Seagate Barracuda 7200.8: 400GBs with NCQ

Real World Tests - Game Level Load Times

We have changed our Game Level Loading Time test to include two of the latest games, Doom 3 and Half-Life 2. Because of their high resolution textures and the large levels, the loading time for the levels of each game are long enough to help show a difference between each drive.

We have also included an older strategy game, Command & Conquer: Generals, because of its longer level load times. Though the game is a couple of years old, it still proves to be a good measure of performance data loading performance.

Both Seagate drives loaded up Doom 3's cavernl level at around 32 seconds on average, which were the quickest level loads on the list. Even Western Digital's Raptor took a hearty 41.3 seconds to load the graphically intense level.

We recieved the same results for Half-Life 2 and its d1_canals_01 level, which the 7200.8 loaded the fastest at 15.846 seconds with the 7200.7 following in close at 16.767 seconds. The Raptor followed closely behind the 7200.7 with a 17.133 average loading time.

Though Command & Conquer: Generals did not give us as much of a spread as Doom 3 and Half-Life 2, it did show us where the 7200.8 and the others generally stood with strategy games. The majority of the drives took between 32 and 34 seconds to load up the first map in the GLA campaign. Maxtor's DiamondMax 10 came in at first place taking 32.233 seconds while the 7200.8 took an average of 33.9 to bring us the action.