Western Digital WD2500YD: Enterprise on the Desktop
by Gary Key on June 24, 2006 10:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Storage
Our application time tests are designed to show application performance results with times being reported in minutes / seconds or seconds only with lower scores being better. While these tests will show some differences between the drives it is important to understand we are no longer measuring the pure performance of the hard drive but how well our platform performs with each individual drive. The performance of a hard drive is an integral part of the computer platform but other factors such as memory, CPU, core logic, and even driver choice can play a major role in determining how well the hard drive performs in any given task.
Game Load Tests
In our Half-Life 2: Lost Coast test we measure the time it takes to load the game with the application timer starting when the play game icon is initiated in the Steam menu until the Main game menu appears. The results follow our overall iPEAK game results with the Western Digital Raptor performing up to 10% better in this benchmark. The WD 2500YD continues to show a pattern of finishing slightly behind the other drives but the performance difference requires a benchmark to notice and most people won't be able to tell the difference during actual gameplay.
Our Sims 2: Open for Business test measures the time it takes to load the initial portion of the game. Our application timer starts when the game icon is initiated until the neighborhood menu appears. The results are basically the same as our Half Life 2 results as the WD Raptor continues to lead all drives, but the Seagate 7200.10 finishes ahead of the RE2 drives this time.
Game Level Load
These tests center around the actual loading of a playable level within our game selections.
The Battlefield 2 test measures the time it takes to load the Daqing Oilfields level. We begin timing right after initiating a single player game and stop when the join game icon is visible.
The Half-Life 2: Lost Coast test measures the time it takes to load a new game. Our application timer starts when the start new game option is selected and ends when the character is on screen with the 357 magnum visible.
The Oblivion test measures the time it takes to load the Weye level in our saved game files. We measure the amount of time from loading the saved game until the character is visible on screen.
The Sims 2: Open for Business test measures the time it takes to load the Downtown sector of the game from Veronaville. We start our application timer when the Downtown game icon is selected and stop when the downtown graphics are visible.
The WD Raptor continues its pattern of being the best available drive for the gaming enthusiast, although with a limited storage capacity it is certainly an expensive proposition for the general desktop user who typically will sacrifice speed for storage. Our WD2500YD continues to finish in the middle or at the back of the pack in these tests with the only noticeable differences being in our Oblivion and Sims 2 levels where there was some separation between the Raptor and our test drive.
WinRAR 3.51
Our WinRAR tests measure the time it takes to compress our test folder that contains 444 files, 10 folders, and contains 602MB of data. This is same test folder utilized in our iPEAK test suite. While the benchmark is extremely CPU intensive for the compression test it still requires a fast storage system to keep pace with the CPU.
The compression tests mimic our iPEAK results with the WD RE2 500GB drive having the top score, followed by the Seagate 7200.10 unit. While the WD2500YD was competitive in the file compression tests and even bested the RE2 400GB drive, the performance in the decompression test is abysmal finishing twelve seconds behind the Raptor and seven seconds behind the Seagate 500GB drive. Upon noticing this result, we generated several other compress/decompress test scenarios with the same basic results.
AnyDVD 5.9.6
Our next test has us utilizing the "ripping" function of AnyDVD to copy the Office Space DVD file from our source drive to our test drive. Our DVD features 29 files totaling 7.55GB of data and is an excellent test for determining the write speed of a drive.
The test results show what we all know: speed kills. In this case, the WD Raptor posts yet another first place score but is followed very closely by the RE2 drives. The WD2500YD finishes up to 50 seconds behind the top WD drives in this test. If you spend a lot time converting your movie collection or generating video files then buying the fastest drive you can afford can lead to a significant time savings.
Nero Audio Encode
Our last test has us utilizing the audio encoding functions of Nero to convert our INXS Greatest Hits audio files from MP4 format to a high quality variable rate MP3 file for our portable player. Our benchmark features 16 files totaling 137MB of data and is an excellent test for determining the read and write speed of a drive.
The test results show once again the amount of time a fast hard drive like the WD Raptor can save over the course of audio or video file manipulation session. The two RE2 drives are close behind the Raptor with the WD2500YD finishing near last again, although the difference is substantially less than in the video tests.
