7200 RPM vs. 5400 RPM HDD

[wing7788]

Hi!

Is there a big difference between the two specs above in terms of performance?

Are 7200 RPM models reliable and can last long as the conventional 54oo RPM?

Any other issues posted will be appreciated.

[Toddly]

Wing I saw a nice performance increase when I bought my Maxtor 7200 drive about a year ago. This was all that I had changed at the time without reinstalling OS because all I did was copy over existing drive. No problems with it since that time so I also would say it is holding up as expected.

[araaraara]

There is a slight performance difference between 5400rpm and 7200rpm drives, mainly their access times max sustained transfer rates. Most 5400rpm drives have a 512kb cache buffer built-in, while most 7200rpm drives have a 2mb cache buffer built-in. You won't really notice a huge difference in speed unless you are doing something were the harddrive is working constantly and being pushed to the max like in benchmarking.

[CMonster]

<IMG SRC="http://www.dslextreme.com/users/cmonster3/nightnday.jpg" border=0>

I noticed a huge difference between the 5400rpm Maxtor I had been using and the 7200rpm Quantum and 7200rpm IBMs I now use.

[OuTpaTienT]

hmmm, so CMonster, am I to assume that you agree there is a slight performance benifit from a 7200rpm drive over a 5400rpm drive?

Guess I'm gonna have to dump these 5400's soon as I can afford to.

[NDC]

Yep! It is like comparing night and day when comparing 7,200rpm to 5,400rpm HDD's. You will especially notice big differences on applications that require heavy disk I/O...

You ought to see the difference between 10,000rpm and 7,200rpm!

[Dputiger]

It's always going to depend on what you're doing.

For example:

Your LOAD times will be faster on software and the like. However, once inside the game (like Quake 3) you won't see much, if any, of a speed difference.

It all boils down to what you need.

[VERT]

yup I noticed a big difference between my old 6.4gb 5400rpm to my new 30gb 7200rpm

[wyvrn]

I recall reading an article where a few 5400 RPM drives had a higher transfer rate even though their spindle speed was slower. I don't remember the reason though.

[Warthog]

I agree with CMonster.

I noticed quite a difference when changing from 5400 to 7200rpm.

Warthog

[wing7788]

CMonster: Night/Day ?

Now I'm really confused... Here in Antarctica, there's really not much difference between night and day! During the month of June for example, we get no sun, even during the day!


BTW people, I'm inviting everyone of you overclockers fanatics to come over here and do your stuff here. Because of the freeeeezing temperatures, you'll get the best cooling system and just might overclock your processors to as much as 100% !

Brrrr...

[LadyTech]

Wing,
7200 vs. 5400 rpm, good question. There are a great no. of reviews out on this subject. In my humble opinion, it will depend on the brand that you buy. Some 5400 rpm drives actually do outperform some of the 7200. It's early and my brain can't come up with exact links for you quickly. My suggestion, read some of the many articles out there on this, as well as these fine people's posts.

[wyvrn]

Here is one done in March 2000 at Anandtech. Seems to agree with the fact that 7200 RPM drives have better transfer rates than 5400, the rotational speed making a big difference. I have yet to find the article where a 5400 outperformed the 7200, so I probably just heard it somewhere, filed it, and my brain spat it out.

[wing7788]

Geeze wyvrn, can I pressure, instruct, order, command you to find that article which states that some 5400 RPM drives are faster than the 7200 RPM. Coz you know, I just bought one 7200 RPM drive and am afraid it might just be the one that does not perform to its standards...

Hmmm....

[wyvrn]

wing7788

NM I am in a bad mood this morning, let me get my coffe and try again.

Sorry about that.

[This message has been edited by wyvrn (edited 05-30-2001).]