The Seagate ST3160021A sits second last on the performance rankings, and in the specific Sysmark and Drivespeed scores. Though it might not appear valid to compare this 7200rpm 160GB drive to the 5400rpm Maxtor 300GB hulk, you can – they both only have 2MB caches. Its Drivespeed32 score is low only relatively, as it holds its own against many SATA drives, but the 2MB buffer places a strain on the drive’s real-world performance when it comes to Sysmark.
But this drive takes a drastic jump to the other end of the scale when it comes to value – it is the cheapest drive in our roundup. It misses out on the best-value spot because of its one-year warranty.
Like size put the Maxtor 300GB high in the overall scores, value rockets the ST3160021A into a favourable position.
The Samsung SP1614N is only an option if you have SATA support. If your motherboard only has IDE support, the ST3160021A becomes the best cost effective option.