Comparing: GeForce MX350 [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

This submission comparison table displays the number and details of benchmark data submissions from various devices or components. This information helps you understand the performance based on the benchmarks that have been tested, as well as providing an overview of the consistency and popularity of the available benchmark results.

Submission Comparison Chart

This chart visualizes the benchmark scores comparison between two hardware devices based on submitted data.

Media Gallery

A collection of photos of tested hardware. These images can help you identify the physical form, model, and variant of the hardware in question. These photos are from our own documentation, and if they are not available we may not be able to document them.

About Hardware GeForce MX350 [Disk]

The NVIDIA GeForce MX350 is an entry-level GPU designed for thin and light laptops, delivering significant graphics performance improvements over the processor's built-in iGPU. The GPU is based on the Pascal architecture with 640 CUDA Cores, and features 2GB or 4GB of GDDR5 memory with 64-bit bus width. The MX350 is generally used for light graphics tasks such as photo editing, light video, and casual gaming, and provides GPU acceleration for CUDA-enabled creative applications.

But in this particular test, a portion of the video memory (VRAM) on the GeForce MX350 was configured as a VRAMDisk. The concept of a VRAMDisk is similar to a RAMDisk, but it uses the VRAM of the GPU as a super-fast storage medium. VRAMDisk allows the creation of temporary, high-speed drives that can be utilized for technical experiments, speed testing, or graphics caching in certain scenarios. Although its capacity is limited and volatile (data is lost on reboot), the high bandwidth and low latency of VRAM provide compelling performance in certain contexts.

The tests were conducted on a Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 14ITL6 laptop with Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, 12GB DDR4 3200MHz dual channel RAM, and Windows 11 22H2 operating system. The VRAMDisk was created from a 2GB GeForce MX350 GPU, with virtual disk sizes of 1GB and 1.5GB, using special software called GPU RAM Drive.

Benchmark results with CrystalDiskMark recorded read speeds of 1113.58 MB/s and write speeds of 995.48 MB/s, showing the high bandwidth potential of VRAM as a temporary storage medium. Although the performance does not match DDR4-based RAMDisks, VRAMDisks remain a unique and attractive solution for certain technical purposes, especially for users who want to utilize idle VRAM for fast I/O processes. With its dedicated laptop GPU form factor and PCIe x4 Gen 3.0 interface, the GeForce MX350 VRAMDisk opens up new exploration possibilities in the world of experimental graphics-based high-speed storage.

Device test (testbed):

Device: Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 14ITL6
CPU: i5 1135G7
RAM: 12GB DDR4 3200MHz Dual Channel (8+4)
OS: Windows 11 22H2

Friday, 06 August 2021 04:34:19 | 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