Seagate 7200.7 & 7200.8 Temps

I just got a 250GB Seagate barracuda 7200.8, and have 2x120GB 7200.7s (early .7s without NCQ) all SATA. All the reviews i have read said that there was very little difference between the drives, and from a performance point of view there really isent any noticeable difference.

From a temperature point of view though the 7200.8 runs so much cooler.

I had the 7200.7s running in the open air on my desk, and the 7200.8 in my case, where things tend to get hotter. The 7200.7s are really quite hot to touch, DTemp reported them at 46C and 47C (and no I didnt leave them in the sun or by a radiator), while the 7200.8 felt warm, DTemp reported 36C. I was really quite shocked by the difference - 10C.

Good to know nb- thanks, I was thinking of buying one these.

Drives tend to run cooler when they are mounted in a case, despite the inside of the case being warmer than the room. This is because mounting the drive onto a metal chassis conducts heat away from it, and this is much more effective than the simple radiation of heat that you get otherwise. (This is why you have a heatsink and fan on your CPU rather than just a fan...)

I just bought a 7200.7, and like yours it was running at 47 degrees when it was hanging loose outside the case. It is now mounted inside and runs at 37-42, and this is with a mid-high-30s internal case temp (Shuttle XPC == v.difficult to keep cool)

So I'm not convinced that your test proves anything. To do a fair test you have to compare the drives in the same place, mounted (or not) the same way, and subtract the local ambient temperature to get a net heat output.