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    Benefit of the 7200 rpm HDD

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by LocalmotionSC, Aug 19, 2007.

  1. LocalmotionSC

    LocalmotionSC Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hey all, I'm in the process of buying a Inspiron 1520 and I am trying to decide if i should spring for the 120gb 7200 rpm HD as opposed to the 120gb 5400 rpm HD. So i was just wondering where i would see the increase in performance. Someone in another thread told me i would see a difference in gaming, but i wasnt sure if that was correct (apart from load times). So what would the increase in RPM's benefit??

    thanks,

    -local
     
    LocalmotionSC, Aug 19, 2007
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  2. vespoli

    vespoli 402 NBR Reviewer

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    All a 7200 RPM hard disk will do is (all other things being equal) decrease loading times. There are several topics floating around; use the search.
     
    vespoli, Aug 19, 2007
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  3. RogueMonk

    RogueMonk Notebook Deity

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    Use the search function....please... :(
     
    RogueMonk, Aug 19, 2007
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  4. Ethyriel

    Ethyriel Notebook Deity

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    Besides load times in games, and in general really, also in transfer rates. Of course, even a 7200 RPM external disk will usually be the bottleneck thanks to the enclosure's chip, and flash drives usually max out much lower as well. The fastest wireless and 100mbit wired networks will be a bottleneck, too. So honestly, the only time you'll see a transfer rate improvement is over a gigabit wired connection where the other machine isn't bottlenecking you.

    I'd rather go with more RAM, especially if you're considering 1GB (which you shouldn't). The heat and noise of the 7200 RPM drive far outweigh the performance benefits, in my mind.

    But damn, why didn't you use the search! ;)
     
    Ethyriel, Aug 19, 2007
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