Performance in CD WinBench 99

I run the synthetic CD WinBench 99 test as our traditional starter.

The identical speed formula for processing CD media leads to the drives having almost the same results in this test; at least their linear read speeds are similar on the outermost tracks of the disc as well as on the innermost ones. The Plextor PX-716A, however, has a smaller access time, and this fact affected the overall score this drive got. But on the whole the two optical drives have identical speed characteristics.

Performance during CD-R Discs Burning

Verbatim Datalife 52x blanks were used for this test.

As I said above, the identical speed formula means we’re unlikely to see any big difference in the time the drives take to burn or read a CD. Here, both devices wrote the test media in almost the same time. Note that Plextor’s drives are still persistent in their dislike of 24x burn speed: the 712A and 716A both refused to burn discs at this speed.

 
Reading the burned CD-R disc at maximum speed:
Plextor PX-716A (left) and Plextor PX-712A (right)

The new model has an excellent result here, too. Like the previous model, it produced a smooth, clear graph, without any fluctuations of speed. The maximum read speed was successfully achieved.

Once again we register identical speeds, but the new Plextor is somewhat better in random seek time. As for the biggest differences between the old and new models, the Plextor PX-716A has a much higher burst transfer rate, but is considerably worse than its predecessor in the full disc recognition time parameter. But you may remember me saying earlier that the tray eject and load times can be regulated. I performed these tests with the default settings, i.e. with the slowest speed of the tray and the lowest level of noise. It means we can improve this parameter, if necessary. As an experiment, I chose the fastest tray speed for the Plextor PX-716A, and the disc load time diminished in double, to 10.86 seconds. This result is already among the fastest. So, it’s all up to you if you prefer more speed or more silence.