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CD
Read Tests
Before we start with performance, let's have a look at the test system's
specs...
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Test System Specifications |
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Motherboard: |
Abit IS7 |
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CPU: |
Intel P4
2.8GHz ~ 3.5GHz |
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Memory: |
Corsair XMS
3200 DDR (1GB) |
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Hard Drive: |
Western
Digital
Raptor 10K 74GB |
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Video Card: |
ATI Radeon
9800Pro |
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Optical
Drives: |
Samsung SH-S183L |
| Power Supply: |
QTechnology (Papst)
460W |
As
I mentioned in the previous page, I will be testing the drive on a system
running the retail version of Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit. The very
latest version of Nero7 will be used, which now fully supports Vista. This
will at least give many something to compare against, particularly if you
find a review of the drive being tested in an XP system. Do I
recommend jumping to Vista? Absolutely not. Now,
throughout the article, I may throw in some comments in regards to its
comparison over their highly popular SH-S182M.
1. CD-DVD Speed - Pressed CD
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Test
Results |
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Transfer Speed
Average: 35.87x
Start: 10.16x
End: 47.73x |
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Seek Times
Random: 108ms
1/3: 116ms
Full: 190ms |
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CPU Usage
1X: 2%
2X: 7%
4X: 2%
8X: 3% |
The
SH-S183L is capable of reading CD-ROM discs at speeds as high as 48x.
In our pressed CD read tests, we see that it did not have a problem reaching
its maximum speed. Seeks times, however, when compared to their
previous SH-S182M, where significantly higher. However, as expected, I
was pleased with the lower CPU usage.
2. CD-DVD Speed - CD-R Media
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Test
Results |
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Transfer Speed
Average: 31.01x
Start: 16.62x
End: 40.96x |
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Seek Times
Random: 104ms
1/3: 110ms
Full: 179ms |
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CPU Usage
1X: 1%
2X: 7%
4X: 2%
8X: 4% |
With recordable and rewritable CD media, the drive is capable of reading
these discs at a maximum speed of 40x. With our CD-R test discs, we
see once again that it did not have a problem at all hitting its maximum
read rate. Seek times remained much higher when compared to their
previous model but the CPU Usage also remained impressively low.
3. CD-DVD Speed - CD-RW Media
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Test
Results |
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Transfer Speed
Average: 31.17x
Start: 16.55x
End: 41.43x |
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Seek Times
Random: 103ms
1/3: 112ms
Full: 183ms |
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CPU Usage
1X: 1%
2X: 7%
4X: 2%
8X: 4% |
With rewritable media, the 183L provided almost identical results when
compared to their SH-S182M, with the exception of the seek times. Once again, it had no problem reaching its
maximum read speed. CPU Usage though remained very low and in terms of overall
CD read performance, was certainly the most impressive.
4. DAE - Advanced Quality Tests
The Samsung SH-S183L performed quite well in
our digital audio extraction tests. In fact, the results were almost
identical to the SH-S182M, with the exception of it not being able to read
the CD Text. Average speed was just slightly higher and did pass all
on-the-fly copying tests.
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