How much difference between 5400rpm and 7200rpm?

[SwizzleStix]

I read somewhere that in order to get good performance with WoW, it's important to have 7200rpm but how much difference will it make?

I found the Lenovo Y580 and was told it would play WoW well but then I noticed it was 5400rpm so I wondered.

What settings would I expect to play with the Lenovo? I would really like to be able to play on high.

Lenovo® IdeaPad® Y580

KEY SPECIFICATIONS

3rd generation Intel® Core™ i7-3630QM processor
Windows® 8
15.6” Full HD display (1920×1080p), 16:9 widescreen
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 660M 2GB discrete graphics
8GB DDR3 memory, 750GB HDD storage & 16GB SSD cache
Integrated Bluetooth® & high-speed 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi
USB 2.0, USB 3.0 connectors & 6-in-1 card reader
Integrated DVD reader/writer drive
Integrated 1.0M (720p HD) webcam
Dolby® Home Theatre v4 audio enhancement & JBL® designed speakers
HD graphics support & HDMI output

If you had approximately $1000 to spend on laptop, would you buy this one or another?

Thanks for your help. And I appologize if I don't use the right terminology, I'm clueless.

---------- Post added 2013-02-05 at 12:55 PM ----------

Also, I can go up to $1200. I would rather stay below but don't have to. I did look at MSI and Sager but once I customized them, they were around $1200 for the specs I wanted. I was going to 7200rpm though so might get it lower if I don't need that rpm.

[Deleted]

On the theory side: Like-for-like a 7200 RPM drive would have better random access performance because the read/write head has less time to wait before the sector of the disk platter rotates around to its position. It may also have better sequential read and write performance too because the disk platter passes underneath the head at a faster rate.

Of course it depends on other factors and in theory you can have a 5400 RPM drive with better performance than 7200 depending upon the amount of cache, read heads, platters, interface, firmware and technology in general. Best thing to do is check performance stats for the drive and compare it against others to gauge an idea of how it compares.

A 5400 RPM drive isn't going to make the difference whether you can play WoW or not. It may take slightly longer to load but once all the data has been loaded into memory you're not going to notice much or any of a difference, imo.

[Shiny212]

5200 rpm is just slower loading, won't affect performance.

[SwizzleStix]

Thank you very much.

Anyone have any idea how the laptop in my OP would be with Wow? What settings I might be able to play?

[Washuwa]

wow is just about processor... not that much GPU, focus on a good processor, like other here say u might have a slow load screen with the 5400 RPM HD but if you have a good processor with a considerable ram your performance will be ok....

[chazus]

I'm a little confused, because what you said differs from the specs you listed.

750GB HDD storage & 16GB SSD cache

Are you sure the system you linked is the one you were actually looking at? Because that LOOKS like a hybrid drive.

That said, 5400rpm WILL affect things, because yes... WoW is mostly CPU based, however it still needs to load things. My game functioned a lot better after moving to an SSD.

[vesseblah]

Laptop HDDs wont affect framerates while you're in game, but for loading or zoning in or reloading UI can take twice as long on 5200rpm drive compared to 7200rpm.

[SwizzleStix]

I'm a little confused, because what you said differs from the specs you listed.


Are you sure the system you linked is the one you were actually looking at? Because that LOOKS like a hybrid drive.

That said, 5400rpm WILL affect things, because yes... WoW is mostly CPU based, however it still needs to load things. My game functioned a lot better after moving to an SSD.

Here's the link for the laptop in the OP. I just copied the key specs from the page.

http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-5935326...I1TJFBTUTV1I87

And excuse my ignorance, but what is a hybrid?

[inux94]

A hybrid is a SSHD, partly SSD & partly HDD.

Best of both worlds really, although SSHD's are at an awkard position in the market, as SSD's are very cheap these days.