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Clicky Here's my comments: UlCompE02 will be pleased to know that SR has switched to a LSI SCSI adapter 
SATA drives are now tested on a Silicon Image controller. Given the large installed base of both companies, I think these are excellent choices.
As for the software, the vaunted IPEAK SPT returns, allowing controller and down playback of IO requests that are not influenced by the processor, RAM, or other performance of the system. The Office DriveMark 2006 is a capture of the Business Winstone 2004, played back using IPEAK. Applications within the suite include "Office XP, Winzip 9.0, and Symantec Antivirus 2003." The High End DriveMark 2006 is a capture of the Content Creation Winstone 2004. Featured in this suite are "Adobe Photoshop 7.01 and Premiere 6.50, Macromedia Director MX 9.0 and Dreamweaver MX 6.1, Microsoft Windows Media Encoder 9, Newtek Lightwave 3D 7.5b, and Steinberg WaveLab 4.0f."
The new 2006 Gaming DriveMark I am quite pleased with. For some time, I've been saying titles like FarCry and WoW exhibit unique access patterns. They are included, as well as the Sims 2: University. The results are quite interesting. Hitachi's Deskstar 7K400 is a consistent 7200RPM leader, even besting 16MB buffer drives. WD2500KS is runner-up in two of the three tests, with MaxLineIII also being near the top. The Fujitsu MAU remains the drive to beat for hardcore gamers, although it does fall an imperceptible 4% behind the Atlas 15K II in the Sims 2 test, it wins the other two tests by pretty large margins.
Bid farewell to the Bootup Drivemark, it does not return for TestBed4. I am inclined to agree with the SR review team that bootup performance is not all that significant in the grand scheme of things - if you think your rig takes too long to boot up, just leave it on
The noise measurements are no suprise - Samsung SP P80 bests all 3.5" comers in terms of idle noise by at least 1dBA. It is followed by Caviar, MaxLine (!), Barracuda, then the five platter 7K400. Three and two platter Hitachi drives should be within striking distance of the Samsung units.
SR's new power consumption tests show WD leading this category, followed by Samsung, Seagate, Hitachi, and Maxtor (in that order). Once again, Hittachi's entry is a five platter drive, and trimmer Deskstars whould likely be even more competitive here.
SR has promised multi drive RAID performance reviews, and forthcoming notebook drive reviews. Certainly much to look forward to, and much to digest now. Discuss!
SATA drives are now tested on a Silicon Image controller. Given the large installed base of both companies, I think these are excellent choices.As for the software, the vaunted IPEAK SPT returns, allowing controller and down playback of IO requests that are not influenced by the processor, RAM, or other performance of the system. The Office DriveMark 2006 is a capture of the Business Winstone 2004, played back using IPEAK. Applications within the suite include "Office XP, Winzip 9.0, and Symantec Antivirus 2003." The High End DriveMark 2006 is a capture of the Content Creation Winstone 2004. Featured in this suite are "Adobe Photoshop 7.01 and Premiere 6.50, Macromedia Director MX 9.0 and Dreamweaver MX 6.1, Microsoft Windows Media Encoder 9, Newtek Lightwave 3D 7.5b, and Steinberg WaveLab 4.0f."
The new 2006 Gaming DriveMark I am quite pleased with. For some time, I've been saying titles like FarCry and WoW exhibit unique access patterns. They are included, as well as the Sims 2: University. The results are quite interesting. Hitachi's Deskstar 7K400 is a consistent 7200RPM leader, even besting 16MB buffer drives. WD2500KS is runner-up in two of the three tests, with MaxLineIII also being near the top. The Fujitsu MAU remains the drive to beat for hardcore gamers, although it does fall an imperceptible 4% behind the Atlas 15K II in the Sims 2 test, it wins the other two tests by pretty large margins.
Bid farewell to the Bootup Drivemark, it does not return for TestBed4. I am inclined to agree with the SR review team that bootup performance is not all that significant in the grand scheme of things - if you think your rig takes too long to boot up, just leave it on
The noise measurements are no suprise - Samsung SP P80 bests all 3.5" comers in terms of idle noise by at least 1dBA. It is followed by Caviar, MaxLine (!), Barracuda, then the five platter 7K400. Three and two platter Hitachi drives should be within striking distance of the Samsung units.
SR's new power consumption tests show WD leading this category, followed by Samsung, Seagate, Hitachi, and Maxtor (in that order). Once again, Hittachi's entry is a five platter drive, and trimmer Deskstars whould likely be even more competitive here.
SR has promised multi drive RAID performance reviews, and forthcoming notebook drive reviews. Certainly much to look forward to, and much to digest now. Discuss!