WD1200BB or IBM120GXP?

[oldfart]

Here is another @ x-bit labs

 

[sharkeeper]

I wouldn't recommend the IBM simply due to the fact of the duty cycle limits they publish. Never have I seen this with any drive. I've always left my computer on 24/7 since day one.

I have a handful of fileservers that I built with 75GXP drives. (a few with the dreaded 45 GB versions) Not one problem with any of them. One machine has never been turned off for well over 19 months. (shut down briefly, but that's it) Perhaps with typical pc use of starting and stopping is more harmful. Who knows. All these machines do have no less than a pair of 80 mm fans blowing across the drives so they run cool.

I personally would recommend the 1200JB drive. I bought a few of these last month at BB in retail boxes marked 2MB buffer (1200BB version) but the drives inside were indeed 120JB 8MB versions!

As far as comparing IDE to SCSI on any plane is quite inappropriate. Especially the 10K market. Desktop and Enterprise storage consist of two entirely different markets. The desktop drives have their firmware tuned for desktop storage. High end SCSI drives are tuned for storage in server applications where [low] latency is most important. True, higher spindle speed will cut down on latency from a physical characteristic, but a 7200 RPM SCSI drive will have a lower latency then a 7200 RPM IDE drive. The superiority of the SCSI interface can also attribute to this. The IDE drive [of a same RPM] will do better in a desktop application however. Put a 1200JB in a server alongside the 10K drive they say it bested and see how fast it falls short of projected expectation.

As for everyday performance, you can put any modern IDE disk in a machine and use it within Windows and you won't be able to tell (outside of benchmarks) the difference between the two. Most people have 256MB or more of system ram. If you really want to see how fast your drive is under the worst conditions, reduce your memory to 64MB! (especially with XP! What an axe grinder that would be! :Q ) A fast SCSI disk would certainly do better in this scenario. Thank goodness memory is cheap! (despit the recent price spike, it's still very cheap IMO) It's the smartest way to ensure solid performance and long run times with many programs running.

Cheers!

 

[oldfart]

Dell has 15% off this weekend. 1200JB is $192.91.

 

[RieperNYC]

<< The 120GXP is faster than the WD1200BB. The WD1200JB (which is the WD1200BB with 8Mb of cache) is faster than the 120GXP. You can get the 120GB WD1200JB online for $260. >>



The dell deal above is a great example of how far this drive is falling in price. Now is the time to jump on it!

 

[JellyBaby]

<< Dell has 15% off this weekend. 1200JB is $192.91. >>

Oldfart, many thanks! I just ordered a few items including that HD from Dell. Free shipping + 15% off = good deal and the best price I could find on the net for what I ordered.

 

[Devistater]

I like your sig sharkkeeper



<< "Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future by the year 2000, may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and weigh only 1.5 tons" >>

 

[Oxy]

I cant find the 15% deal at dells site. Only by clicking on your link.

 

[oldfart]

Dell Biz Software & Peripherals: 15% off EVERYTHING and free shipping - this weekend only!

 

[HepDude]

I bought a WD1000JB (the 100GB version with the 8MB cache) using the (expired) $50 off Gateway coupon, and it is amazing.

Microsoft Word 2000 is a giant program (aka "bloatware"). When I start Word, I usually think of getting something to drink, going to the bathroom, etc.

After installing the WD drive, I started Word for the first time, and a fraction of a second later, it was loaded. :Q

It's interesting to me that people will spend hours overclocking their CPU, and $30 to $50 on a hs/fan (when a $12 AMD approved hs/fan will do the job), but will then get the cheapest HD.

But, if you need to save a few $, note that in the SR charts, the WD1000JB is only 4% slower than the WD1200JB (and should be in stock in stores that don't have the WD1200JB yet).

 

[abovewood]

<< Microsoft Word 2000 is a giant program (aka "bloatware"). When I start Word, I usually think of getting something to drink, going to the bathroom, etc. >>



Win Word 2000 loads fast on most systems.

 

[LXi]

<<Storagereview did use real world situations and found those results. That's exactly why their tests are so good; they don't rely on synthetic tests for access and throughput like a number of sites (although they offer those too), but actually have a real world test methodology. As far as I know, they are the only site to offer real world tests of windows bootup and game level loading performance.>>

Oh, I know they're not synthetic, but the SR Mark still represent only a limited combinations of real life situations. SR tests the drives with their own machines, with their own software/OS, and with their own configurations like FAT and NTFS. But the thing is everyone has a different hardware and software configuration, and with so many different variables, there is no way these tests can reflect 100% accurately on what performance a hard drive is able to deliver for all users. Plus, if you really want to get real, I'd highly doubt the 40% SR Mark different can be truly appreciated by any average person's vision and reflection. These, after all, are only test marks, it's difficult to accept them as true-to-life indicators. To an extent, SR Mark is like 3DMark(except it's not synthetic), it measures how good a hard drive can be, but not how good it really is.


<<For their gaming benchmark, Storagereview tested the time it took to load the game and game levels in Lionhead's Black & White v1.1, Valve's Half-Life: Counterstrike v1.3, Blizzard's Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction v1.09b, Maxis' The Sims: House Party v1.0, and Epic's Unreal Tournament v4.36. They found that the WD1200JB loaded these games and their levels 30-40% faster than a number of other drives. For more information on these tests, see this explanation page at Storagereview.>>

Been there, read that, Im no newbie to StorageReview. But ask yourself this, who plays their games with a stopwatch in their hands when loading the game and levels? Nobody does. And again, this relates to the topic I discussed above, different variables exist in people's machines, these tests do not 100% accurately present you the true effects of the drive in people's machines.

