Western Digital SE16 250GB (WD2500KS)

[blue60007]

This is my first shot at a review...I'll be taking a look at the Western Digital SE16 250GB (WD2500KS).

Specifcations:

Capacity: 250GB
Interface: SATA 3.0Gb/s
Spindle RPM: 7200rpm
Cache: 16MB
Average Seek Time: 8.9ms
Average Write Time: 10.9ms
Average Latency: 4.2ms

I'll be comparing this to my older 160GB Seagate:

Capacity: 160GB
Interface: ATA100
Spindle RPM: 7200rpm
Cache: 8MB

Installation:

Installing this drive was a breeze. Once installed in the case and the proper connections were made, the computer was booted up. Windows automatically found the drive and I formated it and and assigned a letter and I was ready to go. Total installation time was five minutes.

Performance:

My system uses an Intel 865PE Northbridge and an Intel ICH5R Southbridge. The ICH5R natively supports SATA 1.5Gb/s, so no driver installations were necessary. That brings up one thing to note - this drive supports SATA 3.0Gb/s, but is running at SATA 1.5Gb/s speeds. I doubt this will have a noticeable impact on performance as the throughput of SATA 1.5Gb/s isn't even being pushed.

For the first test I used a nifty little program called "Systool (http://www.techpowerup.com/systool/)". Here are the results compared to the Seagate:

Test: WD SE16 / Seagate
Average Read (Sequential): 70.8MB/s / 56.4MB/s
Average Seek Time: 13.2ms / 15.3m/s

The next program is called "HD Tach"

Test: WD SE16 / Seagate
Random Access: 14.1ms / 15.0ms
CPU Utilization: 4% / 7%
Average Read: 54.5MB/s / 44.8MB/s
Burst Speeds: 130.0MB/s / 82.8MB/s

Note: By no means are these scientific results...I could have run the tests several times and averaged the numbers to get more consistent results. Also, the Seagate had lots of data on (it has been defragged recently) and the WD was empty so that may have impacted results a bit.

Overall, those are some healthy results. Looks like an improvement over my older Seagate storage drive.

Noise & Heat:

Idle noise is seems the same as my Seagate (very subjective though), however, the seek noise seems to be slightly noisier than my Seagate. I can hear the seek noise (not too loud though) over the fans on the Western Digital, but not on the Seagate. Still, a very quiet drive overall.

The hard drive racks are in the front, in front of a 120mm fan drawing air in. Right now the Western Digital is idling around 35C, and my Seagate is idling around 34C. Watching the temperatures over time, the Western Digital runs consistently hotter than the Seagate. One thing I noticed is every now and then the temperature spikes up to 40C or hotter than drops back down after a while. I can't find a cause for this...there isn't any activity going, it's just idle.

Here's a screenshot of SpeedFan - the red is the WD. You can see the random spikes in temperature. The gradual increase in both temps was due to an increase in ambient room temperature.

http://www.blueprintgames.com/developers/blue60007/hddtemp.gif

Conclusion:

Overall, this is a high performing drive for the money. It's no Raptor, but you get tons more space at a much lower price tag.

Pros:
Price
16MB cache
Performance / SATA 3.0Gb/s capabilities

Cons:
Seek noise is higher than my Seagate
Runs a bit hotter than the Seagate (not a major concern though)
I found the random temp spike a bit odd, but it might just be a flakey temp sensor

I got this drive for $90 on Newegg.com along with a $10 MIR. 80 bucks ain't bad for a 250GB drive with good performance, that's 32 cents a gig.

I'd give this drive a 9/10 and would recommend this drive to anyone.

[coldfront212]

I would have to say that this HD is the best bang for the buck. I had a Maxtor 250 GB Sata and after that one bit the dust, i replaced it with this drive.

As a drive space junkie (3x250GB WD SE16, 1x100GB raptor, 1x160 GB WD), I run my hard drives very hard. I am on bit torrent/dc all the time and i game a fair bit. These drives have all held up to the strain. The oldest drive I have is just over 8 months old, then 6 then 4. Since I blew my fujitsu in less than 4, and my maxtor in 5, I think im a pretty stressful owner. The drives run a lil hot, but for 10 bucks u can get a cooler that will lower the avg temp by 5-10C.

I would give this drive a 10, and since the OP doesnt have 3GB sata, I dont think that he appreciates the speed of these drives. I still use my raptor for games and the os, but when ur running ~110 GB in/out per 24 hr period and leaving ur comp on for 3-5 days at a time, and nothin breaks, those parts have my full support.

-coldfront

[newbuilder14]

I've had my eye on it for a while, but ended up only being able to afford a Caviar SE 8mb cache 160gb hard drive. I love Western Digital, but I am more than willing to try Seagate sometime. Western Digital has not let me down once, and I have had 7, maybe even 8 (old PC) hard drives from them.

[Alaron]

Keep in mind that this review is 6 months old. The current champ is the Seagate 7200.10 series.