7200 Rpm Vs 5400 Rpm

XythXyth Avatar Join Date: 2003-11-04 Member: 22312Members
in Off-Topic
<div class="IPBDescription">Hard drives...</div> Okay, so here's my situation, I'm getting only like 6400 3dmarks on 3dmark2k3 on my computer which I just built recently after saving up for awhile. Which should be getting around 7000+. Here's my layout

Pentium 2.4c @3.4 ghz
p4c800 motherboard
Asus radeon 9800 pro (with flashed XT bios, asus uses the same chips and everything for pro and xt, so you can just flash it)
512 mb pc3200
A pretty ancient 40 gb 5400 rpm western digital HD

Now before you ask, im using the latest drivers for everything, already reformatted, already flashed it (my vga card) down to 9800pro to see if that changes anything, it didn't (except my score dropped considerably). Other system with the same or slower setup are getting upwards of the 7000 point benchmark, and the only real bottleneck I could think of was my old HD. So what I'm asking is, before I pull out the money to go buy a new one instead of getting a new cooler for my Video card, would the diffrence between a newer 7200 rpm HD and my one now really be that big? Could it possibly be my problem?
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  • TalesinTalesin Our own little well of hate Join Date: 2002-11-08 Member: 7710NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators
    edited May 2004
    It could be, if hard drive performance is your bottleneck. Normally it isn't... I'd place THAT blame squarely on that P4 2.4GHz. Sorry, you aren't going to sail ahead into the top scorers with a trudging processor like that. And no, overclocking doesn't make the processor new.. as always, you get some lossage. Though an almost 50% overclock is rather impressive, you may be having thermal issues as well unless you're using a vapor-cooling solution. Even watercooling would have some problems dealing with that. Check your temps, then try dropping the clock by about half, or a bit more. If you're getting thermal jitter, your score could actually go *up* at the lower rate. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
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  • XythXyth Avatar Join Date: 2003-11-04 Member: 22312Members
    The reason the clock on my processor is able to go so high is because it's one of the SL6WFs, they overclock very well without any voltage increase. Right now the cpu runs at 100 +/- 5 at idle and around 115->120 at full load. Im going to try what you said about lowering the clock and retesting, though I'm about to leave in a few minutes so I'll have to wait until saturday.
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  • ZelZel Join Date: 2003-01-27 Member: 12861Members
    please tell me that is farenheit.

    and watch pagefile usage during the 3dmark test. the only reason a slow hdd would slow down tht benchmark is if the computer has to use the pagefile, try disabling it entirely for one run, then try a huge value for the size of the pagefile.

    then, go buy a raptor.
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  • DOOManiacDOOManiac Worst. Critic. Ever. Join Date: 2002-04-17 Member: 462Members, NS1 Playtester
    3DMark test is pretty much crap. Use actual game benchmarks instead. Far Cry and UT2004 are great benchmarks.

    But you will definately notice an overall performance improvement when going from 5400 to 7200. And I'm not talking just games, I'm talking everything. Windows will load faster, so will all your applications. Hell you don't even need a benchmark for it, you'll notice it right away.
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  • CyndaneCyndane Join Date: 2003-11-15 Member: 22913Members
    Ok.. I know this is a bit off topic but you guys are the computer gurus when it comes to smaller things working. Why is his running at 100 degrees and mine is running around 80 to 85 at idle and 90 when under a full load... I have a pentium 4 3.2ghz... :-)

    Would our cooling fans that are on the processor and in the case be that different?
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  • DOOManiacDOOManiac Worst. Critic. Ever. Join Date: 2002-04-17 Member: 462Members, NS1 Playtester
    It could be any number of things. The biggest factor is of course the CPU fan and heatsink. In addition, extra cooling fans for intake and outtake, the video card (those gpu's can pump out as much heat as a cpu, or more...), and the case itself. The "openness" inside the case (is it jumbled and full of wires? Or neat and thin w/ lots of open space), holes in the case for ventillation, whether there's a window (or any neon lights turned on...), and also whether the cover of the case is even on. There's also the possibility he has a water cooling system or some other wacky cooling scheme (go liquid nitrogen go).

