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5400rpm vs. 7200rpm?

W

William

Member
I right now have a 5400rpm Samsung 60gb hard drive that was slipped into this supposedly really nice computer (1.4gz AMD) I bought for my father. I think it's slowing down my system considerably. I mean, stuff seems to load really slow. Should I go ahead and upgrade to a 7200rpm hard drive. I think I should? It'll speed loadtimes up and all, won't it?

Thanks,
William
 
You will notice a very large increase in performance when booting and loading programs. Also, you might notice a little general usage boost because the pagefile will be read faster as well. 7200RPM is a must.
 
I was going to ask all the questions that they've asked already. You're in good hands, William. 🙂

But yes, a 7200 drive spins 33% faster than a 5400rpm drive. It WILL speed up that rig, WILL. 😉 But other things affect "speed" as well.
 
I noticed one heck of a difference when I replaced my aging (1999) IBM 27Gb 7200 drive with a brand new 80Gb WD SE, 8Mb cache drive yesterday - WindowsXP loads in about a ¼ of the time!

 
Ditto Mitzi's comment! I recently built my system with this drive and it's all smooooth running now. 8 MB Rox
 
Hey fellas,

The system is, so don't worry, a 1.4ghz with 256mb of RAM, and a low end Geforce2 MX. It's a business machine that I've got running for my father. I'm not sure how to identify that DMA stuff, but I'm running WindowsXP. I also hope there isn't some wacky BIOS setting screwing things up. I'll see tomorrow, when I pick up a 7200rpm hard drive.

Thanks again,
William
 
makes me wonder why they still sell 5400 RPM drives..
i don't think i've ever bought one.. 😉

7200 RPM is definitely standard.. IMHO.
 
Because they are typically (not alway though) a lot quieter than 7200 drives. That matters a whole lot to those who want a quiet computer, like in the living room just to spool off videos from.

Originally posted by: Yield
makes me wonder why they still sell 5400 RPM drives..
i don't think i've ever bought one.. 😉
Click to expand...

 
They are produced because the motors they use are cheaper, less powerful, they contribute less to total system heat, consume less power, are quieter.... blah blah blah.

And the fact that the average user isn't going to notice a difference web surfing, email, and typical office and home applications.
 
Hmm, this thread makes me think. Since this 45GB 75GXP has been sitting empty in my comptuer for the past couple of weeks. Maybe it's about time to swap it out for my sisters 40gb 5400rpm so she can enjoy faster load times.
 
See, the thing is that we bought this box from a local computer store, and they swindled us by putting a slow 5400rpm drive in it.
 
Originally posted by: William
See, the thing is that we bought this box from a local computer store, and they swindled us by putting a slow 5400rpm drive in it.
Click to expand...
did this store specify a 7.2k speed hd or just a 60 GB harddrive..?

 
Originally posted by: Yield
makes me wonder why they still sell 5400 RPM drives..
i don't think i've ever bought one.. 😉

7200 RPM is definitely standard.. IMHO.
Click to expand...

5400 is good for large harddrives used mainly for storage. Yes, they are slower, but since they spin slower, they also are cooler too (good in small cases).

 
If you do decide to upgrade seriouly consider the WD 80Gb SE, with (8Mb's) of cache. I have one too, it's an awesome drive and not that expensive!
 
Originally posted by: Quick1
If you do decide to upgrade seriouly consider the WD 80Gb SE, with (8Mb's) of cache. I have one too, it's an awesome drive and not that expensive!
Click to expand...

i second that
 
all the reasons you list wouldn't make me buy a 5400 RPM drive still
noise? even a quiet CPU fan is louder than the hdd most of the time..
heat? yeah, sure, but unless you're talking 5 years of use in a small enclosed area, i don't think that's a big factor either.
 
5400rpm for storage sounds not right.
the purpose of hd is for immediate access,
long term storage should use tape, cd-r, mo, etc.
large size 7200rpm hd is very cheap now, forget about 5400rpm.
 
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