Admittedly, none of the tests I did are designed to simulate actual usage of the drives. According to StorageReview, the difference is much larger in real-world applications:
WD1200JB review
WD2000xB review
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 review
Of course, the caching algorithm matters as much as the cache size. They also say that the ST3400832AS is no faster than the ST3200822AS (which itself didn't improve on the ST3160023AS) in real-world usage...
WD1200JB review
WD2000xB review
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 review
Of course, the caching algorithm matters as much as the cache size. They also say that the ST3400832AS is no faster than the ST3200822AS (which itself didn't improve on the ST3160023AS) in real-world usage...