Hard Drive Speed - rpm

[Elektroz]

Hello,

I am currently looking at some different hard drives, and I was wondering how the rpm of a hard drive actually translates into what happens when I mbox. I am currently multiboxing on a 10,000 rpm raptor, but what would happen if I, say, switched down to a 5,400 rpm. I assume it'll make anything loaded from my actual computer take longer, like loading screens for example, but is there anything else that it impacts?

I am a patient person, so long loading screen aren't a problem to me. I am also concerned with how a low rpm impact other games like Mass Effect or Battlefield 2.

And also, while we are on the subject... is there a huge difference between 5,400 rpm and 7,200 rpm?


Thanks in advance

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Check out the charts on Tom's Hardware. They'll give you a good picture of where the drives lie overall.

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-3.5-desktop-hard-drive-charts/benchmarks,50.html

In particular, the charts most relevant to multiboxing are:
--> PCMark Vantage Application Loading
--> PCMark Vantage Gaming

[Maxion]

Personally I would never buy one slower than 7200, but I haven't really looked into what the difference is.
And I've never bought anything faster either since they tend to be small and expensive.