Test System

Processors: AMD Opteron 2356 (2.3GHz Quad-Core) x2

Motherboard: Tyan S2915-E (Supplied by Tyan)

Memory: Kingston KVR667D2S4P5/2G x4 (Supplied by Kingston)

Graphics Card: XFX 8800 GTX (Supplied by XFX USA)

Enclosure: Lian Li V2000

Cooling: Noctua NH-U12DO (Supplied by Noctua)

SATA Controller: Areca ARC-1231ML (Supplied by Areca)

SAS Controller: Areca ARC-1680i (Supplied by Areca)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate X64

The new TweakTown Storage Test System is making its debut for this review. As you can see, the system is based on a typical workstation that you will find in many design studios.

I have selected a couple of products to compare the new Western Digital Scorpio Black to; they are as follows :-

Hitachi 7K100: The 7K100 is a 100GB notebook hard drive that was used by several notebook manufacturers. The drive came with my Lenovo T60.

Hitachi 7K500: The 7K500 is a 500GB drive that is considered the Scorpio Black's biggest challenger. The 7K500 is taller than most notebook hard drives and will not fit in more than a handful of notebooks.

G.Skill SLC SSD: The G.Skill SLC SSD is a rebadged Samsung drive with 64GB of capacity. The drive currently e-tails for more than 600 U.S.D., more than six times the amount of the Scorpio Black 320.