Test notes
We'll be comparing the performance of the SpinPoint T with that of a slew of competitors, including some of the latest and greatest Serial ATA drives from Hitachi, Maxtor, Seagate, and Western Digital. These drives differ when it comes to external transfer rates, spindle speeds, cache sizes, platter densities, NCQ support, and capacity, all of which can have an impact on performance. Keep in mind the following differences as we move through our benchmarks:
| Max external transfer rate | Spindle speed | Cache size | Platter size | Capacity | Native Command Queuing? | |
| Barracuda 7200.7 NCQ | 150MB/s | 7,200RPM | 8MB | 80GB | 160GB | Yes |
| Barracuda 7200.8 | 150MB/s | 7,200RPM | 8MB | 133GB | 400GB | Yes |
| Barracuda 7200.9 (160GB) | 300MB/s | 7,200RPM | 8MB | 160GB | 160GB | Yes |
| Barracuda 7200.9 (500GB) | 300MB/s | 7,200RPM | 16MB | 125GB | 500GB | Yes |
| Barracuda 7200.10 | 300MB/s | 7,200RPM | 16MB | 188GB | 750GB | Yes |
| Barracuda ES | 300MB/s | 7,200RPM | 16MB | 188GB | 750GB | Yes |
| Caviar SE16 | 300MB/s | 7,200RPM | 16MB | 83GB | 250GB | No |
| Caviar SE16 (500GB) | 300MB/s | 7,200RPM | 16MB | 125GB | 500GB | Yes |
| Caviar RE2 | 150MB/s | 7,200RPM | 16MB | 100GB | 400GB | Yes |
| Caviar RE2 (500GB) | 300MB/s | 7,200RPM | 16MB | 125GB | 500GB | Yes |
| Deskstar 7K500 | 300MB/s | 7,200RPM | 16MB | 100GB | 500GB | Yes |
| DiamondMax 10 | 150MB/s | 7,200RPM | 16MB | 100GB | 300GB | Yes |
| Raptor WD740GD | 150MB/s | 10,000RPM | 8MB | 37GB | 74GB | No* |
| Raptor X | 150MB/s | 10,000RPM | 16MB | 75GB | 150GB | Yes |
| Raptor WD1500ADFD | 150MB/s | 10,000RPM | 16MB | 75GB | 150GB | Yes |
| SpinPoint T | 300MB/s | 7,200RPM | 16MB | 133GB | 400GB | Yes |
Note that the 250GB Caviar SE16 and the Raptor WD740GD lack support for Native Command Queuing. The WD740GD does support a form of command queuing known as Tagged Command Queuing (TCQ), but host controller and chipset support for TCQ is pretty thin. Our Intel 955X-based test platform doesn't support TCQ.
We have test results from older and newer versions of Western Digital's Caviar SE16 and RE2. To avoid confusion, we'll be referring to the newer drives as the Caviar RE2 (500GB) and Caviar SE16 (500GB), while the old drives will appear as the Caviar RE2 and Caviar SE16.
Since Seagate makes versions of the 7200.7 both with and without NCQ support, the 7200.7 in our tests appears as the "Barracuda 7200.7 NCQ" to clarify that it's the NCQ version of the drive. The Caviar RE2, Deskstar T7K250, DiamondMax 10, 7200.8, 7200.9, 7200.10, ES, Raptor X, and Raptor WD1500ADFD aren't explicitly labeled as NCQ drives because they're not available without NCQ support.
Finally, we should note that our WD1500ADFD has a slightly newer firmware revision than the Raptor X sample we've had since February. The drives still share identical internals, but firmware optimizations could give our newer Raptor an edge over the X in some tests.
Our testing methods
All tests were run three times, and their results were averaged, using the following test system.
Thanks to the folks at NCIX for hooking us up with the SpinPoint T we used for testing. NCIX is currently one of only a handful of vendors actually selling versions of the drive with a 400GB capacity and 16MB of cache.
Our test system was powered by OCZ PowerStream power supply units. The PowerStream was one of our Editor's Choice winners in our last PSU round-up.
We used the following versions of our test applications:
- WorldBench 5.0
- Intel IOMeter v2004.07.30
- Xbit Labs File Copy Test v1.0 beta 13
- TCD Labs HD Tach v3.01
- Far Cry v1.3
- DOOM 3
- Intel iPEAK Storage Performance Toolkit 3.0
The test systems' Windows desktop was set at 1280x1024 in 32-bit color at an 85Hz screen refresh rate. Vertical refresh sync (vsync) was disabled for all tests.
All the tests and methods we employed are publicly available and reproducible. If you have questions about our methods, hit our forums to talk with us about them.
