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CD Read Tests
Before we begin with our read tests, it is important to note that in order to
get the highest performance with this drive, you'll have to make a few changes
in PlexTool Professional.
This
can be a bit confusing for the average user. The Plextor PX-716A is
actually capable of reading CDR media at 48x. However, by default, it is
set at 40x. Before you can actually choose 48x in your disc velocity
settings, you'll have to go into the advanced menu first and enable SpeedRead.
Once you have done this, it will allow you to save the 48x speed setting on
your drive.
All
the results I will show you here are with SpeedRead & SilentMode enabled in
order to provide you with the highest performance results this drive is
capable of.
1.
CD-DVD Speed - Pressed CD
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Test Results |
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Transfer Speed
Average:
34.51x
Start:
20.16x
End:
45.53x |
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Seek
Times
Random:
104ms
1/3: 127ms
Full:
262ms |
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CPU
Usage
1X: 14%
2X: 1%
4X: 2%
8X: 3% |
With
a pressed CD, it was able to read the disc above 40x but fell short of 48x.
Seek times were low, with the exception at full seek. CPU usage results
were quite interesting though. We see an unusually high rate at 1x yet
the 8x results were the lowest I've seen.
2.
CD-DVD Speed - CDR
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Test Results |
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Transfer Speed
Average:
34.72x
Start:
20.74x
End:
45.45x |
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Seek
Times
Random:
318ms
1/3: 140ms
Full:
189ms |
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CPU
Usage
1X: 27%
2X: 1%
4X: 2%
8X: 4 |
With
CDR media, the drive once again fell short of 48x. The seek times were
substantially higher and we see the similar odd results with respect to CPU
usage.
3.
CD-DVD Speed - CDRW Media
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Test Results |
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Transfer Speed
Average:
29.67x
Start:
7.98x
End:
39.50x |
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Seek
Times
Random:
100ms
1/3: 109ms
Full:
161ms |
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CPU
Usage
1X: 0%
2X: 1%
4X: 2%
8X: 4% |
Most
drives struggle with this particular format. However, the PX-716A
handles CDRW media exceptionally well. In fact, they are the best
results I've seen. The drive is capable of reading these discs at 40x
and was easily able to reach these speeds. Seek times and CPU usage were
very low.
4.
DAE - Advanced Quality Tests
Now, the Digital Audio Extraction tests are were
I ran into some major issues. This drive had problems just being able to
finish these particular tests. I attempted with three different quality
high speed CDR discs, all of which did not perform well. My first
initial tests were done with a Philips 40x CDR but the average speed achieved
was only 8x. The best results I was able to achieve were done using a
Ridata 48x CDR. While this disc did provide the highest speed, it failed
on-the-fly copying at 10x, 12x and 16x. It also took a painfully slow 40
minutes to complete the tests. Even making the appropriate changes in
PlexTools did not help with these tests. Needless to say, I was
quite disappointed with these results.
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