Western Digital SE16 750GB: "Quiet" a Performer
by Dave Robinet on August 9, 2007 2:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Storage
Quick Take
The Western Digital WD7500AAKS is a very solid entry by WD into an extremely competitive marketplace. Its performance is near the top of the charts in all benchmarks we ran in our labs, and WD's recent decision to grant the retail SE16 drive series a 3 year warranty removes one of the major issues surrounding this line of drives.
Improving the overall picture of this drive is the remarkably low power consumption it is able to boast at load conditions, although idle power consumption is average for this class. Western Digital has put together a very attractive package in this drive, particularly for situations where power consumption is a factor for systems running at load or near load conditions the majority of time. When comparing this drive to others in its class (for example, the Seagate 750GB 7200.10), the Western Digital WD7500AAKS's 10.7W power draw is nearly 25% less.
The WD7500AAKS scored some of the highest marks we've ever seen on some of the synthetic tests in the general desktop product sector. While the synthetic portion of the benchmarks are of arguably less value than the real world tests, the fact that this drive scores as well as it does gives it additional bragging rights in a market becoming increasingly crowded with similarly-performing hardware.
Real-world performance of the drive was excellent as well. We expected the Raptor to trounce the WD7500AAKS in all benchmarks, but we didn't expect the large differential between this drive and the Seagate drive. Considering these two drives are targeted at the same market space, Western Digital has a clearly superior product this time around. The iPEAK gaming performance in particular was an area where the WD7500AAKS excelled, often approaching (and occasionally beating) the WD Raptor due to excellent sustained transfer rates.
The drive's thermal performance, while nothing to boast about, is certainly above average, particularly given the capacity. The idle temperature of the drive sat squarely in the middle of our tests, but the drive truly shines with its fully-loaded heat increase of only 12%. This made it the coolest 750GB drive we've tested by a wide margin, and even gave the Samsung T166 (our current thermal champion) a run for its money. Noise, too, was a pleasant area of surprise for this drive, making this a suitable offering for even a HTPC setup.
In closing, the Western Digital WD7500AAKS offers strong performance, runs quietly, and emits relatively low amounts of heat. With a warranty that now mirrors that offered by most other manufacturers (except for Seagate, which boasts a full 5 year warranty), the drive can be recommended for virtually anyone looking to buy a drive in this price range. Western Digital has come a long way with its SE16 series, and this drive is an example that shines above its 750GB brethren.
The Western Digital WD7500AAKS is a very solid entry by WD into an extremely competitive marketplace. Its performance is near the top of the charts in all benchmarks we ran in our labs, and WD's recent decision to grant the retail SE16 drive series a 3 year warranty removes one of the major issues surrounding this line of drives.
Improving the overall picture of this drive is the remarkably low power consumption it is able to boast at load conditions, although idle power consumption is average for this class. Western Digital has put together a very attractive package in this drive, particularly for situations where power consumption is a factor for systems running at load or near load conditions the majority of time. When comparing this drive to others in its class (for example, the Seagate 750GB 7200.10), the Western Digital WD7500AAKS's 10.7W power draw is nearly 25% less.
The WD7500AAKS scored some of the highest marks we've ever seen on some of the synthetic tests in the general desktop product sector. While the synthetic portion of the benchmarks are of arguably less value than the real world tests, the fact that this drive scores as well as it does gives it additional bragging rights in a market becoming increasingly crowded with similarly-performing hardware.
Real-world performance of the drive was excellent as well. We expected the Raptor to trounce the WD7500AAKS in all benchmarks, but we didn't expect the large differential between this drive and the Seagate drive. Considering these two drives are targeted at the same market space, Western Digital has a clearly superior product this time around. The iPEAK gaming performance in particular was an area where the WD7500AAKS excelled, often approaching (and occasionally beating) the WD Raptor due to excellent sustained transfer rates.
The drive's thermal performance, while nothing to boast about, is certainly above average, particularly given the capacity. The idle temperature of the drive sat squarely in the middle of our tests, but the drive truly shines with its fully-loaded heat increase of only 12%. This made it the coolest 750GB drive we've tested by a wide margin, and even gave the Samsung T166 (our current thermal champion) a run for its money. Noise, too, was a pleasant area of surprise for this drive, making this a suitable offering for even a HTPC setup.
In closing, the Western Digital WD7500AAKS offers strong performance, runs quietly, and emits relatively low amounts of heat. With a warranty that now mirrors that offered by most other manufacturers (except for Seagate, which boasts a full 5 year warranty), the drive can be recommended for virtually anyone looking to buy a drive in this price range. Western Digital has come a long way with its SE16 series, and this drive is an example that shines above its 750GB brethren.
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retrospooty - Thursday, August 9, 2007 - link
"There seems very little reason to even consider a Raptor anymore. "Except for hte fact that the Raptor 150 is 1 1/2 years old (thats older than the 7200.10 you mentioned) and a 300g Raptor, hopefully with 32m cache is also right around the corner. A300g Raptor with 32m cache will once again own the retail sector by a wide margin.
mostlyprudent - Thursday, August 9, 2007 - link
It will be interesting to see what new Raptor with 32MB of cache can do. I am still skeptical whether it will be able to manage the kind of performance advantage the Raptors had when they were first introduced. I personally think WD will have a tough time charging a significant price premium over other 300GB drives, let alone 750GB and 1TB drives.yyrkoon - Monday, August 13, 2007 - link
You mean the 'whopping' 58MB/s average ? The raptors when first released had issues. Less so now, and they perform much better. Not good enough to justify the cost in my opinion, but whatever floats your boat . . .
ceefka - Friday, August 10, 2007 - link
The Raptor would need more than 32MB cache to get (far) ahead of the pack again, like it did when it was first introduced. Three things they can do:1. Higher density platter :perpendicular
2. 15K rpm? I don't even know if that is possible, but it would be cool.
3. Like you said: 32MB or even more cache.
Martimus - Wednesday, August 15, 2007 - link
The higher density would slow it down, because the heads would need to be more precise. I think that is why the raptors always have less capacity than their caviar brand.retrospooty - Friday, August 10, 2007 - link
Right now the Raptor 150 is ahead of the pack with 16m cache vs 32, and a much lower density per platter, and no perpendicular storage. Add those 3 things and we might be cooking. I have heard rumors that 15k is in the works, but not confirmed.Basilisk - Thursday, August 9, 2007 - link
Or, you may need something loud enough to drown-out your partner's snoring. :)yyrkoon - Monday, August 13, 2007 - link
Funny that, I own a 750GB Seagate, the computer sits less than 4 feet from my head when I sleep up on a desk, and I cannot hear it. Now, If it were not the end of summer, and I were not living in the desert, had all my fans off, I MAY hear the occational disk chatter, but I'll be dahmed if it would ever keep me awake . . .Sometimes I wonder about some of you guys . . .
retrospooty - Thursday, August 9, 2007 - link
??? I dunno. I see AT's comparison always has the Raptor being loud, but I hafve had 1 36g 2 75g and 2 150g Raptors, none of them have been noisy at all, not even compared to other drives. Was I just lucky or is AT's samples unlucky?semo - Thursday, August 9, 2007 - link
is there a difference between the serial ata and the pata se16 wd drives?