One thing I know for sure, you're making a mamath claim trying to suggest that WDs will kill Maxtors and Seagates like a P4 kills a VIA C4.

 

[oldfart]

I recently got a 1200JB and the difference is quite noticeable. Loading a level in RTCW is considerably faster than it was with my old drive (60GXP). No, I don't time it with a stopwatch, but it is a nice improvement that I enjoy every time I play the game. Working with large Photoshop docs is also faster by a nice margin. I'll soon be getting into some home video editing (the reason for the new drive). The extra speed and capacity will be a real bonus. I see people spend $50 -$75 on often noisy HS/Fan combos to overclock a few more MHz. That makes little sense to me. Buying the top of the line fastest IDE HD is no different than buying the fastest CPU or video card. If you want the best, you pay a premium for it. The premium for the WD JB drive is very small compared to a top end CPU or video card premium. IMHO, its well worth it.

 

[JellyBaby]

<< I see people spend $50 -$75 on often noisy HS/Fan combos to overclock a few more MHz. That makes little sense to me. >>

It makes perfect sense since all they run are benchmarks (tiny little programs that load quickly and never again access the HD).

I'm looking forward to my 1200JB. From all accounts I will definitely notice a difference!

 

[Dug]

I noticed the x-bit labs put the IBM and WD a little closer together.

Although the WD did edge out the IBM, I would doubt that anyone could really notice the difference.

I don't like the fact that WD's fast drive only comes in 120GB at a high price.

If you were transferring a lot of files, you'd be better off with 2 smaller IBM's at the same price. That you would notice.

 

[ultimatebob]

<<

<< Microsoft Word 2000 is a giant program (aka "bloatware"). When I start Word, I usually think of getting something to drink, going to the bathroom, etc. >>



Win Word 2000 loads fast on most systems. >>



Yeah, Word 2000 isn't all that big. I can load it in 5 seconds off of a 4500 RPM laptop drive.

Now, load a 40MB PDF file in Acrobat, and that's a different story.

 

[Oxy]

Thanks oldfart for the link. Looks like the change the price for the wd1200jb its now 215:86 with the 15% discount

 

[AA0]

anyone that recommends the 120 is insane. The 75s started to fail and people got worried, then the 60s came out, and everyone said it wouldn't happen anymore, but it does. The 120s come out, it will happen again. There is a reason why IBM is saying 8 hours a day, because they are only lasting about a year now on 24 hours, so if they limit you to 8 hours, they can get you passed their warranty.


This is not a reliable drive, it has major heat problems still. Nothing has changed.

 

[kazeakuma]

Way to dredge up an old topic people
I bought the 1200BB 3 weeks ago now and it's just fine. In terms of real 'feel' it doesn't feel all that much faster than my 75GXP but it's nice to have the space. I'm already running out of space again (Damn you DV) so who knows I may be buying another 120GB drive soon

 

[edc03]

i didn't trust ibm's gxp models so i went with fry's special on the barracuda iv 80gb for $80.

 

[Devistater]

<< Way to dredge up an old topic people >>



Old perhaps... but still VERY applicable to today. The 120GXP from IBM is one of the latest drives. Let me quote something that Richard Ahlquist (dunno who he is, but I got it from a web site that credited him) said:



<< Well lets see if we take your math further than that;

333hours/mo * 12months *5 years (off the graphic you posted) = 19,980 hours total. That?s Horrible!

Lets see Western Digital rates their 120GB at 500,000 hours on the bottom of this page. Lets compare a High end, high quality drive the Cheetah X15 it has a MTBF of 1,200,000 hours! Ok lets play fair and compare it to something a little older like it is how about a Seagate ST4766E 667meg HD circa 3/29/90 (according to the bad sector sticker on the drive). According to Seagate's web site this drive has a MTBF of 150,000 hours. Lets try something older. How about an old ST 225, nope that?s got a MTBF of 100,000 hours. >>




That's assuming a 5 year lifetime of the drive. Even taking it to 10 years, its still only about 40k MTBF, which is pretty sucky.

 

[chainbolt]

<<

<< Anyone have some comparisons with the 1200JB & 120GXP benches?

I have the 80GB 120GXP and it's a rocket of an IDE drive. >>



Judging by the fact that the 1200JB was kicking around 10K SCSI drives, and almost doing 15K SCSI performance for desktop applications at StorageReview I'd hazard a guess that it's preety safe to say it'll crush the 120GXP. >>





<<

<< Anyone have some comparisons with the 1200JB & 120GXP benches?

I have the 80GB 120GXP and it's a rocket of an IDE drive. >>



Judging by the fact that the 1200JB was kicking around 10K SCSI drives, and almost doing 15K SCSI performance for desktop applications at StorageReview I'd hazard a guess that it's preety safe to say it'll crush the 120GXP. >>



I know 4 better reviews about the 120GXP. In 2 of them the 120 GXP is compared with the 1200JB. This is at www.storagereview.com and ww.digit-life.com

http://www.digit-life.com/articles/withdescription/hddreview0202/index.html

In neither of these reviews with many benchmarks the 120GXp was crushed. Just the opposite. It seems the 1200 JB is very very slightly ahead, in quite a lot of benchmarks the 120GXP was ahead. Veryy consistet results by the way. There are also users reports (with benchmarks) at amdnb.com showing that the 120GXP are faster in RAID 0 than the 1200JB.

 

[John]

chainbolt, I said the same thing a few months ago, yet there were still people coinvinced the 1200JB "crushes" the 120GXP. O well......