It looks like the change of the 4-platter into 3-platter design in the EACS model was also accompanied with changes in the electronics and firmware. The newer drive has stronger deferred writing and somewhat more efficient NCQ algorithms. And the addition of an extra 16MB of buffer memory came in handy: we can see both efficient NCQ and deferred writing.

The WD RE3 and Caviar Black are undoubtedly the best drives in this review for server loads. They combine excellent algorithms and fast heads. The WD RE2-GP is also good, but it lacks more buffer memory, even though it is better than the 4-platter WD10EACS due to more perfect firmware.