Which HD to use for OS and games older 74g raptor 8mb(sata1), or 250g 7200rpm 16mb(sata2)

psc777

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Feb 11, 2012
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I keep a second pc to use for random stuff, but when I have my son he does game on it.
I cant find anything solid on which HD would be more beneficial.

I know sata 1 sata 2 is not a factor, neither drive will ever use that much speed

It boils down to RPM and buffer differences
10,000 rpm with 8mb cache
7,200 rpm with 16mb cache

I would think the faster spinning drive would load OS and games faster. But benchmark testing says different? (I know its hard to benchmark a hd, but still)

I did run Crystaldiskmark on them both, both defragged.

1) C: Win 7 in use -- 10,000 RPM Raptor 8mb results

Sequential Read : 49.806 MB/s
Sequential Write : 45.680 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 13.163 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 28.028 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 0.449 MB/s [ 109.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 0.610 MB/s [ 148.8 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 0.682 MB/s [ 166.4 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 0.624 MB/s [ 152.3 IOPS]

2) Now Storage disc 7,200 RPM 16mb Cache

Sequential Read : 90.363 MB/s
Sequential Write : 90.402 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 39.524 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 34.969 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 0.576 MB/s [ 140.6 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 0.990 MB/s [ 241.8 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 0.721 MB/s [ 176.1 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 1.008 MB/s [ 246.2 IOPS]
 
Solution
In your test, the 7200RPM drive seems to be slightly 'faster'. But you've introduced a variable, in that the 10k drive is running Windows at the same time.

Doubtful you'd actually notice in real world use.