The Barracuda ST3160023AS is a fair performer in our labs, ranking fourth and above average when it came to handling the binary. Its 8MB buffer has helped it outperform the IDE ST160021A. It held a strong third position in both our Drivespeed32 and Sysmark2002 tests - proving that consistency does ma
tter, despite the largish margin between second and third place in both tests.
It is one of the cheaper drives, and at $1.64 dollars per gigabyte, it is excellent value - but it is one of the three drives we have suffering a one-year warranty. Three years would offer more peace of mind, but this small downside is offset by the fact that this is the only drive in our roundup shipping with an accessory - it’s bundled in with a SIIG SATA PCI Card, meaning that you can use the ST3160023AS even if your motherboard has no integrated SATA ports.
Along with the PCI card, you get SATA cables; a point to note is that you’d usually get your SATA cables with your motherboard. Older motherboard owners should keep an eye out for this one.