Difference between an I3 7200 RPM and I5 5400 RPM

[Jimmy Timmy]

I have a question. I know a 7200 RPM SATA hard drive is supposedly faster than a 5400 RPM SATA hard drive. And an I5-430 is faster than a I3-330m.

But is an I5-430 with 5400 RPM hard drive worth $100 more than an I3-330 with a 7200 RPM? Or in other words, is the performance improvement of the I5 to the I3 negated if the Hard drive speed is slower? Just curious.

 

[smarteyeball]

Good question - unfortunately it's hard to say - yes the 5400rpm drive will slow you down a little with th i5 430, but personally I'd paid the extra $100 for a superior chip.


Besides, a laptop/netbook HDD is far easier to replace than a CPU.

 

[Jimmy Timmy]

Well...I already bought the I3-330M but I just saw this I-5 for only $100 more and also with a 10-key numeric keypad. So I had some buyers remorse. But then I saw the hard drive was 5400rpm so I was wondering if I still made a good choice.

Most of the I5s I had been seeing were about $200 more and not worth it.

 

[fatedquest]

Yes it is because a 7200 RPM HDD is just slightly more expensive compared to a 5400 RPM HDD.

 

[Jimmy Timmy]

Good question - unfortunately it's hard to say - yes the 5400rpm drive will slow you down a little with th i5 430, but personally I'd paid the extra $100 for a superior chip.


Besides, a laptop/netbook HDD is far easier to replace than a CPU.

Ok so tell me is an I-5 really that much better than an I-3? Can you give me a real-world example where I will be doing something and wishing "Man I could've used an I-5 right now"