I'm reading many conflicting reviews in regards to each drive, here and on other forums and review sites.
A poll should help solve the battle between the two 500GB leaders.
I'll buy whichever wins this poll... please consider overall noise, heat, performance and reliability when you vote!
Thanks!
Best 500GB: WD5000AAKS vs HD501LJ
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
There's no one drive for all applications.
Samsung:
+ quiet acoustic idle
o decent seek noise characteristics
o decent power consumption
- high vibration on idle
WD5000AAKS:
+ cool-running
+ quiet seeks
+ low vibration on idle
- idle acoustic quality may not be pleasant (whine, hissing, etc.)
WD5000KS (not included as an option)
+ quiet seeks
o medium vibrations
o idle acoustic quality decent
o decent power consumption
T7K500
+ performance
+ cool running (on idle or when AAM enabled) (APM supported)
+ low vibration on idle
o seek noise on par with Samsung(?)
o idle acoustic quality decent
KS has medium vibrations (more than AAKS) but may have more pleasant idle sound quality. Despite AAKS having less platters, it doesn't reduce seek noise much or possibly at all (some samples may be quiter some louder).
Samsung:
+ quiet acoustic idle
o decent seek noise characteristics
o decent power consumption
- high vibration on idle
WD5000AAKS:
+ cool-running
+ quiet seeks
+ low vibration on idle
- idle acoustic quality may not be pleasant (whine, hissing, etc.)
WD5000KS (not included as an option)
+ quiet seeks
o medium vibrations
o idle acoustic quality decent
o decent power consumption
T7K500
+ performance
+ cool running (on idle or when AAM enabled) (APM supported)
+ low vibration on idle
o seek noise on par with Samsung(?)
o idle acoustic quality decent
KS has medium vibrations (more than AAKS) but may have more pleasant idle sound quality. Despite AAKS having less platters, it doesn't reduce seek noise much or possibly at all (some samples may be quiter some louder).
Thanks for the input whiic! makes for an easy comparison!
Vibration noise is usually easier to correct than whining and hissing, so I think I'll go with the Samsung.
I didn't include the KS because I can't seem to find it around anymore...
and for some reason the Hitachi drive is about $50-$80 more expensive than the 2 others wherever I find it, so it's not an option for me.
Vibration noise is usually easier to correct than whining and hissing, so I think I'll go with the Samsung.
I didn't include the KS because I can't seem to find it around anymore...
and for some reason the Hitachi drive is about $50-$80 more expensive than the 2 others wherever I find it, so it's not an option for me.
I have a 5000AAKS and as a bare drive I wasn't very impressed with the noise levels. Seeks where quite reasonable but idle noise wasn't as good as I expected. Fortunately I got a Scythe Quiet Drive for it, which I am impressed with. The idle noise is much reduced and the seek noise is now more "sensed" than "heard"
With no airflow temps in low 40s but is placed in air intake path and temps typically in low 30s.
For reference the other noise-makers in my reasonably quiet system are pair of 80mm Noctua fans, typically run ~800rpm, 92mm fan on Zalman 9500 ~1100rpm and X1950pro with VF-900 @ "9%" (rpm unknown but much less than 5V would deliver)
I wouldn't like to say how this compares to other 500GB drives but I'm happy with mine enclosed.
Seb
With no airflow temps in low 40s but is placed in air intake path and temps typically in low 30s.
For reference the other noise-makers in my reasonably quiet system are pair of 80mm Noctua fans, typically run ~800rpm, 92mm fan on Zalman 9500 ~1100rpm and X1950pro with VF-900 @ "9%" (rpm unknown but much less than 5V would deliver)
I wouldn't like to say how this compares to other 500GB drives but I'm happy with mine enclosed.
Seb
Hi all,
I think the idle state of a PC is the most important state, since most PCs are idle about 90% of the time.
there is a review data on a host of hard drives at StorageReview,
such as idle noise, idle power dissipation, performance numbers etc.
As far as I can see, the AAKS isn't all that quiet at all. The slightly more expensive Hitachi T7K500 wins on noise and idle power.
I guess you get what you pay for, hehe.
I think the idle state of a PC is the most important state, since most PCs are idle about 90% of the time.
there is a review data on a host of hard drives at StorageReview,
such as idle noise, idle power dissipation, performance numbers etc.
As far as I can see, the AAKS isn't all that quiet at all. The slightly more expensive Hitachi T7K500 wins on noise and idle power.
I guess you get what you pay for, hehe.
-
Faster_Madman
- Posts: 81
- Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2007 5:34 pm
- Location: Denmark
I won't vote since i don't know the characteristics of the Samsung drive but i have an 500 GB AAKS and i'm am very satisfied with the lack of noise of that drive. In fact i only have WD drives which are all very low noise, i can hardly hear the seek noises and when idle they are "silent".
My Zalman CPU cooler with fanmate 2 turned all the way down, is way noisier than any of these drives.
Maybe i'm just a lucky fellow but i've never experienced any of the whining and buzzing and other noises that i hear people complain about with WD drives.
My Zalman CPU cooler with fanmate 2 turned all the way down, is way noisier than any of these drives.
Maybe i'm just a lucky fellow but i've never experienced any of the whining and buzzing and other noises that i hear people complain about with WD drives.
It's very much a YMMV thing: In my case with a 5000AAKS, the idle noise was as low as I've heard in a drive (and nothing remotely resembling a whine or hiss), while the seek noise very much wasn't until I put AAM on 128. Enough people say the seeks are quiet on this drive that I have to wonder if WD is accidentally shipping some of them on 128 rather than 254.