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Low Vibration HDD for gaming?

MBrown

MBrown

Diamond Member
I currently have an old 1TB WD Black wd1002faex. When I got my new case some months ago (Corsair Carbide Air 540), I noticed that this drive vibrates a lot and makes the whole case buzz. When I tap my hand on the case the vibration tops for a few seconds, but then it ramps up again. Anyway I need a bigger HDD anyway and I am looking for a low(at least lower than this WD Black) vibration hard drive mainly for gaming/storage. Does such a thing exist? Any suggestions?

Thanks

Update: I went ahead and bought a Samsung 850 1TB SSD (I'll just delete games I don't play if I fill it up) and it was definitely worth it. I didn't realize just how much noise and buzzing my HDD was actually creating. PC is much quieter now.

Thanks for the input and suggestions folks.
 
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^ Agreed. That being said, you could get some rubber mounts to absorb the vibrations.

Also, since you say it is old, I would check the SMART for any errors or bad sectors.
 
MBrown said:
SSDs don't improve gaming other than load times right? I want more capacity like 3 or 4 TB. SSDs at that size is not worth the money.
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5,400rpm drives vibrate far less than 7,200rpm drives but are obviously slower. Although designed for NAS, WD Red drives have very low vibration (even lower than Green's). It's very difficult to truly quieten a 7,200rpm drive even with foam washers due to the vibration that just seems to resonate with some cases. You could try to isolate it with vibration damping, but then it may run hotter depending on your case airflow.

As for SSD vs HDD's, there's no reason why you can't have the best of both worlds - a smaller 256GB SSD for OS + apps + game caching in addition to a large 4TB 5,400rpm HDD for game installs + media.
 
Dont use it because Vibration can be very harmfull for your harddrive disk ..The lenz and the disk have a very low distance between themselfs so if it vibrates the lens could be touch So dont use it Thanks
 
MBrown said:
This is one I was looking at.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178338
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It looks like a 4 platter hdd(4 X 1TB per platter). Somehow I challenge its ability to spin quietly with a minimum vibration.
SPCR does a great job at reviewing drives, but It is hard to find exact specimens on my local market. Manufacturers change drives a lot and they sell them under the same name.

2 years ago I purchased 2 x wd greens(1 x 1 TB platter hdds) and I'm not very satisfied with them vibration wise. I used to own one 500GB WD green(1 x 500GB platter) and that drive was stupidly quiet compared to my 1TB ones. You couldn't figure out if the drive was spinning by placing your finger on top of it; the other way around, this 1TB single platter greens vibrate ... a lot.

My advice would be to look for your favorite low rpm drive capacity, warranty and price wise. I believe that targeting for a very quiet hdd has become too much of a lottery.
 
MBrown said:
~snip~
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Hey there MBrown,

My two cents on the topic are as follows:

- I'd first check the health of your current HDD as vibrations can be an indication of a drive problem and your data could potentially be at risk. I'd download and run WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic and see if the drive passes the quick and the extended tests. I'd then confirm that data with a third-party tool that will give you the raw values of the S.M.A.R.T. status. Here's a link to WD DLG: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=srfDsq If you are not sure how to read the S.M.A.R.T status feel free to post it here. 🙂

- It would be a good idea the check if the drive is mounted correctly and firmly in its place and its not causing and resontation with the case. I'd try mounting in in other drive slots and see if that makes any difference.

- As the guys suggested, you can try some solutions for lowering the drive's noise and vibration.

- As for a new drive, you are correct - the storage affects only the loading times of a game, but some games such as MMOs and open world-games do load huge texture files while in-game and a faster drive can give you a smoother performance, although with no change in the graphics or fps. I'd recommend checking out WD Blue and see if ant of the models fit your needs and budget: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=XsFULh

Feel free to ask if you happen to have questions 🙂

Captain_WD.
 
MBrown said:
When I tap my hand on the case the vibration tops for a few seconds, but then it ramps up again.
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You're not knocking the vibration out of the HDD. Something in your case is loose, possibly one of the panels. The very first thing to do would be to find the loose part and fix it.
 
Captain_WD said:
I'd try mounting in in other drive slots and see if that makes any difference.
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Great advice. I had actually planned on giving that same advice myself. Moving the drive can and usually does (depending on the case) change at least the resonance frequency. Since it's highly likely that your case won't make audible sounds at all frequencies of resonance, see if it gets better or worse when moved.

Captain_WD said:
As for a new drive, you are correct - the storage affects only the loading times of a game, but some games such as MMOs and open world-games do load huge texture files while in-game and a faster drive can give you a smoother performance, although with no change in the graphics or fps.
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Exactly. You won't go from 22 to 122 FPS (frames per second) in WoW because you went from an HDD to an SSD, but all of those ~1 second pauses that happen when you fly from one zone into the next will magically disappear, along with you always being the first person into every dungeon/LFR/RAID. Your FPS will be identical, unless you upgrade your CPU and/or video card, depending on which one is currently holding you back.
 
Ditto on ssd's for mmo/open world gaming. They're worth it overall as they usually halve loading times for all games.

Hard drive noise with 7200rpm drives is often a guessing game. I have one of the dreaded 3TB Seagates (ST3000 etc) and it is the noisiest thing in its system sans video card or cpu fan (noctua) at full fan speed. It tends to vibrate the whole case, a fractal design arc midi. I have 4-5 year old WD 1TB black drives that are quieter in similar fractal cases (arc mini). I have a seagate 1TB from 2-3 years ago that I think is just 1 platter and it is quieter than the WD drives, especially in non noise dampened setups.

I've heard that the newer Toshibas (retail versions) of 3-5 TB are pretty good. I have a couple of those and a WD 5TB Black waiting to be installed into my systems.
 
I've found that rubber mounts don't really help as they drive is still connected with a solid screw.

My method for my Samsung F3 that has been successful for the last few years has been to suspend it within the tray using 2 hairbands and some long screws to stop the ends of the bands slipping through the slits.
 
SSD for os/apps/games is the only way. Everything is faster. Get a 250GB SSD for that and buy a WD Red or a Hitachi 4TB drive or something and call it a day.
 
Deders said:
I've found that rubber mounts don't really help as they drive is still connected with a solid screw.

My method for my Samsung F3 that has been successful for the last few years has been to suspend it within the tray using 2 hairbands and some long screws to stop the ends of the bands slipping through the slits.
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there are rubber gromets with embedded nut so you can mount a 3.5 in a 5.25 slot and it is not bad for isolation.
 
Is there a particular area on the case that is vibrating such as the side panel? If so isolate that piece. Often times a panel will be slightly out of alignment causing it to move around. Fans can also cause vibrations if they are not mounted correctly.
 
Get a WD Red, Pruple, Seagate NAS Drive, or whatever Hitachi and Toshiba are calling theirs, these days, and you'll be about as good as you can get--no silly behavior from it, like a Green or similar, but low vibration, and high capacity.
 
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