Western Digital WD1500ADFD: King Raptor
by Gary Key on February 8, 2006 1:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Storage
Hard Drive Performance: Thermal and Acoustics
We have revised our acoustics testing for this article. Our acoustic test utilizes our standard test bed components, but we installed our Thermaltake water-cooling system for the CPU and turned off the case fans to isolate as much case noise as possible during testing. Our OCZ power supply is virtually silent in these tests and we installed our fanless Gigabyte 6600GT video card to further reduce noise.
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 5 millimeters from the rear and front of the drive being tested in order to minimize surrounding environmental noise. The reported measurements are based on an A-weighted decibel score that measures frequencies similar to the way that the human ear responds to sound. We take a total of 5 measurements for each test. We subtract the high and low scores and then average the middle three to arrive at our findings.
Our thermal tests continue to utilize sensor readings via the S.M.A.R.T. technology on the drives. We will move to an infrared thermometer testing procedure in the near future to supplement the current test procedures.
The thermal characteristics of both Raptors were very close with the WD1500 running slightly hotter under the load conditions. While we did not report the infrared test results in this article, the heat sink fan area on the Raptors reached temperatures around 55c during the load testing. Of course, these temperatures would be reduced with the case fans running, but it is something to be aware of if you plan on utilizing the drive in a SFF case.
The acoustical characteristics of both Raptors were similar. You will notice a slight whine during the spin-up phase on each drive along with the same whine when the drive powers down. The reads are clearly audible, but do not have the same metallic noise that we noticed on the Maxtor drives. During normal operations, both drives could be heard, but the sounds emitting from the drive was almost dull compared to the Maxtor drives. The WD1500 was slightly louder during constant read access compared to the WD740GD. While not obtrusive in our opinion, the sound levels would be clearly evident in a silent system.
We have revised our acoustics testing for this article. Our acoustic test utilizes our standard test bed components, but we installed our Thermaltake water-cooling system for the CPU and turned off the case fans to isolate as much case noise as possible during testing. Our OCZ power supply is virtually silent in these tests and we installed our fanless Gigabyte 6600GT video card to further reduce noise.
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 5 millimeters from the rear and front of the drive being tested in order to minimize surrounding environmental noise. The reported measurements are based on an A-weighted decibel score that measures frequencies similar to the way that the human ear responds to sound. We take a total of 5 measurements for each test. We subtract the high and low scores and then average the middle three to arrive at our findings.
Our thermal tests continue to utilize sensor readings via the S.M.A.R.T. technology on the drives. We will move to an infrared thermometer testing procedure in the near future to supplement the current test procedures.
The thermal characteristics of both Raptors were very close with the WD1500 running slightly hotter under the load conditions. While we did not report the infrared test results in this article, the heat sink fan area on the Raptors reached temperatures around 55c during the load testing. Of course, these temperatures would be reduced with the case fans running, but it is something to be aware of if you plan on utilizing the drive in a SFF case.
The acoustical characteristics of both Raptors were similar. You will notice a slight whine during the spin-up phase on each drive along with the same whine when the drive powers down. The reads are clearly audible, but do not have the same metallic noise that we noticed on the Maxtor drives. During normal operations, both drives could be heard, but the sounds emitting from the drive was almost dull compared to the Maxtor drives. The WD1500 was slightly louder during constant read access compared to the WD740GD. While not obtrusive in our opinion, the sound levels would be clearly evident in a silent system.
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Gary Key - Wednesday, February 8, 2006 - link
Believe me, Purav cannot wait to start testing this drive in a RAID setup.feraltoad - Wednesday, February 8, 2006 - link
It would be great if you could include a comparison of the all 3 raptors in Raid 0. I have a 36gb Raptor and have often wondered if 2 in raid 0 would be as fast as 1 74gb raptor. Esp. now w/newer versions.Rapsven - Wednesday, February 8, 2006 - link
The content was very informative, and as a whole, the article was very well done. But jesus christ, dude, opening your articles with quotes ticks me off to no end.rjm55 - Wednesday, February 8, 2006 - link
Perhaps the quotes at the front of Gary's reviews will give you a repetoire that will include words that can be substituted for Dude. If you hate the quote just skip the first few sentences and you will not have to be bothered by the quotes.Personally I like them - the quotes set the reviews apart. It's sometimes nice to have a little education with my favorite hobby.
Gary Key - Wednesday, February 8, 2006 - link
Is it the quote itself or just the fact there is one? I would appreciate some honest feedback on the subject. I like the quote as it sets the tone for the article but I also realize it really is not needed. :-)
Rolphus - Thursday, February 9, 2006 - link
I love the quotes. In particular, this one stuck in my mind, and provided an incredibly simple, single-sentence "hook" into the review which summed it up perfectly. I'd vote to keep them.johnsonx - Wednesday, February 8, 2006 - link
I like the quotes. It makes me think of Chairman Kaga on Iron Chef (the original Japanese show, not the new Iron Chef America).Seriously Gary, keep the quotes.
fb0252 - Wednesday, February 8, 2006 - link
newbie q: the review uses the term "single user" recommending turning off native command queing in single user setting as opposed to multi user. i have a pair of wd1500s on my floor ready to be installed in our office system in Raid 0. One person at a time uses the computer but we frequently "multi-ask". do we turn of NCQ to get faster speeds in this sitaution--am I a "single user" on this computer, though much of our use is multi-asking--six programs at once e.g. doing multiple tasks.Gary Key - Wednesday, February 8, 2006 - link
Hi,I am assuming your applications will be general office and the machine is not being setup as a local server. If so, turn off NCQ. It it really meant at the server-level where you have highly random and concurrent requests. I would not go with RAID 0 for an office environment as you are playing with fire in regards to data reliability. Setup you system in RAID 10 if it supports it.
Thanks....
Gary Key - Wednesday, February 8, 2006 - link
We need an edit function. "Setup your system in RAID 10 if it supports it."