CD Speed is a CD-ROM benchmark which can test the most important features of a CD-ROM drive. In this particular test we use a pressed CD-ROM with about 640MB of data as the test disk. Using a CDR or CDRW as the test disk may (or may not) impact the results slightly, so the pressed disk is the de facto standard.

Samsung SW-232 - CDSpeed Data Tests

Optical Drive	SW-232	SW-224	SC-152	DVD-500M	SW-216
Disk Type	Data	Data	Data	Data	Data
Avg Speed	31.65x	30.82x	38.90x	32.30x	24.94x
Random Seek Time	90ms	87ms	86ms	86ms	94ms
1/3 Seek Time	101ms	91ms	105ms	100ms	112ms
Full Seek Time	169ms	137ms	181ms	164ms	192ms
CPU use: 1X	1%	1%	1%	0%	1%
CPU use: 2X	2%	3%	2%	1%	2%
CPU use: 4X	4%	7%	4%	2%	5%
CPU use: 8X	9%	11%	8%	3%	9%
Disk Recognition Time:	5.2s	9.15s	6.30s	0.01s	-
Disk Eject Time	1.39s	1.12s	1.05s	1.19s	1.19s
Disk Load Time:	1.080s	1.10s	1.14s	7.26s	1.14s

During the CD-Speed data transfer tests the SW232 is tested again in its pure CDROM capabilities. The 40X drive keeps in line with other similarly paced ROM's and clocks in with an average speed of just under 32X. CPU usage dips down to 9% at the most which is good to see, and seek times remain at par.

CD Speed is a CD-ROM benchmark which can test the most important features of a CD-ROM drive. In this particular test we use a pressed Audio CD with about 65 minutes of audio on it as the test disk. CDROM's in general have a harder time processing audio data, and hence the results can be drastically slower than that of data tests alone.

Samsung SW-232 - CDSpeed Audio Tests

Optical Drive	SW-232	SW-224	SC152	DVD-500M	SW-216
Disk Type	Audio	Audio	Audio	Audio	Audio
Avg Speed	24.89x	22.98x	18.97x	29.96x	22.32x
Random Seek Time	93ms	86ms	88ms	88ms	97ms
1/3 Seek Time	107ms	102ms	98ms	95ms	98ms
Full Seek Time	170ms	157ms	167ms	161ms	163ms
DAE Quality	10	10	10	10	10
CPU use: 1X	1%	2%	1%	0%	2%
CPU use: 2X	3%	6%	3%	1%	4%
CPU use: 4X	7%	14%	5%	2%	7%
CPU use: 8X	14%	23%	11%	4%	13%
Disk Recog. Time:	9.16s	8.38s	4.35s	0.01s	-
Disk Eject Time:	1.37s	1.10s	1.06s	1.19s	1.18s
Disk Load Time:	1.08s	1.10s	1.14s	7.33s	1.14s

In the audio spectrum, the SW-232 bumps up the speed rating to just under 25X which is an improvement over the earlier SW224. CPU usage also drops down to a max of 14% at 8X.