5400rpm vs 7200rpm HDD, is it worth it?

Question

Iron

There is such an idea - to assemble a silent (as quiet as possible) PC that will not pay attention to itself during operation.
What is the situation: now only disks and a processor cooler are making noise in my system. If everything is clear enough with the cooler what to do, then the trouble is with the disks - I have two 1TB each, and I don’t really want to lose this place, and at the same time not spend money on a 1TB SSD.
What is my plan: instead of the main one, put a 500GB Samsung 860 EVO SSD, and instead of a second 2.5" HDD with 5400 rpm, 1TB.
Now one thing worries me - it is obvious that I will fit the system, and all the necessary programs, and documents, and in general everything that is needed for work + a couple of small games on the SSD, but the second one will be like a warehouse for video, music and also games. And that's exactly what I'm afraid of, because the PC is not very strong, and in some games it really saves the SSD, minimizing the lag from loading objects (in Forza Horizon 4 this is really manna from heaven). So, questions about HDD 2.5 ":

Is it really justified to worry that 5400rpm will slow down my gameplay (I don't care about loading time of the level), or is it not so important?

Does the 2.5" 5400 rpm really reduce the noise level compared to the 3.5" 7200 rpm, or will I still hear random chirps and vibrations from time to time? To the same question - does a system unit with noise reduction and anti-vibration save the situation (like be quiet Pure Base 500)?

Answer 1

Is it really worth worrying that 5400rpm will slow down my gameplay

Yes strong.
As an option - to build a RAID0 array on two or three HDDs, which will work much faster.

Does 2.5" 5400 rpm really reduce the noise level compared to 3.5" 7200 rpm,

Well, on a laptop, I can hear how the disk works. Quiet, but I can hear.
If I were you, I would put a bigger SSD or buy an inexpensive NAS that I would put in a closet and forget about it.

Answer 2

I also assembled a "silent" PC for myself, in the end it turned out that the HDD is much more audible than coolers. If you want quiet - take only SSD

Answer 3

The noise of the propeller depends more on the specific model than on the revolutions, it can be large and quiet, or maybe a small chirping model can be caught. It would be nice to see video reviews with the sound of work.
And for already existing noisy drives, I recommend trying a basket with silicone legs, you may not have to do anything. it helped me a lot until I switched to SSD https://aliexpress.ru/item/4001159395758.html

Answer 4

HDD noise depends more on the model than on the speed. Often even seven-thousanders are not heard at all (in idle).
5400 will not slow down the gameplay - if there is enough RAM and the OS swap file on the SSD. In addition, if you suddenly have an old motherboard on Intel, and on a Z-series chipset - then light it up, there was a chic SSD caching function (Intel Smart Response) - you can get 64GB of SSD cache for the HDD. In addition, this feature will greatly reduce the load on the HDD and, consequently, the crackling of the heads.

Answer 5

It makes no sense to take particularly quiet drives.
During the active gameplay of the cooler, the video cards spin up louder than the disks. During if you do not spire, the discs do nothing and do not make noise.