F1 or F2EG?

Saul · 13 Jun 2009 at 14:11

The Samsung F1 here: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-053-SA&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1279

And the Samsung F2EG here: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-076-SA&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1279

Have identical seek times, cache, etc. But the F2 has a speed of 5,400RPM whereas the F1 is 7,200RPM.

I program a lot and game, I'm just wondering which one would be better?

FYI: At the moment I have two Samsung 500GB drives (both about 24/18 months old, still working fine!), would I achieve any performance gains by getting one drive instead of 2?

Zarf · 13 Jun 2009 at 15:07

The F1 is faster if you're using it as a system drive. The F2 is quieter and lower power, ideal for a storage drive.

Saul · 13 Jun 2009 at 21:03

Zarf said:
The F1 is faster if you're using it as a system drive. The F2 is quieter and lower power, ideal for a storage drive.

Hmmm... how did you figure that out? Personal experiance? I'm just wondering how one can be faster than the other when seek times are exactly the same.

LeJimster · 14 Jun 2009 at 00:09

The 7200 RPM drive is slighty faster in transfer rate and latency. But uses more power and isn't as quiet as the 5400rpm drive, although I've been told the F1 is pretty quiet so I doubt there's much difference in acoustics there.

F1

Code:

Drive Configurations   Capacity *  	 1 TB
Interface 	Serial ATA 3.0 Gbps
Buffer DRAM Size 	32 MB
Byte per Sector 	512 bytes
Rotational Speed 	7200 RPM
Performance Specifications Average Seek time(typical) 	8.9 ms
Average Latency 	4.17 ms
Data Transfer Rate / Media to/from Buffer(Max.) 	175 MB/sec
Data Transfer Rate / Buffer to/from Host(Max.) 	300 MB/sec
Start/Stop Cycles 	50,000
Acoustics Idle 	2.70 Bel
Performance Seek 	2.90 Bel
Power Performance
Spin-up Current (Max.) 	2.4 A
Seek (typical) 	7.6 W
Read/Write (typical) 	8.4 W
Idle (typical) 	6.7 W
Standby (typical) 	0.7/1W
Sleep (typical) 	0.7/1W

F2EG (EG stands for EcoGreen)

Code:

 Drive Configurations   Capacity *  	 1 TB
Interface 	Serial ATA 3.0Gbps
Buffer DRAM Size 	32 MB
Byte per Sector 	512 bytes
Rotational Speed  	5400 RPM 
Performance Specifications Average Seek time(typical) 	8.9 ms
Average Latency 	5.52 ms
Data Transfer Rate / Media to/from Buffer(Max.) 	166 MB/sec
Data Transfer Rate / Buffer to/from Host(Max.) 	300 MB/sec
Drive Ready Time(typical) 	12 sec
Acoustics Idle 	2.50 Bel
Performance Seek 	2.80 Bel
Power Performance
Spin-up Current (Max.) 	2.0A
Seek (typical) 	5.2W
Read/Write (typical) 	5.6W
Idle (typical) 	4.4W
Standby (typical) 	1W
Sleep (typical) 	1W

Speed · 14 Jun 2009 at 19:20

Saul said:
The Samsung F1 here: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-053-SA&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1279

And the Samsung F2EG here: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-076-SA&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1279

Have identical seek times, cache, etc. But the F2 has a speed of 5,400RPM whereas the F1 is 7,200RPM.

I program a lot and game, I'm just wondering which one would be better?

FYI: At the moment I have two Samsung 500GB drives (both about 24/18 months old, still working fine!), would I achieve any performance gains by getting one drive instead of 2?

If you are looking for performance gains, why not Raid the two Samsung 500Gb drives? And get a F2 for storage. Unless you are already.

Zarf said:
The F1 is faster if you're using it as a system drive. The F2 is quieter and lower power, ideal for a storage drive.

Spot on.

Saul said:
Hmmm... how did you figure that out? Personal experiance? I'm just wondering how one can be faster than the other when seek times are exactly the same.

The faster rotational speed increases performance, regardless of the seek times.