Hello,

I have a 5400rpm drive at present, Quantum Fireball EX.

How much extra heat would a 7200rpm generate as opposed to what the current 5400rpm one currently generates and would I need an extra fan inside do you think?

Also, just out of interest, our 1996 model has a 4800rpm HD (Maxtor 71084A). I don't plan to but could this in theory be replaced with a 5400rpm with no need for extra cooling? I probably can't stick a 7200/10k rpm in it (it's a flat pre-tower desktop) and I know it has the 8.4Gb BIOS limit.

Thanks in advance. :)

Welcome to PCGuide!!

Whether or not you need additional cooling depends on the system you have now. If your system is well cooled, it probably wouldn't make that much difference to add another drive. If you are already pushing the limits, then it is probably a good idea to add a hard drive fan or some other cooler. The same answer would apply to both of your questions. Since you are talking about replacing a drive, unless you are really pushing the temperature limits, you shouldn't have any problems.

Also, for both systems you might be able to install an USB 2.0 PCI card to allow hooking up a high speed hard drive externally. You can get either the external drive or a conversion box for an existing hard drive fairly cheaply.

Budfred

Just done a really quick deduction on heat inside the machine based on the air being blown out the back of the two units via the fan :) Neither machine has those fancy internal temperature thingies.

The 1996 machine is blowing freezing cold air out which suggests that cooling is adequate and I can get away with the 5400rpm option should I want to. It doesn't matter so much if this burns itself out, it's six and a half years old and a Pentium 100. Go figure :)

The other machine, this one, a 1998 machine, is currently blowing out lukewarm, very slightly "chilled", air which slightly concerns me if I was to put a 7200rpm HD in, and even more so if I went for a 10k rpm.

You can get a temp sensor for about $30 that will give you temps inside the case for the CPU, harddrives and/or general. It may be worthwhile to invest in one before going to a lot of trouble to deal with possible heat problems. You might also just want to confirm that your motherboard doesn't already have the capability to tell you.

Budfred