HDD speed differences

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,uk.comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Hi there,

I'm trying to decide whether to buy a laptop with 2x60Gb 7200RPM drives or
2x100Gb 5400RPM drives. a 200Gb capacity really appeals to me but the
difference in speed has left me undecided on the best thing to do.

Is the difference in speed really noticeable on a laptop? I'm thinking
particularily from a gaming point of view. Any experiences you have that
you can share would be greatly appreciated - especially if you're into
gaming a lot



Thanks very much

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,uk.comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

David Gartrell wrote:

> Hi there,
>
> I'm trying to decide whether to buy a laptop with 2x60Gb 7200RPM drives or
> 2x100Gb 5400RPM drives. a 200Gb capacity really appeals to me but the
> difference in speed has left me undecided on the best thing to do.

Get the faster drives. I suspect I downgraded in speed some months ago and
the difference is very noticeable. It's because the laptop does a lot of
swapping (memory is extremely low. 32 MB . Don't ask *wink*).

> Is the difference in speed really noticeable on a laptop? I'm thinking
> particularly from a gaming point of view. Any experiences you have that
> you can share would be greatly appreciated - especially if you're into
> gaming a lot

Games usually put necessary data in memory before doing intensive CPU and
graphics card operations. I assume 3-D-based (OpenGL and the like) games...
correct me if I am wrong.

The bottom line is that the answer depends on:

-How much RAM the laptop has.
-What O/S system it will run. XP, for example, hogs a lot of memory and then
leaves the hard-drive alone.
-What programs you run.

Different strokes for different folks... I need a fast hard-drive for my
antique.

--
Roy Schestowitz
http://schestowitz.com

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,uk.comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"David Gartrell" <davsarg@btinternet.com> wrote:
>I'm trying to decide whether to buy a laptop with 2x60Gb 7200RPM drives or
>2x100Gb 5400RPM drives. a 200Gb capacity really appeals to me but the

>particularily from a gaming point of view. Any experiences you have that

While I'd never bother to game on a laptop, I'd certainly stock up on
memory and get the faster drives. I've got a 60G 7200RPM drive in my
Dell Dimension D600, and it's noticably faster than the slower one
that came out of it.

If you really need the storage, why not get a 7200RPM drive for the
system disk and a big/slow drive for your storage? Then you'll have
160G of storage and high speed where you need it. [I allocated a
separate partition for the permanent 4G swap file, which helps keep
page file fragmentation down...]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,uk.comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Where to put the spend depends on the usage bottleneck.

HDs...
o Twin HD on a laptop offers 1 key benefit
---- keeps system & data apart = minimise head repositioning
---- head repositioning is slow electromechanical latency
o Single HD allows you to spend on a higher spec unit
---- 7200rpm is noticeable over 5400rpm over 4200rpm

If you are used to a 3.5" desktop drive, particularly 7200rpm,
then a 2.5" laptop unit is somewhat markedly slower:
o Sustained TR is less re density/rpm/outer-track-diameter
o Electromechanical head positioning is slow (50-80% slower)

So if your tasks spends a lot of time I/O seeking (such as
doing an Outlook search) then you the HD is critical.


Games stress different components:
o Graphics Card
---- many laptops are office orientated vs games orientated
---- so this will be a key factor in laptop choice for games
o Processor
---- Centrino offers performance & long battery life
---- P4s can be quicker for some tasks, but practically it's Centrino
o Memory
---- fastest bus speed & 512MB
o Screen latency/quality
---- Sony have good screens, low latency re video
From a gaming viewpoint the bottleneck is the CPU:
o P4 offers in theory the best, altho subject to heat limitations
o Centrino offers best practical performance & battery life

Laptop hard-drives are slow, SDTR even on 7200rpm units is
still behind a typical Barracuda (7200rpm). Desktops can also
use 10,000rpm drives like the WD Raptor - a 2.5" 10k-rpm does
exist but it is SAS/FC re Seagate Savvio SCSI unit (non laptop).

That said, I don't think the laptop will be the bottleneck:
o At least you propose a 5400rpm unit as the bottom end
o However, is the difference between 120GB v 200GB material?

If the data is important, you need a backup - so there is another
consideration of actually backing up the data on the laptop. If it
has to go away for repair, you need to backup your data.

Therein is another key point - warranty, choose carefully.

So on priority I'd put it as:
o Graphics card
o Processor - Centrino
o Memory
o Hard Drive

Screen size is also a factor with graphics card - going for a very
high resolution screen puts higher requirements on the GPU.
--
Dorothy Bradbury
www.dorothybradbury.co.uk for quiet Panaflo fans