PCMark Vantage - Hard Disk Tests

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.0.0
Developer Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com
Product Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com/products/pcmarkvantage
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PCMark® Vantage is the first objective hardware performance benchmark for PCs running 32 and 64 bit versions of Microsoft® Windows Vista®. PCMark Vantage is perfectly suited for benchmarking any type of Microsoft® Windows Vista PC from multimedia home entertainment systems and laptops to dedicated workstations and high-end gaming rigs. Regardless of whether the benchmarker is an artist or an IT Professional, PCMark Vantage shows the user where their system soars or falls flat, and how to get the most performance possible out of their hardware. PCMark Vantage is easy enough for even the most casual enthusiast to use yet supports in-depth, professional industry grade testing.

FutureMark has developed a good set of hard disk tests for their PCMark Vantage Suite. These tests are based on real world applications that many of us use daily.

HDD1 - Windows Defender
HDD2 - Gaming
HDD3 - Windows Photo Gallery
HDD4 - Vista Startup
HDD5 - Windows Movie Maker
HDD6 - Windows Media Center
HDD7 - Windows Media Player
HDD8 - Application Loading

There are a lot of very close numbers here for comparative analysis. Let's first take a look at the 15K.7 on each interface. The Windows Media Center Test uses large sequential files and always shows superior bandwidth when it is available. Other than Test 6 the numbers are very close, close enough where you may have doubts about upgrading controllers if you already have a first generation SAS controller.

The next item I found interesting is just how close the 2.5 inch form factor Savvio 15K.2 performed to the larger 15K.7 3.5 inch drive. In the coming weeks we will have reviews of Seagate's 2.5 inch drives on and off of the LSI SAS 2.0 controller.