HD501LJ or WD5000AAKS

ryboto · Post by **ryboto** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 6:44 am

I'm going to be upgrading from my WD3200KS, mostly because of capacity issues, and I cant decide between Samsung and WD. Currently, my 3200KS has a low wooshing idle noise that I can hear over my case fans. I'm not one to care too much about performance of the drives, as they're all pretty similar, and this drive wont be used for applications that need fast access time, just for storage and simple apps. So, which of the two drives is the overall most quiet. They're approximately the same price, so it boils down to acoustics.

EsaT · Post by **EsaT** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 12:58 pm

Whiel otherwise nearly equal WD should have considerably smaller vibration which is always good for acoustics.

ryboto · Post by **ryboto** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 1:51 pm

EsaT wrote:Whiel otherwise nearly equal WD should have considerably smaller vibration which is always good for acoustics.

So, they have a similar idle noise?

kaange · Post by **kaange** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 7:59 pm

The drive vibration is part of the idle noise. The older Samsung drives were very quiet if suspended but would transmit a lot of noise to the case if bolted directly to the chassis.

One of our local magazines reports that the Samsung has superior 'real' performance even though the WD rates really well in synthetic tests.

rseiler · Post by **rseiler** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 10:03 pm

This thread has more info on it:
viewtopic.php?t=38408

Sure wish that mag was online!

ryboto · Post by **ryboto** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 4:44 am

rseiler wrote:This thread has more info on it:
viewtopic.php?t=38408

Sure wish that mag was online!

I know, I've been following that thread, but there hadn't been a consensus on which drive is superior acoustically, so I decided to make my own.

ryboto · Post by **ryboto** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 7:26 pm

so, either one should be quiet? Can anyone say which one would be more quiet with AAM enabled, and enclosed in a Scythe Quiet Drive?

porkchop · Post by **porkchop** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:34 pm

i'd say the aaks- since it reportedly has less vibration.

AAM probably isn't necessary for the aaks as well, since seeks should be as quiet as in the ks. people have reported that the aaks is slightly quieter and vibrates less than the ks.
AMM does quiet the seeks in the 501lj but at the price of performance, i don't know if this effects vibrations though(maybe during seeks only).

note that 502lj is pretty much the same as a 400lj but with denser platters.

the 5000aaks is the pretty much the same as the 5000ks with denser and one less platter.

ryboto · Post by **ryboto** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 9:17 pm

thanks for the reply. I went ahead and bought the WD drive, $123.00 at zipzoomfly with free ground shipping. Approximately 25 cents/GB. Seems pretty decent. Hopefully the idle noise will be a little lower than my 3200ks. It could just be vibration, but who knows.

rseiler · Post by **rseiler** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 11:12 pm

ryboto wrote:thanks for the reply. I went ahead and bought the WD drive, $123.00 at zipzoomfly with free ground shipping. Approximately 25 cents/GB. Seems pretty decent. Hopefully the idle noise will be a little lower than my 3200ks. It could just be vibration, but who knows.

ZZF is on the list, don't worry, but people need to be careful from where they buy WD OEM drives. Why? Because WD won't honor the three-year warranty if the place you bought it from is not a WD Authorized Distributor. The list of online companies that are is here:
http://www.wdc.com/en/buy/wheretobuy.asp?language=en

One notable company that's not on the list: Mwave.com.

porkchop · Post by **porkchop** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 5:02 am

i have a 3200ks too and its pretty darn loud.

i'd appreciate it if you can report back on how your aaks is sound wise, especially compared to your 3200ks.

speedy · Post by **speedy** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 7:51 am

I've just evaluated both of those drives for my upcomming HDD upgrade.

Performance-wise, Samsung is a slightly better performer here, paired with ICH8 SATA controller. I'm still undecided concerning sound, as both are pretty quiet, Samsung just a slightly bit louder in seeks but sound is less clicky - more pleasant IMHO. The baffling exception is sequential HD Tach read test where WD seeks(huh??) are audibly clicky, and Samsung is much quieter, almost inaudible.

ps. Evaluated Samsung drive has a NIDEC motor.

Alex · Post by **Alex** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 9:15 am

Can anyone say which one would be more quiet with AAM enabled, and enclosed in a Scythe Quiet Drive?

This really is a relevant question.

