The Next Generation: IBM DeskStar 180GXP with up to 180 GB

IBM DeskStar: A Short History

The first DeskStar drive was introduced in the early 90's, offered a capacity of 540 MB, and spun at 4500 rpm. It was succeeded by 13 more generations, bringing us to today's 180GXP series. With ever higher performance requirements, the rotation speed was also increased over the following generations, first to 5400 rpm, and later, to 7200 rpm.

The DeskStar 75GXP finally combined both outstanding performance and high capacity.

You can find a full listing of all IBM DeskStar drives on IBM's website at
http://www.storage.ibm.com/hdd/support/table.htm#Deskstar .

Testing Setup

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Testing System
ProcessorIntel Pentium 4, 2.0 GHz256 kB L2-Cache (Willamette)
MotherboardIntel D845EBT, 845E Chipset
RAM256 MB DDR/ PC2100, CL2, Infineon
IDE Controlleri845E UltraDMA/ 100-Controller (ICH4)
Graphics CardNVIDIA GeForce2 MX 400
NIC3COM 905TX PCI 100 MBit
OSWindows XP Pro 5.10.2600Service Pack 1
Benchmarks and Tests
Office ApplicationsZD WinBench 99 - Business Disk Winmark 1.2
High-End ApplicationsZD WinBench 99 - Highend Disk Winmark 1.2
Disk PerformanceTestHD Tach 2.61,PC Mark 2002 (HD Test)
I/ O-PerformanceIntel I/ O-Meter
Drivers and Settings
Graphics DriverNVIDIA reference driver 29.42
IDE DriverIntel Application Accelerator 2.2.2
DirectX Version8.1
Resolution1024x768, 16 bit, 85 Hz refresh
Patrick Schmid
Editor-in-Chief (2005-2006)

Patrick Schmid was the editor-in-chief for Tom's Hardware from 2005 to 2006. He wrote numerous articles on a wide range of hardware topics, including storage, CPUs, and system builds.