices available. Also a alot of the games I play are very CPU intensive and some not even multi core optimized, like mount & blade, total war, arma etc.
So which one is the best for this case?

Appreciate any help in this matter!

 

[denis280]

http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd5003azex

 

[MongGrel]

I'd tend to agree on the Caviar Blacks myself if you're going HDD's.

Still have several around the house in a few.

 

[Shmee]

Would recommend an 850 Evo for the system drive, and perhaps a 1TB WD black for storage/games.

 

[MongGrel]

Yeah was going to mention a SSD EVO also, but didn't know what he was spending on it.

 

[homebrew2ny]

Unless you are strapped for cash, I see no reason to get a platter HDD anymore for your basic gaming rig unless you are the type to keep and store dozens/hundreds of games. I use a Samsung 840 EVO 250GB and it has been plenty to keep windows, all my useful programs, and my steam library (which consists of a handful of games I currently play...

EDIT:SHMEE has a good option using a 1 TB hdd as a 2'nd HDD for games, I too use to do that. But I came to the conclusion I only keep about 5 to 10 games installed at any given time and it just made no sense to not use the SSD for my games as well.

 

[sapped]

Ahh thanks! By the way I forgot to mention this last time, I will buy a SSD next year on my overseas trip, where I can get it for much cheaper.

So I'm wondering, if I install all those CPU intensive games onto the SSD, does the performance speed of HDD still matter or not?

What I meant is, if I install the games onto SSD, does better quality HDD gives better frames or less loading time even if the game is not installed on there?

Or is the HDD completely not taken into consideration in this case?

Sorry I'm still pretty new to PC components. Trying to decide between the Western Digital Black and Western Digital Blue, don't know if it's worth spending the extra money.

 

[Ketchup]

Drives are all about loading times. Once loaded into RAM and vram (RAM on the video card) you won't notice a difference. Framerates should be about the same.

I would get a WD Black for now, SSD when you can.

 

[R0H1T]

How about one of'em hybrid drives ~ www.au.pcpartpicker.com/parts/internal-hard-drive/#t=1&sort=d7

 

[sapped]

Hmm what exactly are those hybrid ones?

 

[Ketchup]

Small amout of solid state material for holding constantly used data. While not an SSD, some have reported that these are a good bit faster thsn a traditional hard drive.

 

[R0H1T]

Hmm what exactly are those hybrid ones?

www.storagereview.com/seagate_desktop_sshd_review

Small amout of solid state material for holding constantly used data. While not an SSD, some have reported that these are a good bit faster thsn a traditional hard drive.

Yup they're definitely better than any platter drive out there, except the WD velociraptor, & come in capacities of up to 4TB & 2.5" form factor as well.

 

[leedreamer189]

SSDs aren't that expensive these days and similar in pricing regardless of where you buy them. Just go with Samsung 850EVO or OCZ ARC100 and you'll be fine. Definitely worth the investment.

 

[Ketchup]

SSDs aren't that expensive these days and similar in pricing regardless of where you buy them. Just go with Samsung 850EVO or OCZ ARC100 and you'll be fine. Definitely worth the investment.

Just because it is worth it in our country doesn't mean it's worth it in his.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I'd tend to agree on the Caviar Blacks myself if you're going HDD's.

Still have several around the house in a few.

+1 on the blacks which I use for storage and programs. They'll load games just fine and I keep all of my steam and origin libraries on them.

 

[FX2000]

Unless you are strapped for cash, I see no reason to get a platter HDD anymore for your basic gaming rig unless you are the type to keep and store dozens/hundreds of games. I use a Samsung 840 EVO 250GB and it has been plenty to keep windows, all my useful programs, and my steam library (which consists of a handful of games I currently play...

EDIT:SHMEE has a good option using a 1 TB hdd as a 2'nd HDD for games, I too use to do that. But I came to the conclusion I only keep about 5 to 10 games installed at any given time and it just made no sense to not use the SSD for my games as well.

When you, as I do, have a 11/1mbit connection, keeping your 30GB games installed, forever, is a good idea. Having to wait one day & night to download 30GB@1Megabyte/sec is annoying as balls. Network is starved all day too.
It's painful to see my 1TB HDD + 500GB HDD nearly full. 100GB left on the 500GB, 41GB on the 1TB. What should I do

 

[Texashiker]

At one time the samsung f1 spinpoint was ranked one of the best drives, what happened? It seems the selection has boiled down to either a western digital of a seagate?

Those saying get an ssd, my steam folder is 464 gigs. When a 1tb ssd is less than $100 I will get one.

Is the WD black the way to go? I am looking to order for a new build in January.

 

[VirtualLarry]

At one time the samsung f1 spinpoint was ranked one of the best drives, what happened? It seems the selection has boiled down to either a western digital of a seagate?

Those saying get an ssd, my steam folder is 464 gigs. When a 1tb ssd is less than $100 I will get one.

Is the WD black the way to go? I am looking to order for a new build in January.

WD bought Hitachi, Seagate bought Samsung.
(Edit: To clarify, I meant their HDD division, not the whole company.)


WD Black is still a top consumer HDD, and good for gaming. But if you can afford it, a Samsung 850 EVO is better.

 

[Texashiker]

WD bought Hitachi, Seagate bought Samsung.

WD Black is still a top consumer HDD, and good for gaming. But if you can afford it, a Samsung 850 EVO is better.

Thank you, that answered my questions.

I added a WD BLACK SERIES WD1003FZEX 1TB for my next build.

 

[Ramses]

Ain't cheap but these are still my go-to whenever humanly possible.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=20

 

[ronbo613]

R9 280X!

Wait a minute, I got blinded in the video card forum.

I'd go with a solid, yet reasonably priced SSD like the Crucial MX100 256G for your programs and a WD 1TB Black for storage. You can run your Steam games on the HD, I put the games that really benefit from fast load times on the SSD until it's full. Most Steam games run fine off a hard drive.

 

[Spungo]

Drives are all about loading times. Once loaded into RAM and vram (RAM on the video card) you won't notice a difference. Framerates should be about the same.

All I would say is do not buy a Western Digital green, red, or purple drive. You don't understand how slow a green drive is until you use one for something other than a file server. Good god is it slow. Great for servers, terrible for gaming. Anything else would be fine.

I try to buy super large drives for gaming. Why? Because I like the idea of being able to install everything and never worry about size. Modern games are getting pretty big. Wolfenstein The New Order is over 40gb.

I just bought this drive for my file server:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822145912
I gave it a test in HD Tune, and it tested around 160 MB/s. That's pretty damn good.

 

[tweakboy]

Would recommend an 850 Evo for the system drive, and perhaps a 1TB WD black for storage/games.

I agree but your games should be in the SSD as well unless its a 250GB ,, but 500GB is fine and I dont have a porn collection nothing on my comp......