Nero CD Speed: Data	Source: Ahead Software

CD Speed is a CD/DVD-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.

Nero CD Speed: Data

Nero CD Speed: Data Benchmark Results
Optical Drive	AOpen DRW8800	AOpen 5232 Combo	LG GSA-4082B	MSI X48	Samsung SW-252B	MSI CR52A-A2		Plextor W4012TA
Disc Type	Data	Data	Data	Data	Data	Data		Data
Avg Speed	30.05	36.07	23.08x	29.26	35.08x	35.38x		29.05x
Random Seek Time	113ms	87ms	108ms	84ms	99ms	91ms		121ms
1/3 Seek Time	111ms	88ms	142ms	88ms	108ms	95ms		140ms
Full Seek Time	154ms	132ms	195ms	155ms	170ms	153ms		212ms
CPU Use: 1x	0%	4%	1%	0%	3%	0%		0%
CPU Use: 2x	1%	2%	2%	1%	4%	1%		1%
CPU Use: 4x	2%	3%	4%	1%	5%	2%		2%
CPU Use: 8x	5%	7%	8%	3%	8%	5%		5%
Disc recognition Time	8.73	8.17s	10.16s	7.68s	4.77s	0.73s		9.37s
Disc Eject Time	1.71s	1.4s	2.04s	4.61s	1.42s	2.74s		1.64s
Disc Load Time	0s	1.03s	1.33s	0.98s	1.11s	7.9s		0.08s

In Nero CD Speed Data, the DRW8800 is about middle of the pack. It's performs well in the disc load times.

Nero CD Speed: Audio	Source: Ahead Software

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.

Nero CD Speed: Audio

Nero CD Speed: Audio Benchmark Results
Optical Drive	AOpen DRW8800	AOpen 5232 Combo	LG GSA-4082B	MSI X48	Samsung SW-252B	MSI CR52A-A2		Plextor W4012TA
Disc Type	Audio	Audio	Audio	Audio	Audio	Audio		Audio
Avg Speed	24.02x	32.74x	18.46x	28.67x	28.29x	31.09x		8.03x
Random Seek Time	114ms	95ms	114ms	92ms	104ms	89ms		121ms
1/3 Seek Time	121ms	105ms	137ms	95ms	111ms	90ms		140ms
Full Seek Time	171ms	186ms	204ms	315ms	117ms	309ms		212ms
DAE Quality	10	10	10	10	10	10		10
CPU Use: 1x	1%	1%	1%	0%	1%	2%		0%
CPU Use: 2x	1%	2%	2%	1%	2%	1%		1%
CPU Use: 4x	3%	4%	5%	2%	4%	3%		2%
CPU Use: 8x	7%	8%	9%	4%	9%	69%		3%
Disc recognition Time	8.23s	6.59s	7.79s	6.53s	4s	0.08s		9.37s
Disc Eject Time	1.71s	1.04s	2.01s	4.62s	1.44s	1.66s		1.64s
Disc Load Time	0.13s	1.41s	1.33	0.96s	1.13s	19.25s		0.08s

Those of you who rip a lot of audio CD's will be pleased with the AOpen DRW8800's performance. It's nice to see that CPU utilization is not very high in all modes, and disc load times are extremely quick.