Plextor's PX-712SA Dual-Format DVD+/- SATA Drive

CD/DVD Read Performance Testing The Basics

Ahead software, the makers of Nero Burning ROM 6, have an excellent selection of free utilities to test the functionality of various types of optical drives.  Each of these small applications perform a number of specific tasks that show us what each drive is capable of.  In the next section we ran several of these tests on the Plextor PX-712SA DVD +/- R/RW Drive and included the results from the Artec Dual DVD +/- R/RW Drive for comparison where applicable.  Please note that in each test, the Green line represents Rotation Speed while the Yellow Line represents the drive's progress.  CD performance is viewed on a scale of 80 minutes and DVD in Gigabytes.

Nero CD-DVD Speed - CD Data Test:

To start things off, we disabled the SpeedRead feature so the PX-712SA could read at its maximum rate.  We then inserted a CD-R with a single AVI file and let the test ride.

Plextor PX-712SA

Artec Dual DVD

The PX-712SA managed to run very close to its maximum, topping out at a 47.55X.  Utilizing P-CAV (Partial Constant Angular Velocity) allowed the drive to reach its maximum speed faster than with CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) as used by the Artec drive.  This can be seen when compared to the Artec drive, where the rotation slope is more gradual.  On average, the PX-712SA ran at 36X, maintaining a stead flow of data until the last second.  The seek and access times were all very good, as was the CPU utilization, which is a Plextor strongpoint. 

Nero CD-DVD Speed - DVD Data Test:

In our next segment we'll focus on DVD data read performance.  For this test we used a DVD+R full of MP3 files.

Plextor PX-712SA

Artec Dual DVD

The Plextor 712SA reached a top speed of 11.5X and averaged 8.28X from start to finish.  Again, the Plextor drive sported the best overall stats compared to the budget-minded Artec Drive.  We did see some erratic drop off toward the end of the Plextor cycle, but, overall this did not affect its performance.  The drive maintained the best seek and access times while boasting a 22MB/s burst rate.