I have a WD RE2 WD5000YS. At idle the whine is slightly noisier than my Corsair 620HX PSU. You can begin to hear the wine at about 2 m distance and the PSU at about 1 m distance (roughly). My HDD is softmounted (hanging on elastic bands).
I will buy a Scythe quiet drive to dampen the whine (and seek).

The whine (high pitch maybe 5 kHz) is resonating (very audible) inside the P180B. For some reason the whine propagates well to the upper (mobo) chamber of the P180B. You hear this when listening through the holes of the case. Outside of the case the whine dampens considerably more, especially with distance.

When listening I have not connected fans, CPU and memory to the mobo. Only PSU and HDD were connected (and mounted).

If you want it really quiet (at least without HDD silencer) you probably have to buy a less performing and more expensive (per MB) 2.5 inch (5400 rpm) drive and maybee a fanless PSU.

A little warning though.
When you connect case and CPU fans and load PSU the HDD might not be the noisiest part any more. I have not tried that yet.

EDIT ---------------------------------------------
Now I have tested with the Scythe Quiet Drive.
Softmounting was way more important than enclosing.

Had to softmount the Scythe Quiet Drive to come near the same (quiet) result. The added mass of the Scythe increased the percieved vibration (felt in my hand and heard, partly because it is now only low frequency). The high frequency is now much more attenuated. The resulting sound is more tonal but also more comfortable (lower freq.). Seeks are also alot less disturbing.

Idle noise is not much lower. Now just about the same (maybe very slightly more) than from my Corsair HX620 PSU.

It is tricky to softmount the Scythe in the lower compartment of the P180B. Obviously the cage must be removed and if you have a fan in there it must be removed also before squeezing in the Scythe. A corner of the scythe must be temporarily put through the fan hole to get it in.
I had to let it rest against the front sides with some soft rubber that is made for window frames. That is no good compared to nonenclosed HDD softmounting (only hanging on rubber bands).

EDIT 3 -----------
If you softmount the hard drives when comparing we are in another (less noisier) leage. ~5.5 dBA less Idle and ~8.5 dBA less Seek Noise.
Check this Seagate White Paper
URL (PDF)The Effects of Using Isolators for Mounting Disc Drives in PC Systems
Frank Bernett, Personal Storage Product Engineering, Seagate
-----------------

So you probably do not need the scythe quiet drive or softmounting as long as you compare drives noise whith the exact same mounting.

I would probably buy a low noise Samsung HDD if it was today, but I haven't compared them. Maybe the new WD AAKS is less noisy and the 5000KS should be somewhat less noisy than my 5000YS HDD.

EDIT 2-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now I have softmounted the Scythe correctly. It is dangling on rubber bands. Moves slightly forward/backward when spinning up and down (turn on/off). Had to put an extra rubber band for the rear part.
Now it is certainly less noisy than the PSU. Hurray.

Thank you SPCR.

rseiler · Post by **rseiler** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 9:37 am

This probably isn't news to old hands at Samsung products, but I just learned that they don't do advanced replacement warranty work, so you actually have to send the defective drive back and wait for them to receive it and then send out another drive to you.

WD (like everyone else that I know of) DOES have this service.

Update: I learned that Seagate recently discontinued advanced replacements, and apparently Hitachi doesn't do it either. Hard to understand.

boxleitnerb · Post by **boxleitnerb** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 1:22 am

I had the exact same question, so I bought both. Unfortunately, the WD has no warranty in Germany, so I will bring it back today.
The Samsung is really quiet. It vibrates a little, but I placed it on foam and it was near silent.
The seeks seem to emit a higher frequency, higher than the low powerful seeks from my 7200.7 PATA drives, which are actually quite pleasant.
I have not tested the drive further, because it will enter my new rig, which I am still buying parts for.

When I have a new WD, I will post a comparison and conclusion. Silence is very very important to me and I am very susceptible to even the slightest noise, so I think, for most of you, this will be useful

Btw: The Samsung runs HOT! So hot, that I have to include it in my watercooling system to be on the safe side.

Rutar · Post by **Rutar** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 8:27 am

I got the 320 GB version of the new 16MB cache Samsungs and despite it was mounted in an external enclosure, it was less audible than my old Sasmung P120 250GB (don't know if I have AAM on any of the drives). The idle seems completly silent to me for both drives.

