Sony 40X CD-Rom Review
Everyone still needs a CD-ROM. We did, and recently got a Sony 40X. but with
prices for most CD-Rom drives hovering close to the $50 mark how does anyone
decide what to get? Is there really that much of a difference between a 24X and
40X CD-Rom, and is that difference even significant? We took a cross section of
drives and compared them to our new Sony. As always some results were expected,
and others were closer then we would have thought between a 24X and a 40X...
Sony CDU4011-10 40X CD-ROM
DRIVE |
Standard features include:
Headphones jack volume WheelPlay/skip buttonStop/eject button
Drive activity
light
Cost $62
CDN |
Drivers:
I hate CD-Rom drivers. On several occasions I've gotten that Win95 CD-Rom boot
disc from an OEM, put it into my computer after a nice cleansing format c:\ and.....
nothing. Blank discs. Try loading Win95 with no CD-Rom drivers on hand to
load up the CD-Rom. With that said, the last CD-Rom I had was a 24X and it came
with drivers.
For our review of the Sony CDU4011-10 we were
installing Win2k Server on a brand new 20 Gig'er. In went the CD-Rom drive, and the computer was switched
on as I fumbled around looking for a generic floppy full of CD-Rom drivers.
With the BIOS already configured the boot sequence began. The four greatest words I have ever
have seen popped up on the screen: "Boot from ATAPI CD-ROM." So in went the
Win2k disc, and on with installation. There is nothing better then a bootable CD-Rom -
nothing!
Is it speedy, or not..
The Sony spins at a higher RPM to give it the 40X
ability, and as expected the sound it generates is a bit higher then any of the
other comparison CD-Roms. It's also the heaviest of the bunch - to dampen
vibration and cavitation no doubt. The CDU4011-10 has all the standard connectors on the backside (IDE, Power, Analog Audio, Digital Audio, and CS - SL -
MA jumper.
When comparing CD-ROM drives there isn't really much to
compare unless a utility of some sort is used. We used Maxa CDBench Pro to check out just how well the Sony
CDU4011-10 compared with a good cross section of other drives.
|
40X Sony |
24X CyberDrive |
4X Torisan |
|
CDU4011-10 |
CD240D |
CDR-S1G |
Cache Size |
1.27mb
|
1.27mb |
1.27mb |
Transfer Rate |
1.97mb/s |
1.71mb/s |
0.34mb/s |
Read Ahead Size |
1.05mb |
1.05mb |
1.05mb |
CPU Load |
69% |
75% |
91% |
Avg. Access Time |
0.085sec |
0.136sec |
0.356 |
Speed Factor |
13-speed |
11-speed |
2-speed |
ROMark |
7.5 |
5.0 |
1.6 |
|
The differences between the 24X and 40X were slight,
except for access time. The Sony scored very high with an Avg. 85ms access time
and transfer rate of almost 2mb/s which gave it a final ROMark of
7.5
.
All around this is a great 40X CD-ROM for a reasonable price. Granted you
will pay more for the Sony logo (about $5-10), but that's down to personal
preferences. It's definitely a good drive to have, very quite when the disc
is spinning up, and ejects within 5 seconds, where some drives take
a lot longer...