500gb 7200RPM vs. 640gb 5400RPM

Is there a significant, if any, difference in speed between hard drives with these specs, all else being equal (e.g. brand, model, year of production)?

 

Significant? No.

Have a look here: PassMark Software - Hard Drive Benchmark Charts

Use it for comparison. You'll note the percentage differences are usually in the single digits.

Anything under 20% you won't notice.

 

of course the higher rpm results in a *slightly* faster performance. though i would say, in everyday use, you won't notice that much. if you compare the slightly faster performance with the cons you get with that drive, such as shorter battery life, higher heat dissipation and louder sound of the drive, i would say "it's not worth the upgrade".

of course that all requires that both drives have the same platter count because a drive with 2 platters need less power than one with 3. in addition to that, less platters mean more speed due to the higher data concentration on the disk.

 

500GB = 2x 250GB platters @ 7200rpm, fast data transfer, low seek times, increased battery usage (over a 5400rpm drive).

640GB = 2x 320GB platters @ 5400rpm, fast data transfer (large files), high seek time, good battery usage.

In a nut shell a 7200rpm drive will give better seek times, where as a 5400rpm drive performs well due the platter density. Both have pros and cons.

 

what do you mean by seek time?

also isn't 7200 better for gaming? since it load faster ( even if it's only slightly )

 

Seek time is how fast data can be accessed. If the disk is spinning faster, the heads on the end of the actuator arm will be passing over the data on the platters fast, thus is being accessed quicker than a 5400rpm disk.

A 640GB with a spindle speed of 5400rpm, will have greater density platters than a 500GB disk, therefore more data packed on the same size platters.
If loading a large file, e.g. game map, one full rotation of high density disk will yeild more data than one full rotation of a lesser density disk. In this case we may see with these two particular drives 5400rpm ~ 7200rpm, simular results.

Access time suffers with a 5400rpm drive, due to waiting longer than a 7200rpm drive to go full circle before the heads can access the next file.

 

ah okay, thanks for clarifying

anyway as for OP

well it's a matter of choice of needs, need more space or a slight transfer rate / loading?

i'd pick a 7200 anytime

500gb is quite hefty already, if it's not enough, i'd get a 1tb External