who cares about the hard drive???

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I want to build my own rig, but my only concerns are the processor (with adequet cooling), my RAM and my GPU - (gtx460, 2gb)

i already have my PSU and the case - but really, even the cheapest Hard drive will do the job, its only to save stuff!! i can cope with an extra few minutes loading time...


or am i missing something????
 
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For gaming

Got a 500gig 5400rpm hard drive in my rig. Sure its slower to load things but I put my money in a better GPU and its paying me back with better frame rates when it counts. The best thing is with the improved sleep mode with Win7 which is pretty much instant on, the bulk of my loading has disapeared completely (OS startup). So im into my games in less time than ever now.

I would actually rate windows 7 (sleep mode) as a better upgrade than a faster hard drive if you dont already have it.

*Edit - Sorry didnt mention that my rig is "budget" so probably does not apply if your buying an i7 and you would probably not want a 5400rpm hard drive slowing your system down.
 
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Soldato
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Going from an spindle drive to an SSD was the biggest performance upgrade iv experienced and iv had some high end rigs.

End of the day the PC will only feel as fast as the hard drive. Yes fps might not change but everything else will feel snappy. I use my pc for more than just gaming though.
 
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I'd say cutting load times is quite a nice thing to go for, the system just feels a lot more responsive with an SSD; Once you get a SSD you won't want to go back to mechanical espiecially if you have a 5400rpm 'doing the job'
 
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Your computer will only be as fast as the slowest component so why build a new computer and put a slow hard drive in it?
Hard drive reliability is more important than any other component, if a cpu dies you can replace it and you're up and running again, if the hard drive dies you need to start reinstalling everything.
 
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Your computer will only be as fast as the slowest component so why build a new computer and put a slow hard drive in it?
It's not quite as simple as that; provided you have plenty of RAM, a decent modern OS can do a lot to compensate for slow mechanical storage by using intelligent prefetching and caching, whereas it can't do much about a slow CPU or inadequate video card.

That's not to say that faster isn't better of course, or that you should use an old 80GB clunker as your system drive. :)
 
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For the price difference, you have to get a 7200rpm drive. They're so big and cheap these days that you're mad not to (1tb for ~£40).

As for SSD... If you've got the money then it seems like an excellent upgrade (thats what I'm doing next!)
 
Soldato
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Indeed - I've had several HDD failures in the past and always go for more reliable or quieter drives where possible.

I would go for the completely opposite approach to the OP. I think a balanced choice of components is a better choice than splashing out on a graphics and cpu. For example, a quality PSU will deliver a clean supply of power to your other components, save you money with efficiency, and be practically 0% to blame for instability/the rig dying.

Similarly, I care a lot about my data, so anything which gives me a longer MTBF is an advantage.

I'd pay extra for confidence in all the components together, rather than getting some cheap crap parts.
 
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