Three Generations Compared: Why Storage Density Matters

Test Setup And Throughput Comparison Diagram

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System Hardware
Hardware Details
CPU Intel Core i7-920 (45nm, 2.66 GHz, 8MB L3 Cache)
Motherboard (Sockel 1366) Supermicro X8SAX Revision: 1.1, Chipset: Intel X58 + ICH10R, BIOS: 1.0B
RAM 3 x 1GB DDR3-1333 Corsair CM3X1024-1333C9DHX
HDD Seagate NL35 400GB ST3400832NS, 7,200 RPM, SATA 1.5 Gb/s, 8MB Cache
Power Supply OCZ EliteXstream 800W OCZ800EXS-EU
Benchmarks
Performance Measurements h2benchw 3.12PCMark Vantage 1.0
I/O Performance IOMeter 2006.07.27Fileserver-BenchmarkWebserver-BenchmarkDatabase-BenchmarkWorkstation-BenchmarkStreaming ReadsStreaming Writes
System Software & Drivers
Driver Details
Operating System Windows Vista Ultimate SP1
Intel Chipset Chipset Installation Utility 9.1.0.1007
AMD Graphics Radeon 8.12
Intel Matrix Storage 8.7.0.1007

The combined throughput diagram shows that there have been considerable performance jumps from one drive generation to the next. We've observed similar results when comparing a Samsung Spinpoint F1 with the F2, looking at Seagate's Barracuda 7200.11 and .12, and when testing various WD Caviar generations.