Benchmarks Continued:
PCMark 7:
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PCMark 7 is a test suite that attempts to simulate real world applications and scenarios to try and give a more realistic interpretation of storage drive performance. I personally wouldn’t get too caught up in the actual performance numbers of each drive, but rather what they are relative to each other.
First, I was surprised to see how close the numbers were between the 3rd gen Raptor drives in RAID 0 and the newer 6th gen WD1000DHTZ. In some tests, the results were literally interchangeable, which was a little disheartening. When it came to the WD1000DHTZ and the Samsung SSD, the Samsung SSD continued to dominate many of the tests, but there were a few (such as video editing) where the performance difference was indiscernible. To put it differently, the WD1000DHTZ performed very good in the areas where it is expected to realistically compete with SSD’s, and that is good to see.
PCMark Vantage:
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PCMark Vantage is similar to PCMark 7, in that it is a test suite that attempts to simulate real world applications performance results. As stated earlier, I would note the individual performance results relative to the other drives tested.
Here the WD1000HDTZ sits in the middle of the pack, and that is right where I expected it to land coming into this review. My expectations were validated with this benchmark as the WD1000DHTZ performed essentially twice that of the older Raptor drives in RAID 0, but fell considerably short of the Samsung SSD.
While I agree its hard to find the exact spot this drive fits into, Its still a good buy for somone that needs performance and plenty of room. SSD’s are still way too expensive if you need a TB of performance room.
My next rig will have a pair of these in raid 0, along with a SSD as the primary windows drive.
Kevin,
Yes, there is still a “sweet spot” for these drives and you put it nicely when you say performance TB. Anyone looking for high performance in capacities that exceed SSDs (limited architecturally or by price), should seriously consider these new Raptor drives.