Does RPM matter? It appears not. Read on to view the shocking results!
Tools Used
- Dacris Benchmarks, version 8.0
- Windows Calculator
- Notepad
Hard Drives Compared
- Western Digital VelociRaptor 150 GB – WD1500HLFS — 10,000 RPM
- Seagate 7200.12 1 TB – ST31000528AS — 7,200 RPM
- Samsung Spinpoint F3 500 GB – HD501LJ — 7,200 RPM
Both of the 7200 RPM drives have 500 GB per platter density. The 10,000 RPM VelociRaptor has a density of 150 GB per platter.
The Showdown
Here are the hard drive benchmark scores for the drives tested:
| Drive | Average Score (MB/s) | # of Samples |
|---|---|---|
| VelociRaptor | 60.6 | 1 |
| Seagate | 54.0 | 4 |
| Samsung | 44.4 | 3 |
The results have been taken from the available reference results in Dacris Benchmarks.
It appears that the 10,000 RPM VelociRaptor is slightly faster (12%) than its closest 7200 RPM rival.
The 12% difference does not seem like much, given how much more the VelociRaptor costs, and how much less capacity you get.
Conclusions
As of this moment, you would do better to save your money and go for a large 7200 RPM drive rather than a small 10,000 RPM drive. It seems that the lower areal density of the VelociRaptor counteracts any positive effect that might be had from the higher spindle speed.
While the VelociRaptor is the fastest conventional drive out there (SSDs are faster), it is not significantly faster than a traditional 7200 RPM drive.
You are faster than others.
SSD are the future but not right now. Better get double WD Green 500GB and put that in Raid 0, 10k RPM it’s too noisy for any domestic environment.