Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kprrok]

This may be a stupid question, but I can't figure it out.

The facts as I get them...

1.) A WD Raptor spins at 10,000 RPM which allows the drive to read and write data really fing quickly. But, the connection is SATA (1.5GB/s).

2.) A standard Seagate spins at 7,200 RPMs with a 16MB cache, which is a slower spinning speed and this means slower read and write capability. BUT, the connection is SATAII (3.0GB/s).

So which is actually faster?

The faster spinning drive can't transfer the data to the MB and system as quickly b/c the connection speed is slower. But the faster connection has a slower spinning speed.

Which is more important? RPM or connection speed?

Throw into this a RAID which makes the writing faster by splitting it over 2 drives. Does this affect it at all?

KPRROK

[cbclark4]

The long and short. The sata is a the bus speed rating.
The RPM is somewhat a seek time rating.

You want the drive to be the fastest possible seek time.

You also want a faster bus.

I have used this page for a buying guide before.

It's a little out of date but gives you the concept of bus speed vs. seek time.

http://www.computerhope.com/btips/hdd.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seek_time

http://www.pcguide.com/

[Tathen]

I was JUST coming to this section to ask the exact same question. Hope we get a good answer, as I'm buying a new compy soon. The Raptor is quite a bit more expensive considering it's only 150gig compared to the 500gigers (if I was looking at the same one as you recently).

Logic tells me the raptor with higher RPM must have an edge.

With that said, would the Sata2 500gig 7200rpm drives be fine for a hardcore gamer? Or would life be better with a 10,000rpm drive in there?

~Tathen

[cbclark4]

Another short answer is if your Computer supports SATAII then you should use a SATAII drive.

Always work from the processor out for speed.

[cubanlord]

Here's the simplest answer:

for what you guys will be doing, you will not notice a difference. Maybe a second faster if that.

[Demophobe]