Western Digital AV-GP WD10EURX 1TB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: In my tests it had very good write speeds compared to my older Seagate drives, while the read speed was about the same. It stayed pretty cool, even after transferring several hundred GB onto the drive. The drive was not audible over the fans in my case, even while writing.

This drive's intended use is for 24/7 streaming writes in TiVo, security feeds, and DVRs. It's great for this purpose as when used by these systems its Streaming Command Set is enabled, allowing it to record without skipping if there is a minor write error on the drive. This is a great drive for your TiVo, home security system, or DVR.

Cons: Not recommended for gaming, see Other thoughts below.

Overall Review: Before you buy this hard drive for your computer - the AV-GP series is intended for DVRs and surveillance, not gaming and data storage. It can certainly be used in a computer but this drive will cost a bit extra for a bit more durability you don't typically need in a home system - not to mention the extra command set for streaming which will not be used by your motherboard. If you want a WD drive for regular computer use or gaming, look into their other drive series.

Pros: Lots of capacity
Inexpensive
Has plenty of cache

Cons: It is "Intellipower" slow, like 5400 RPM "Intellipower" slow.

Overall Review: If you do small bursts of access, you won't notice the difference as the cache will cushion your writes speeds. But a sustained write will get slow enough to where it is obvious.

The RPM says "Intellipower", that is WD's way of hiding the fact that it is "about 5400 RPM". Not even "IT IS" 5400 RPM, it is "ABOUT" 5400 RPM. I do not appreciate WD in doing this to practically deceive consumers of the performance of its products, extra eggs off because of this.