Game Load Tests
In our Half-Life 2: Lost Coast test we measure the time it takes to load the game with the application timer starting when the play game icon is initiated in the Steam menu until the Main game menu appears. The results follow our overall iPEAK game results with the Western Digital Raptor performing up to 10% better in this benchmark. The WD 2500YD continues to show a pattern of finishing slightly behind the other drives but the performance difference requires a benchmark to notice and most people won't be able to tell the difference during actual gameplay.
Our Sims 2: Open for Business test measures the time it takes to load the initial portion of the game. Our application timer starts when the game icon is initiated until the neighborhood menu appears. The results are basically the same as our Half Life 2 results as the WD Raptor continues to lead all drives, but the Seagate 7200.10 finishes ahead of the RE2 drives this time.
Game Level Load
These tests center around the actual loading of a playable level within our game selections.
The Battlefield 2 test measures the time it takes to load the Daqing Oilfields level. We begin timing right after initiating a single player game and stop when the join game icon is visible.
The Half-Life 2: Lost Coast test measures the time it takes to load a new game. Our application timer starts when the start new game option is selected and ends when the character is on screen with the 357 magnum visible.
The Oblivion test measures the time it takes to load the Weye level in our saved game files. We measure the amount of time from loading the saved game until the character is visible on screen.
The Sims 2: Open for Business test measures the time it takes to load the Downtown sector of the game from Veronaville. We start our application timer when the Downtown game icon is selected and stop when the downtown graphics are visible.
The WD Raptor continues its pattern of being the best available drive for the gaming enthusiast, although with a limited storage capacity it is certainly an expensive proposition for the general desktop user who typically will sacrifice speed for storage. Our WD2500YD continues to finish in the middle or at the back of the pack in these tests with the only noticeable differences being in our Oblivion and Sims 2 levels where there was some separation between the Raptor and our test drive.
WinRAR 3.51
Our WinRAR tests measure the time it takes to compress our test folder that contains 444 files, 10 folders, and contains 602MB of data. This is same test folder utilized in our iPEAK test suite. While the benchmark is extremely CPU intensive for the compression test it still requires a fast storage system to keep pace with the CPU.
The compression tests mimic our iPEAK results with the WD RE2 500GB drive having the top score, followed by the Seagate 7200.10 unit. While the WD2500YD was competitive in the file compression tests and even bested the RE2 400GB drive, the performance in the decompression test is abysmal finishing twelve seconds behind the Raptor and seven seconds behind the Seagate 500GB drive. Upon noticing this result, we generated several other compress/decompress test scenarios with the same basic results.
AnyDVD 5.9.6
Our next test has us utilizing the "ripping" function of AnyDVD to copy the Office Space DVD file from our source drive to our test drive. Our DVD features 29 files totaling 7.55GB of data and is an excellent test for determining the write speed of a drive.
The test results show what we all know: speed kills. In this case, the WD Raptor posts yet another first place score but is followed very closely by the RE2 drives. The WD2500YD finishes up to 50 seconds behind the top WD drives in this test. If you spend a lot time converting your movie collection or generating video files then buying the fastest drive you can afford can lead to a significant time savings.
Nero Audio Encode
Our last test has us utilizing the audio encoding functions of Nero to convert our INXS Greatest Hits audio files from MP4 format to a high quality variable rate MP3 file for our portable player. Our benchmark features 16 files totaling 137MB of data and is an excellent test for determining the read and write speed of a drive.
The test results show once again the amount of time a fast hard drive like the WD Raptor can save over the course of audio or video file manipulation session. The two RE2 drives are close behind the Raptor with the WD2500YD finishing near last again, although the difference is substantially less than in the video tests.
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Calin - Monday, June 26, 2006 - link
On RealTimePricing a 150GB Raptor is at $260. Could you throw a comparation with one of the cheaper 147GB SCSI models (at around $350)? If one want more performance and consider paying $260 for a Raptor instead a bit less for three times the capacity, they could accept paying one and a half times the price for a third the capacity in a SCSI drive.With considerations of sound and heat, not only performance, of course.
Thanks