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Our
next test was also a quick reference point more
than anything else but shows some interesting
and impressive attributes of the Atlas 10K
II. This test is for Read Performance
scores only.
Hard
Drive Tach Test
Click
all images for full viewing
Once
again the Atlas 10K II is true to form and shows
performance very close to its specified seek
time of 4.7ms. Here, HD Tach shows 5.8ms
access and 35-40GB/sec Sequential
Throughput. This is pretty impressive
stuff for sure and compared
to the Atlas V, we are in a whole new class
of performance but that was to be expected.
However,
what you may have noticed, is that 35-40GB/Sec
Throughput score is based on performance across
7.63G of the Atlas 10K II. Here is what
that graph looks like across all 36 Gigabytes of
the drive.
Here
we see the Atlas 10K II drop off to the lower
end of its range (25.1GB/sec.) out in the
furthest reaches of the platters.
Now
for the Winmarks. These test are based on
real world performance because the test uses
Business and Professional applications for its
benchmark.
ZD
Winbench 99
Here
you are looking at real world performance of the
Atlas 10K II drive and the Ultra160 SCSI
interface versus the fastest single headed
interface that EIDE supports right now,
ATA100. As you can see the Atlas 10K
bested the IBM 7200 RPM EIDE ATA100 Drive, in
every test and by a comfortable margin. In
some of the high end tests like "Sound
Forge 4.0", the Atlas 10K II scored more 2X
the performance of this high end ATA100 drive.
At
the present time, the Atlas 10K II is the
fastest drive available that we are aware of
today. Its performance, as you have seen
here, is nothing short of sensational.
However, there are a couple of secondary points
to keep in mind here. For starters, this
is not a drive for the average or mid range end
user. Rather the Atlas 10K II is an
"Enterprise Class" storage medium that
should be considered for the most demanding
applications such as Web Servers and Work
Stations for Multimedia Content Creation.
With an estimated street price of $850, only
folks at this level of demanding performance
need apply.
Finally,
as the saying goes "like a train, there is
always another one coming" and that
"train" is the Seagate Cheetah
X15. This drive could indeed best the
Atlas 10K II with its spindle speed of 15,000
RPM. We'll try to get one of these in for
testing and if we see something worth reporting,
we'll be sure to let you know. For now,
the Atlas 10K II is our pick for the top high
SCSI drive of choice.
We're
giving the Quantum Atlas 10K II a HotHardware
Heat Meter Rating of...
Get
into the HotHardware Conference Room and Air It
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