Western Digital WD1000BB - Taking Grand Prize!

Features
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The WD1000BB

Although most WD drives have similar names and look the same, they are quite different on the inside. Almost all models (200BB, 400BB, 600BB, 800BB, 1000BB) represent different generations of drive models and therefore have different performance specifications. The 100 GB drive is of course the most advanced model.

The technical data of the WD1000BB is very similar to other 7,200 rpm drives, as you can see in the table below: It has an average seek time of less than 10 ms, a 2 MB buffer and an UltraATA/100 interface.

Still I wonder if it could be the time to increase the size of the cache memory, as it has not grown in the same relation than the drive capacity. Looking at memory prices, it would not cost very much to go to 8 or even 16 MB of cache memory; most likely this could help to maximize performance or at least to keep it on the highest level possible.

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Western Digital WD1000BB
Capacity100 GB (3 Platters)
Rotation Speed7,200 rpm
Average Seek Time8.9 ms
Cache Memory2048 kB
Warranty3 Years

Test Setup

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Test System
CPUIntel Celeron, 500 MHz
MotherboardAsus CUSL2, i815 Chipset
RAM128 MB SDRAM, 7ns (Crucial/Micron ) CL2
IDE Controlleri815 UltraDMA/100 Controller (ICH2)
Graphics Cardi815 On-Board Graphics
Network3COM 905TX PCI 100 MBit
Operating SystemsWindows 2000 Pro 5.00.2195 SP1
Benchmarks and Measurements
Office Applications BenchmarkZD WinBench 99 - Business Disk Winmark 1.2
Highend Applications BenchmarkZD WinBench 99 - High-End Disk Winmark 1.2
Low Level BenchmarksHD Tach 2.61
Performance TestsHD Tach 2.61
Settings
Graphics DriversIntel i815 Reference Drivers 4.3
IDE-DriversIntel Bus Master DMA Drivers 6.03
DirectX Version8.0a
Screen Resolution1024x768, 16 Bit, 85 Hz Refresh