    In summary, it could be a ton of things. Don't worry about it though unless yours is screwing up. :P
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  • EpidemicEpidemic Dark Force Gorge Join Date: 2003-06-29 Member: 17781Members
    Dont bother upgrading to a 7200. Get a 15000 Rpm one <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
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  • ShockehShockeh If a packet drops on the web and nobody&#39;s near to see it... Join Date: 2002-11-19 Member: 9336NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Constellation
    *Shockwave giggles & pets hit SATA 160Gb with 8Mb Cache*

    WUB!
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  • JaspJasp Join Date: 2003-02-04 Member: 13076Members
    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Dont bother upgrading to a 7200. Get a 15000 Rpm one<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Hell the highest ATA drive ive seen is 7200, the highest scsi ive seen is 10k and that was pretty pricey.

    Love to know where you get one of these 15k RPM ones lol

    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Ok.. I know this is a bit off topic but you guys are the computer gurus when it comes to smaller things working. Why is his running at 100 degrees and mine is running around 80 to 85 at idle and 90 when under a full load... I have a pentium 4 3.2ghz... :-)

    Would our cooling fans that are on the processor and in the case be that different?<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    His processer is only a 2.4ghz P4 overclocked to 3.4ghz the downside is the massive heat problems you get, to deal with such an huge jump he most likely has a nice cooling system, water, vapour or liquid nitrogen lol <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->

    On a small note people also say overclocking doesnt hurt the CPU if you have proper heat management, yet you still reduce the working life of your processor. Plus if you get it wrong and ya CPU goes thier is a good chance you are gonna fry the MB along with it.
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  • DragonMechDragonMech Join Date: 2003-09-19 Member: 21023Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
    There are 15k scsi HDs out there. I know you can get them built into PCs (try <a href='http://Hypersonic-pc.com' target='_blank'>Hypersonic</a>) but I don't know where you could buy one.
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  • CommunistWithAGunCommunistWithAGun Local Propaganda Guy Join Date: 2003-04-30 Member: 15953Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-Dragon_Mech+May 8 2004, 04:35 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Dragon_Mech @ May 8 2004, 04:35 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> There are 15k scsi HDs out there. I know you can get them built into PCs (try <a href='http://Hypersonic-pc.com' target='_blank'>Hypersonic</a>) but I don't know where you could buy one. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    A 15k scuzzy isn't as fast as an ATA 7200, trust me
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  • DragonMechDragonMech Join Date: 2003-09-19 Member: 21023Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
    Really? If you check the reponse time the drives (claim) to have, the 15K ~70GB HD is the fastest of the lot.
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  • CommunistWithAGunCommunistWithAGun Local Propaganda Guy Join Date: 2003-04-30 Member: 15953Members
    But its a scuzzy and how they function slows them down, so 15k isn't all that impressive, that and the noise is bad
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  • DubbilexDubbilex Chump Join Date: 2002-11-24 Member: 9799Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-CommunistWithAGun+May 8 2004, 04:55 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (CommunistWithAGun @ May 8 2004, 04:55 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->But its a scuzzy and how they function slows them down, so 15k isn't all that impressive, that and the noise is bad<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    pshhh. Eardrums aren't worth my time anyways.
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  • CyndaneCyndane Join Date: 2003-11-15 Member: 22913Members
    Oh.. his is overclocked.. and since mine is not.. that would make the difference in the heat? Ok.. well that makes sense then I suppose I should have read his entire post lol :-)

    Thanks Doom and Jasp.
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  • taboofirestaboofires Join Date: 2002-11-24 Member: 9853Members
    Hard drive performance is extremely important. Even second-rate ram is pretty impressive, but a 5400RPM HD is noticably slower. 7200 is the way to go.

    Cost wise, a good solution can be two medium size drives in a RAID, which win2k and winXP support without any extra software or hardware (and if you're using windows at all, there's no excuse to use 98 or ME). Even two 5400RPMs turn out pretty fast that way. Just make sure they're the same size. That will be much much cheaper than comparible size with 10k RPM. You need hardware support to have the OS installed on a RAID drive, but if you have a recent mobo it should have it built in. So, if you've got many gigs of games and apps sitting around, this would be a great way to speed them up.

    Or, you could get a dinky 10kRPM drive and stick your swap file and OSes on it, and your system will still run a lot faster. Great way to spend $40 or so.
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