Comparing: DDR3 SODIMM 1066MHz [Disk] vs WD Scorpio Blue WD5000BEVT

Specification Comparison Table

This specification comparison presents technical details of several devices or components to help you understand the key differences between each option. Use this table as a reference to determine which device best suits your needs.

Submission Comparison Table

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Submission Comparison Chart

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About Hardware DDR3 SODIMM 1066MHz [Disk]

DDR3 SODIMM 1066MHz is a third-generation memory module with a speed of 1066MHz that is commonly used in laptops and small devices. With the SODIMM form factor, these modules are often the standard choice for mobile computing systems, serving as the main memory for running operating systems, applications, and light to medium multitasking processes.

However, in this particular experiment, two 1066MHz DDR3 SODIMM modules from Micron and ADATA (2GB capacity each) were uniquely configured as a RAMDisk, a temporary storage space that uses RAM capacity to simulate a storage drive with much higher access speeds than SSDs or HDDs.

The 1066MHz DDR3 SODIMM-based RAMDisk test was conducted on an HP 1000 1b05au laptop device, powered by an AMD E1-1200 processor. The system is equipped with a 2x2GB DDR3 SODIMM 1600MHz RAM configuration, but due to processor architecture limitations, the memory only runs in single channel mode with an effective speed of 1066MHz. The operating system used is Windows 7, and to create and manage the RAMDisk, two popular applications, SoftPerfect RAMDisk and ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver, were used. The configured RAMDisk size was 2GB, utilizing some of the available RAM capacity.

Even though the device specifications are old and have limited memory bandwidth, the RAMDisk configured in this system was still able to show excellent performance in the read and write speed benchmarks. Based on tests using CrystalDiskMark, the read speed reached 746.24 MB/s, while the write speed touched 828.18 MB/s. In a follow-up test using ATTO Disk Benchmark with a 64MB block size, the read speed increased to 1020.00 MB/s, and the write speed reached 1080.00 MB/s. These results prove that even on older systems, RAMDisk configurations are still capable of delivering very high I/O performance, far surpassing conventional storage such as HDDs or even some SSDs.

Analysis

The results show that a 1066MHz DDR3-based RAMDisk is still capable of delivering data transfer speeds on par with entry-level NVMe SSDs, even outperforming many SATA SSDs and leaving conventional HDDs far behind. This makes RAMDisks an ideal solution for temporary use such as:

• Application caching,
• Temporary file storage,
• Fast computing with high I/O,
• Software or script testing without the risk of contaminating the main file system.

Although limited to a small capacity (2GB in this test), RAMDisk is still very useful for specific needs, especially for users with more than enough RAM or older devices that want to maximize their performance.

Test on:

Device: HP 1000 1b05au
Specs: 
CPU: AMD E1-1200
OS: Windows 7
RAM: 2x2GB Single Channel 2 DIMM 1066MHz (Does not support dual channel due to limitations of the CPU, currently running single channel mode and 1066MHz)

Wednesday, 26 December 2012 14:27:32 | Update: 1 month ago

About Hardware WD Scorpio Blue WD5000BEVT

WD Scorpio Blue WD5000BEVT 500GB is a 2.5-inch hard disk designed for laptops and portable storage devices. With a 3Gbps SATA-II interface and a rotation speed of 5400 RPM, this drive offers a balance between power efficiency and sufficient performance for everyday computing tasks.

Equipped with 8MB of cache, the drive is capable of handling stable data access for needs such as multimedia storage, work documents, and general file management. While not as fast as an SSD, the WD5000BEVT is still an economical choice and has a sizable storage capacity in a 2.5-inch form factor.

In performance testing, the hard drive was tested using an Orico USB 3.0 enclosure connected to a Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 14ITL6 system, powered by an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor and 12GB DDR4 dual channel RAM. Benchmark results showed read and write speeds of 66.33 MB/s and 66.58 MB/s in the CrystalDiskMark application. Meanwhile, through ATTO Disk Benchmark with a 64MB block size, the drive recorded read speeds of 109.09 MB/s and write speeds of 109.56 MB/s. This performance is quite good for the older generation 5400 RPM HDD category, although it is clearly still far behind compared to modern solid-state drive (SSD) speeds that can touch hundreds or even thousands of megabytes per second.

⚠️ Important Disclaimer

Based on analysis from CrystalDiskInfo and Hard Disk Sentinel, there are indications that this hard drive is most likely not an original unit or has been refurbished. This is inferred from the discrepancy between:

• The physical label of the drive (which indicates the WD5000BEVT model),
• and the firmware data/internal information read by the application, which does not fully match the characteristics of the original WD Scorpio Blue.

Due to such discrepancies, we consider this unit to NOT be a true WD WD5000BEVT, and users are advised to exercise caution when purchasing loose (used, without official packaging) HDDs, especially from secondary markets or unauthorized distributors.

Despite its decent performance and sizable 500GB capacity, it's important to always verify the authenticity of a storage product, especially if it's used to store important data. This hard drive still works well, but it cannot be used as an accurate representation of the original WD Scorpio Blue product.

Device test (testbed):

Via: Orico Enclosure USB 3.0
Device: Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 14ITL6
CPU: i5 1135G7
USB: USB 3.1 Gen 1
RAM: 12GB DDR4 3200MHz Dual Channel (8+4)
OS: Windows 11 22H2

Tuesday, 30 May 2023 10:17:18 | Update: 1 month ago