The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    7200 rpm HD & ++noise

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Elliott108nl, Mar 26, 2007.

  1. Elliott108nl

    Elliott108nl Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I hear different things about getting a 7200 rpm HD vs a 5400 in terms of the increased noise. Some say that the increase in rpm means the fan will turn more to cool it off, making more noise. Others say not. To me - if getting the latest super-spec item means more irritating noise, I'd go with a slightly lower performance piece. Does anyone have experience with this issue?

    What is the truth here?
     
  2. Zero

    Zero The Random Guy

    Reputations:
    422
    Messages:
    2,720
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    It shouldn't affect fan spin rate, as the hard disk in most notebooks is in a seperate, confined area and has no active cooling of its own. Normally, 7200 RPM drives do make a little more noise, because of their higher spin rate, but they do give an advantage of better performance. Having said that, some of the newer 5400 RPM drives, with large densities of 160 GB, are almost to thr level of the same performance, so that may be worth looking in to.
     
  3. Cheffy

    Cheffy Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    87
    Messages:
    470
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    The difference is very little, and more dependant on laptop than drive, some muffle noise better than others. If you find your current HD noisy, then upgrading will probably increase the noise somewhat. When I went from my 4200 to my 7200, there was a slight noise increase, but it was not irritating, and I got used to it very quickly. Unless you are unusually picky about it, I doubt it will bother you - I'm very picky, and it didn't bother me.