Rashiki

I personally had a bad run with seagate, and have been very happy with all of my western digital drives, so I'd recommend them.

RPM vs Cache? Why not have both? I don't know what your budget is, but the WD Raptor X ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136011 ) is pricey, but has a nice 16mb cache and 10,000 rpm, all that equates to a very fast performing drive. I personally would go for a larger cache if you decide to stick with a more budget oriented setup. If you've really got cash to spend, two Raptor X's in RAID 0 with a bigger backup drive would be awesome. A bigger cache allows faster access of frequently called for data, lessening load times on programs you use often. Even at 10k RPM, the hard drive is usually the slowest link in the computer when it's accessing data off the platters. Less cache, and the computer must get data off platters, so bigger cache!

I use a Raptor 74gb for windows/system files, and a maxtor drive for less frequently accessed data and storage. I feel that having windows on the faster drive speeds up day to day general operations, and also having another drive to put data on will keep the windows system healthier by not introducing non-essential data to clutter it up. i recommend it. It also makes for easier backups.

For games, I would probably recommend a large capacity 7200 RPM drive with a 16mb cache. Games nowadays are huge, and they don't really tax the hard drive enough to warrant a noticable difference with a 10k rpm drive IMHO.