Both drives vibrate a lot tough.

ryboto · Post by **ryboto** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 9:57 am

boxleitnerb wrote: Btw: The Samsung runs HOT! So hot, that I have to include it in my watercooling system to be on the safe side.

i noticed this in some of the reviews on newegg. Hopefully the WD doesn't mimic this behavior. I'll find out on Monday!

rseiler · Post by **rseiler** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 11:37 am

ryboto wrote:
boxleitnerb wrote: Btw: The Samsung runs HOT! So hot, that I have to include it in my watercooling system to be on the safe side.
i noticed this in some of the reviews on newegg. Hopefully the WD doesn't mimic this behavior. I'll find out on Monday!

Tom's hardware had the surface temp of the 501lj and the 5000ks within 1 degree of each other--45 and 46C (I forget which was which).

I expect the AAKS will drop a couple degrees, but either way, the mid-40's shouldn't be considered hot for a 3-platter drive.

boxleitnerb · Post by **boxleitnerb** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 12:09 pm

Well, it's not healthy either

35 degrees Celsius would be fine with me.

rseiler · Post by **rseiler** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 2:26 pm

I don't know about that, since some drives are just not destined to be in the 30's, and I don't know that that's a problem at all. Two-platter drives yes, they often can stay there, but three-platter drives and above? Their natural state seems to be in the 40's under normal conditions.

kaange · Post by **kaange** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 3:12 pm

Sitting the drive on foam will make it run hot since there is no conduction path from the sides of the drive to the cage + the surface resting on the foam will not receive any airflow.

Suspending the drive by hanging prevents the latter problem. Bolting it into a metal cage and suspending the cage prevents both.

losdrivare · Post by **losdrivare** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 10:09 pm

rseiler wrote:
boxleitnerb wrote: Btw: The Samsung runs HOT! So hot, that I have to include it in my watercooling system to be on the safe side.
Tom's hardware had the surface temp of the 501lj and the 5000ks within 1 degree of each other--45 and 46C (I forget which was which).

I have both these drives and for me the 5000KS is the hotter one, and by 8-10C at that. 5000KS runs at 38-40C and the HD501LJ runs at 30-31C. Both drives are suspended just behind my intake fan.

Presently considering if it's worth putting the HD501LJ in a Scythe Quiet Drive enclosure. Considering the temps, I'm not sure I'd dare to enclose the 5000KS.

Michael Sandstrom · Post by **Michael Sandstrom** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 12:00 am

My two Samsung HD501LJ drives are almost inaudible suspended in an Antec Solo case. After the first few days of use the seeks became completely silent on both drives. With no HD fan and only a 120mm Nexus silent fan at 5 volts for exhaust the Samsung drives run from 30 to 35 degrees depending on ambiant temperature. As far as the Newegg customer ratings go, the HD501LJ has better ratings in terms of acoustics and heat than any 500GB drive.

Wibla · Post by **Wibla** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 12:21 am

I've seen the same thing.. I have 3 drives in a Coolermaster 4-in-3 (120mm fan) .. 2 Seagate 7200.8/7200.9 and one 320GB Samsung, the Samsung idles 4-5C below the Seagate drives, (26C vs. 30-31C) .. also I have 8 500GB Samsung drives (HD501LJ) in a Coolermaster Stacker, cooled by the same 4-in-3 modules, Where the drives idle at between 28 and 33C... tho, this case has dust filters in front of the fans that restrict the airflow abit.

OT: Actually my fileserver with 9 hdds, 5x120mm and 3x80mm fans makes less noise than my sister's computer with 1hdd, northq psu and two 80mm fans..

fresh · Post by **fresh** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 2:12 am

I just put my hd501lj in scythe's enclosure. Previously I was using samsung 2.5 5400 RPM, which was silent but I had to switch, since I play games a lot and loading times were becoming a real nuisance. Samsung did not let me down once again. I have it put at the bottom of the pasive cooled Yessico case. I wanted to test max temps so I ran everything over the night. Prime, 3Dmark06 continously looping and downloads/uploads for HDD to suffer

Temperature in idle is 35 and only one degree higher when under fire with no fan bloowing it.

My recommendations of noise ratio go to Samsung HD501LJ[/url]