Legit Reviews

A week ago, I knew nothing about SATA, SATA II, etc. Now I'm about to buy one!

I'm building a budget minded system that has headroom for upgrades down the road. I started with an ABIT KN8 SLI mobo, which has 4 SATA II ports. My next purchase is the HDD I think, and right now I can only afford a single unit.

So the question is which one? First, OEM or retail? This being my first build, I'd like to get all the help I can. Is a retail kit better for a newbie or is installing an OEM no big deal?

As for cost, I'm thinking in the $150 to $180 range for a retail drive, or about $100 to $150 OEM. I could go a little higher, but the more I spend on the drive, the less I can spend on the processor.

As for storage requirements, I don't require a massive amount.

The new machine will be used mostly for online racing sims like GTR and GTL. Both are a little too much for my current system and given its age, I just can't do much in the way of cost effective upgrades.

Any suggestions as to specific HDD units would be reatly appreciated!

there is no real difference between retail and OEM other than the retail pack will come with cables and a useless install disk.

I would suggest getting an OEM Seagate as they have SATA2 and a 5 year warranty

I love Western Digital, but with the 5yr warranty and SATA2 on Seagate ,t hey cant hardly be beat.

Heck you could probably just put a 80gb in there and have plenty of room. Might be able to do less, but I would stick with at least 80, as things tend to pile up on your hard drive after a while

example - I dont know if this is the cheapest price, it is just an example

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822148107

80gb Seagate SATAII - $58 + 4.99 shipping - OEM

for that price you could almost get 3 of them...buy 2, use one for windows and programs, the other for your swap file and data files, backups, etc.

Mike

I ended up buying the WD2500KS.

You should look for the Seagate 320 Sata II it's about 110$. It's silent and very fast