MSI DR16-B 16X DVD+/- R/RW Dual Layer Drive
CD/DVD Read Performance Testing
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Throughout our testing of the MSI DR16-B, we utilized Nero's CD/DVD Speed. This is an exceptionally versatile tool that allows us to peer into the drive's behavior during various operations. In the next section, we ran several read tests on the MSI DR16-B and included results from a ASUS DRW-1604P DVD +/- R/RW Drive for comparison. Please note that in each test, the Green line represents Rotation Speed while the Yellow Line represents the drive's progress. CD performance is viewed on a scale of 80 minutes, and DVD in Gigabytes.
Nero CD-DVD Speed - CD Data Test:
With our first test we inserted a CD-R with a single 677MB AVI file and initiated the read test.
MSI DR16-B;) |
ASUS DRW-1604P;) |
With CD read performance, each drive uses a constant angular velocity to read the disk. The differences in overall performance were minimal, with the MSI drive averaging 31.30X at a peak of 41.48. The ASUS reference drive managed sightly better results with an average of 31.66X and peak of 41.99X. Where the real differences appeared was with Seek Times and CPU usage. The MSI drive managed better Random and 1/3 seek times, but the ASUS drive managed better Full seek times and lower CPU usage. Additionally, the DR16-B had a burst rate of 20MB/s compared to the ASUS' 37MB/s.
Nero CD-DVD Speed - DVD Data Test:
In our next test we inserted a DVD+R full of MP3 files to test DVD data read rates.
MSI DR16-B;) |
ASUS DRW-1604P;) |
In this test, the MSI DR16-B managed an average Read speed of 6.22X, far less than the ASUS DRW-1604P's 9.34X. The DR16-B did manage faster seek times across the board this time around, but the ASUS model was still more efficient with CPU usage. MSI's DR16-B managed a 24MB/s burst rate, whereas, the ASUS DRW-1604P weighed in at 46MB/s. Overall, the ASUS drive averaged better overall performance with less overhead, offering significantly higher average reads and bursts.
