ICY DOCK MB664US-1S: eSATA with a twist

Acoustics

Our acoustic test utilizes our standard test bed components but we implement Intel's power saving technology and turn off the case fans to isolate as much case noise as possible during testing. Our Corsair power supply is nearly silent in these tests and our MSI 8800GTX video card is water cooled to provide a further decrease in ambient noise levels.

Our acoustic tests are designed to measure the decibel levels while the system is at idle and also under load while running the General Hard Disk Drive Usage benchmark within PCMark 2005. We found through trial and error that this particular benchmark produces controlled readings across a wide range of applications within the benchmark. This particular benchmark utilizes 60% reads and 40% writes within the trace playback file.

The measurements are taken at a distance of 5mm from the rear and front of the drive being tested in order to minimize surrounding environmental noise. We have noticed that unless we run a completely silent system in a quiet room that measurements taken from 1m are generally not meaningful due to ambient noise levels. Being an external enclosure that might be found sitting on a desk, HDD noise levels with the ICY DOCK may be slightly more noticeable than a hard drive installed in a typical tower.

The reported measurements are based on an A-weighted decibel score that measures frequencies similar to the way the human ear responds to sound. We take a total of three measurements for each test. We then subtract the high and low scores and arrive at our findings by reporting the remaining score.



The MB664 comes in slightly quieter than the MB559, largely due the MB664's use of a "slide-in" design, rather than a detachable caddy. The difference, however, is minor and not likely to be noticeable in most conditions. As in the review of the MB559, the SpinPoint drive in the review has a tendency to vibrate, which caused a hum in our ICY DOCK enclosure. Our base noise level in the room at the time of testing was 25 dB(A).

Thermals

Our thermal tests utilize sensor readings via the S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) capability of the drives and are reported by utilizing the Active SMART 2.42 utility. We also utilize thermal sensors and infrared measurement devices to verify our utility results. Our base temperature level in the room at the time of testing was 25C.



The ICY DOCK MB664 was able to dissipate the heat of the Samsung drive without issue. As was the case in the MB559, the enclosure itself consumes only 2W of power at idle, largely due to the absence of any active cooling solution. This low power consumption contributes to the low thermal output increases we noticed compared to the drive in a standard case configuration.