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This next test
uses Nero CD Speed again, but with one change: we're using
an audio CD 78 minutes in length with 14 tracks. Even
though this test is called CD Speed, it provides other key
points as well such as Digital Audio Extraction (DAE).
Let's take a look at the results.
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Benchmarks
and
Comparisons Continued |
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More From Our
Favorite Roman |
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Nero CD Speed
- Audio:
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MSI
CR52-A2 52X24X52
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TDK
4800B 48X16/24X48
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The speeds we see
here are quite a bit better than what we saw on the data
portion of this test. Again the MSI burner takes the
lead in average speed ( 39.74X ) and end speed ( 52.37X )
versus the TDK drive ( 37.77X avg. and 49.71X end ).
Overall this test reiterates what we found with the data
test, the MSI drive performs better in almost every category
except burst rate. The seek times between the two are
about the same and the DAE test was a perfect 10 for both
drives. Once again, the CPU usage by the TDK is not
good, 20% at 8X while, the MSI CR52-A2 52X Drive only uses a
mere 5%, which is what we prefer to see obviously. As
little strain on the CPU as possible, will allow you to do
some multi-tasking, while waiting for that burn to complete.
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MSI
CR52-A2 52X24X52
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TDK
4800B 48X16/24X48
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MP3 Encoding
With Easy CD-DA Extractor:
Using the same
audio CD, we used Easy CD-DA Extractor v5.0.6 to rip all 14
tracks off the CD into .mp3 format. One note I'd like
to make here is that out of all Nero's capabilities, I would
have to say that the ripping part is probably its weakest.
Because of that, we used Easy CD's "DA Extractor", which is
considered by many to be tops in terms of ripping audio
tracks. It provides quite a few more options and
actually times the whole process for you, which Nero does
not do. The funny thing is that Nero times just about
everything for you except the ripping process. We
extracted all tracks at 320Kbps and saved them as .mp3
files.
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Time To Encode Listed in Minutes:Seconds |
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MSI
CR52-A2 |
TDK
4800B |
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2:51 |
2:49 |
The TDK drive
managed to beat out the MSI drive by two seconds, which may
have something to do with the burst rate differences of the
two drives. In any event, these times are
amazing. Ripping an entire 78 minute audio CD in under
3 minutes! You can't beat that with a stick.
Disc Copy with
Nero 5.5.10.7b
|
Time To Burn CD Listed in Minutes:Seconds |
|
MSI
CR52-A2 |
TDK
4800B |
Memorex 24X Media at 52X
2:27 |
Memorex 24X Media at 48X
2:31 |
Fujifilm 40X Media at 24X
3:48 |
Fujifilm 40X Media at 40X
2:54 |
Imation 48X Media at 32X
2:58 |
Imation 48X Media at 48X
2:30 |
Bundled CD-R Media at 52X
2:30 |
In the last test
we used the RedHat 8 Disc 1 Image ( 651MB ) to burn to three
different kinds of media, using Nero Burning ROM v5.5.10.7b,
which is the latest update provided by Nero. These
times are taken from the moment we click on the Burn button,
to the moment the writing session has closed. The
reason we chose three different kinds of media for this
test, was to see how each CD-RW drive handle different
media. It's all good and dandy if you have the fastest
drive in the world, but if it is picky about what media gets
dropped in its tray, then you may never hit the maximum burn
speed that the drive is actually rated for.
As you'll note
in the testing above, the MSI drive seemed to be a bit
finicky when it came to reading different types of blank
CD-R media. The only two types of media the MSI drive
burned at the maximum 52X, was the Memorex which is only
rated at 24X and the blank CD-R that came bundled with the
drive. It burned under its ratings for the Fujifilm
and Imation media and by quite a large margin. You'll
notice that the TDK drive had no such problems, as it burned
every media at its rated speed and even burned the Memorex
media at 48X speed. Again, a Firmware update could be
all that is needed to help the MSI 52X burner to be little
more forgiving of different media types and hit 52X speeds
across the board. However, this is what we had to work
with, so it's what we're reporting. One other major
point we would like to discuss, is that the time difference
between a 52X burn and a 48X burn is almost irrelevant.
The MSI drive held only a 4 second advantage with the
Memorex media and finished even with the TDK drive and
Imation media when using its bundled CD-R disc.
One of the
beauties of CD-RW drives is that even the latest and
greatest come in at a very affordable price point. The
MSI drive comes in on various search engines around $70!
Not too shabby if you're looking to upgrade. MSI has
been in the PC Enthusiast market for some time, churning out
motherboards and graphics cards at regular intervals, but is
a bit new to the optical drive arena. With that said,
the MSI drive didn't quite hit the mark in all its
categories. It seemed to struggle with different media
types but once it found a CDR it liked, we did see true 52X
performance. Read speeds were decent but not stellar.
However, most folks have a second CD or DVD drive in their
chassis for reading media, so this is metric is a little
less important for a CD-RW drive. After all is said
and done, the MSI CR52-A2 CD-RW drive is a solid drive, with
good performance, but if you already have a 40X or 48X CD-RW
drive, then the upgrade may not be worth it. On the
other hand, if you are building a new system or upgrading
from a few evolutions behind, at the current price point,
the MSI CDR52-A2 is a good value.
We're giving the
MSI CR52-A2 52X CDRW Drive a HotHardware Heat Meter Rating
of 8!
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