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Don't order your 9300 untill you read this - Page 2

post #21 of 55
12/12/05 at 7:40pm
my 60 giger came with a 8meg cache
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post #22 of 55
12/12/05 at 8:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RubberDuck
Why dont you get a fast 7200 60GB and get a cheap external 250GB usb 2? Id prefr performance for my laptop and rely on teh external for storing documents, music files and images.
I already have a Maxtor 160 Gb firewire/USB so it is a valid point but 60 GB just seems too small to me & the price point gets silly after that but I guess the 60 7200 could be worth consideration if the performance is far superior.

How much faster in the real world (e.g. HD video playback) is the 7200 vs the Dell listed 100 Gb 5400 also 8 MB cache?
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post #23 of 55
12/12/05 at 8:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by LoveNotebooks
How much faster in the real world (e.g. HD video playback) is the 7200 vs the Dell listed 100 Gb 5400 also 8 MB cache?
My understanding is that 7,200 is about 30-40% faster than 5,400. However, that is comparing same size disks. The bigger disk will be marginally faster due to being more densely packed but overall I would still expect the 7,200 to be noticeably faster.

However, that mostly affects seek time. I suspect that throughput will be comparable on large non-fragmented files such as streaming video.

The only times you are likely to see a difference in daily use will be booting up, loading programs and files, saving data and, if you don't have enough RAM to eliminate it, paging of memory to disk.
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post #24 of 55
12/13/05 at 3:16am
*sigh* So why is it bad to get a 60gig 7200rpm drive as the primary drive? For the cost they charged you for that upgrade I can swap out the optical bay for a 100gig 7200rpm drive and still make out cheaper. Then put my VM swap file on the 100gig and get better performance. Is that wrong of me?
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post #25 of 55
12/13/05 at 12:31pm
I got the 100gb 5400 8mb fuji. (Used hdtune to see specs).

It was only $79 more over the base model a month ago (novemer 2005) and I specifically ordered this to get the 8mb cache over the other options.

I figure in 2 to 3 years when it fails - and it will, I can get the 7200rpm 100gb (or larger) drive for under $100 vs $250+ (newegg) now.
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post #26 of 55
12/13/05 at 12:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jonnyp79
You are wrong. I have a Toshiba 60gb 5.4k Sata drive and it has 8mb cache. Model number is MK6032GSX.
i thought all these toshiba 5400 drives have 16mb cache?
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post #27 of 55
12/13/05 at 8:52pm
I think it's only the 80GB Toshiba 5400 RPM drives that have 16MB cache.
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post #28 of 55
12/13/05 at 9:01pm
nope, 60, 80, 100 all have it
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post #29 of 55
12/13/05 at 9:04pm
But there's still no guarantee that if you order the 5400 RPM drive you'll get a Toshiba; and could end up screwed with a 2MB cache HD.

That's nice to know though.
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post #30 of 55
12/13/05 at 11:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mazda6s
If you order your Inspiron 9300 with the 80gb or 60gb (5400rpm) option, you're getting a slow drive. They only have a 2mb cache in them. The only drive(5400rpm) option that has the 8mb cache is the 100gb or the higher price7200 rpm drives. This 100 gb drive is not available online. You have to order it over the phone with your system. So don't get suckered into it.

Link:

http://www.notebookforums.com/showth...=1#post1484666

mine is 5400 and has an 8mb cache on it, 80 gig drive. I hope you realize that dell uses over five different hard drive manufacturers, which models and brands have only a 2mb cache?? your link doesnt explain anything with regards to your position on this topic, what model drive did you get??
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post #31 of 55
12/14/05 at 12:01am
If you go to customize your Inspiron and click on the help me choose button concerning Hard Drives, it states that the 5400 RPM drives all come with 2MB cache. So it would be very easy to believe that that is how they come.
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post #32 of 55
12/14/05 at 12:03am
I still maintain that its typically better to buy the lowest end harddrive from Dell and either use it as a second data/backup drive or sell it on eBay. Replace it with a new drive from Newegg.com or elsewhere so you know/get exactly what you want.
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post #33 of 55
12/14/05 at 12:05am
The only problem with that is the fact that you can get the 80GB 5400 RPM drive as an upgraed for $30, the cheapest one costs $120 on newegg without shipping. If you want a 7200 RPM Drive, I'd agree with you, but for some people; like me, that's not that important. I'd rather have more space.
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post #34 of 55
12/14/05 at 12:16am
toshiba says my 60 gig has

Buffer size 16,384kByte
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post #35 of 55
12/14/05 at 12:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mazda6s
If you order your Inspiron 9300 with the 80gb or 60gb (5400rpm) option, you're getting a slow drive. They only have a 2mb cache in them. The only drive(5400rpm) option that has the 8mb cache is the 100gb or the higher price7200 rpm drives. This 100 gb drive is not available online. You have to order it over the phone with your system. So don't get suckered into it.

Link:

http://www.notebookforums.com/showth...=1#post1484666
This post is inaccurate I don't even think they make 2mb cache drives anymore.
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post #36 of 55
12/14/05 at 12:52am
They have 9 of them for sale on newegg, so obviously they're still used.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ubmit=Property
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post #37 of 55
12/14/05 at 1:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mZimm
They have 9 of them for sale on newegg, so obviously they're still used.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ubmit=Property
Ya but those are bottom end drives I don't think you will find one in a Dell 9300. Mine came with 8mb.
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post #38 of 55
12/14/05 at 1:47am
my 9300 that just arrived with a 5400 RPM 80 GIG drive has a 16 meg cache in it. Toshiba MK8026GAX.


http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=122208
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post #39 of 55
12/14/05 at 1:48am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by snooz
Ya but those are bottom end drives I don't think you will find one in a Dell 9300. Mine came with 8mb.
If you think Dell won't put a part that is downgraded in a computer so they can save a few buck, all I got to say is, "what are you smoking?". Dell has always made a graphics card that is slower by using slower memory chips and placing them in there computer everyday. Case and point, the 6800go shipped in our laptops uses DDR1 chips running at a slower speed instead of DDR3 chips. It's still called the 6800go. I have a hard drive in my Dimension 8400(purchased 1/05) made by Segate(ST31600) rated at 7200 rpm. It has only a 2mb cache but the retail version had the 8mb cache. So when everone said they have a 8mb cache in their drives, did you actually took it out and look at the labels instead of pulling the info off the web?
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post #40 of 55
12/14/05 at 2:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cmarcho
my 9300 that just arrived with a 5400 RPM 80 GIG drive has a 16 meg cache in it. Toshiba MK8026GAX.


http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=122208
thanks man, that made me feel better about getting the 80 gigger. hope i get the 16mb one too.

Edit: and emachines gave me a 120GB WD 2mb 7200rpm hdd. bastards. its loud as hell too.
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