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    difference in speed from 250g/320g 5400 rpm hdd's

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by pukemon, Jun 14, 2008.

  1. pukemon

    pukemon are you unplugged?

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    i've been searching the forums for performance comparisons but can't find what i'm looking for. i want to upgrade my hdd from 160 gigs to @ least 250gigs. will there be a noticeable difference or should i get a 320gig?
     
  2. flipfire

    flipfire Moderately Boss

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    have you checked HDtune benchmarks thread?
     
  3. K-TRON

    K-TRON Hi, I'm Jimmy Diesel ^_^

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    pukemon, here is what you want to know:
    Most 160gb 5400rpm drives are able to maintain 35mb/sec of data bandwidth. The samsung drive with one 160gb platter will be able to maintain speeds of 53mb/sec.
    The 250gb drives are able to maintain 44mb/sec,
    and all 320gb 5400 drives can maintain 52mb/sec or so

    K-TRON
     
  4. pukemon

    pukemon are you unplugged?

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    thanks. so question now is i already bought a 250g WD drive. should i return it and get a 320g? i'm looking more for performance. i don't necessarily need all the space, but i definitely want the headroom because i'll be dual booting, possibly triple booting. the price difference is $40 to go 320g but i will probably wait for a sale on the 320g. what do you think?
     
  5. flipfire

    flipfire Moderately Boss

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    k-tron already gave you the figures, you will have to choose for yourself.

    personally id go with the 320gb
     
  6. Phil

    Phil Retired

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    Check the benchmarks on http://www.storagereview.com/Hitachi250WD320.sr?page=0,2
    Look for the benchmarks that is important to you. HD Tune is synthetic benchmark and the results don't say much about real life performance.

    320GB sometimes take more power but look at the results for yourself.
     
  7. eleron911

    eleron911 HighSpeedFreak

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    The 320 5k can be had for ~120$ , so I`d get that if I were you, it's just as fast as 200gb 7k one, but you already know that from the S/C forum. :p
     
  8. RaderCad

    RaderCad Notebook Enthusiast

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    :eek: You might want to look into the HEAT issues.

    The 320GB drives I looked into all had a higher heat of operation than the 250GB drives.

    ;)
     
  9. Phil

    Phil Retired

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  10. mobytoby

    mobytoby Notebook Evangelist

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    What 160GB samsung drive is that you mean?
     
  11. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    HM160HI (SATA) or HM160HC (PATA).

    John
     
  12. eleron911

    eleron911 HighSpeedFreak

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    I know dude, but a 320/7200 will also release a lot more heat.
    And the price is almost double that of the 320/5400. SO it's totally messed up.
     
  13. Phil

    Phil Retired

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    I was talking about a 200GB/7200 rpm. Where did you find that it produces too much heat? I personally never had a problem with 7200rpm disks.

    It is more expensive, but some people value performance more than others. It seemed to me that the OP was looking for performance.
     
  14. pukemon

    pukemon are you unplugged?

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    i'm weighing performance/value 5400 rpm and western digital only. i do not want to worry about heat issues at all even though i have overkill with cooling. i'm sure some other brand can offer ~5 megs a second better performance 5k or 7k but none will offer the silence and coolness of a western digital.