Asus CRW-5232AS QuietTrack CDRW - Benchmarks
(Page 4 of 5 )
For the testing of this drive I used Nero's CD-DVD Speed Benchmark App. As I said on the previous page I will be using a Samsung CD-RW drive for comparison. The Samsung drive is only a 32x24x40 drive, meaning that it will only burn a CD-R disc at a maximum of 32x whereas the Asus drive being reviewed can burn at a maximum of 52x. It also means it has a bit slower of a read speed, at 40x compared to the Asus drive's 52x. (I'll slow the drive to 32x a bit later, in order to more evenly match the drives.)
Transfer Rates
This is the only test I'll be showing you where the higher score is the better one. The numbers here indicate that the Samsung drive started the test at a rate of 16.02x where the Asus started out at 24.27x and so on. So we can see that the Asus drive can reach higher transfer rates across the board.
Seek Times
As I've said, the lower numbers indicate the better performer from now on. The time here is measured in milliseconds so the differences are fairly negligible. The Asus drive's faster read time gives it the advantage in this test and probably the next one as well which is the spin test. This test checks to see how fast the drive can go from 0 to 60...uhh, no wait, actually it's how fast it can go from stopped to full speed and then back to stopped.
Spin Test
As you can see the Asus comes in ahead of the Samsung again here and especially so in the spin up segment which is really where it matters. That's because the drive is sending data to your computer, so the faster it reaches the maximum speed the faster the overall read time will be. Once it's done however it doesn't really matter how fast the drive then comes to a stop. That only matters when you consider how fast it can stop spinning once you hit the eject button or unmount the drive.
Eject/Load Time
Shown here are the times that it takes the drives to eject, reload, and recognize the disc. Here you can see the Samsung shows it's first (slight) victory over the Asus. Overall the total difference of one second says there really isn't that big of an advantage.
Burn Test
Previously I stated that the Asus drive can burn at 52x while the Samsung tops out at 32x, so for this test, I set the Asus to only burn at 32x and kept the Samsung at it's max to try and get a fair assessment of their capabilities on a leveled playing field.
Surprisingly, the Samsung came in almost a full ten seconds faster on this test. This doesn't say all that much really since (a) ten seconds isn't all that long and (b) the Asus drive was handicapped about 20x from it's full potential. It still seems odd that with both drives set to write at the same rate, and given that the Asus has a faster read rate, it still came in second.
Next: Noise Levels >>
More Storage Devices Articles
More By Cyd
