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CD/DVD Performance Tests |
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Nero Burning ROM Ultra 6 |
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Nero CD-DVD Speed - CD Data Test:
In our first run
of Nero CD-DVD Speed we'll focus our efforts on standard
CD-ROM performance. With this benchmark, we loaded a
698MB
CD-R full of .mp3 files in the
drive and let CD-DVD Speed run through its cycle of tests.
As you browse these charts, be aware that the green line
through each reflects the corresponding drive's transfer
rate and the yellow line indicates rotational velocity.
ASUS DRW-0402P/D |
ASUS DRW-0402P |
Plextor PX-708A |
Interestingly,
the DRW-0402P/D and DRW-0402P perform nearly identically in
the CD data read test, attaining the same start, finish, and
average speeds, which actually top out above the rated
maximum, 32x. Both drives share fairly low CPU usage
attributes and relatively bad seek times, though not the
worst we've seen. Keep in mind that even while the
Plextor drive sports higher read times, better access rates,
and a better burst speed, it's also significantly more
expensive that the ASUS offering.
Nero CD-DVD Speed - CD Audio Test:
To test each drive's audio
extraction performance, we used the Apollo 13
soundtrack, composed by James Horner.
In order to determine how well
each drive extracts audio tracks, sectors are copied to the hard drive
from three different
locations on the CD. The same sectors are read again
and compared to the sectors written to the hard drive.
Depending on the number of differences, the DAE quality will
be rated from 0 to 10, with 10 being a perfect score.
ASUS DRW-0402P/D |
ASUS DRW-0402P |
Plextor PX-708A |
Whereas the
Plextor PX-708A maintains a uniform rotational velocity and
access pattern, both ASUS drives perform erratically here.
Based on the number of tracks and the spacing of the dips,
it seems logical that both ASUS drives might have been
slowing down at the beginning of each track, quickly
recovering to resume prior performance. Further
subjective testing revealed that playback was still smooth,
despite the odd behavior. All three drives scored perfect
10's for digital audio extraction, though the ASUS models
still looked to suffer high seek times and low burst rates.
Nero CD-DVD Speed - DVD Data Test:
In the next two tests we focused
on the drive's DVD reading performance. Each drive is
configured to perform differently based on whether a DVD movie or
DVD data disk is inserted in the drive. We started by
placing in a DVD+R containing 4.4GB of large files (a couple of CD
images) and smaller files (folders full of .mp3 music).
ASUS DRW-0402P/D |
ASUS DRW-0402P |
Plextor PX-708A |
Both ASUS drives
perform similarly for the third time. That is, they
start reading at nearly 5x, slowly creeping up to 6.5x.
Once again, the seek times were nothing to write home about,
especially compared to the incredibly competent PX-708A.
Unfortunately, the DRW-0402P had a problem completing the
Full seek time test, which persisted despite a
re-installation of Nero. All three drives posted
surprisingly high CPU utilization numbers.
CD-R/DVD+R Write Tests &
Conclusion
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