Nero CD Speed: Data	Source: Ahead Software

CD Speed is a CD/DVD-ROM benchmark which can test the most important features of an optical drive. In this particular benchmark 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 impact the results slightly, so a pressed disk is the standard testing tool.

Nero CD Speed: Data

Nero CD Speed: Data Benchmark Results
Optical Drive	MSI DR16-B	AOpen DRW8800	AOpen 5232 Combo	LG GSA-4082B	MSI X48	Samsung SW-252B		MSI CR52A-A2
Disc Type	Data	Data	Data	Data	Data	Data		Data
Avg Speed	28.93x	30.05x	36.07x	23.08x	29.26	35.08x		35.38x
Random Seek Time	100ms	113ms	87ms	108ms	84ms	99ms		91ms
1/3 Seek Time	109ms	111ms	88ms	142ms	88ms	108ms		95ms
Full Seek Time	155ms	154ms	132ms	195ms	155ms	170ms		153ms
CPU Use: 1x	1%	0%	4%	1%	0%	3%		0%
CPU Use: 2x	2%	1%	2%	2%	1%	4%		1%
CPU Use: 4x	4%	2%	3%	4%	1%	5%		2%
CPU Use: 8x	7%	5%	7%	8%	3%	8%		5%
Disc recognition Time	6.04s	8.73s	8.17s	10.16s	7.68s	4.77s		0.73s
Disc Eject Time	1.85s	1.71s	1.4s	2.04s	4.61s	1.42s		2.74s
Disc Load Time	1.32s	0s	1.03s	1.33s	0.98s	1.11s		7.9s

The MSI DR16-B does pretty well in Nero CD Speed. Average transfer speed is good as is access time. CPU utilization is not high, which is a good thing to see.

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 benchmark we use a pressed Audio CD with about 65 minutes of audio on it as the test disk. CDROMs in general have a harder time processing audio data, and hence the results can be drastically slower than equivalent 'pure' data tests.

Nero CD Speed: Audio

Nero CD Speed: Audio Benchmark Results
Optical Drive	MSI DR16-B	AOpen DRW8800	AOpen 5232 Combo	LG GSA-4082B	MSI X48	Samsung SW-252B		MSI CR52A-A2
Disc Type	Audio	Audio	Audio	Audio	Audio	Audio		Audio
Avg Speed	8.21x	24.02x	32.74x	18.46x	28.67x	28.29x		31.09x
Random Seek Time	140ms	114ms	95ms	114ms	92ms	104ms		89ms
1/3 Seek Time	240ms	121ms	105ms	137ms	95ms	111ms		90ms
Full Seek Time	272ms	171ms	186ms	204ms	315ms	117ms		309ms
DAE Quality	10	10	10	10	10	10		10
CPU Use: 1x	1%	1%	1%	1%	0%	1%		2%
CPU Use: 2x	3%	1%	2%	2%	1%	2%		1%
CPU Use: 4x	6%	3%	4%	5%	2%	4%		3%
CPU Use: 8x	10%	7%	8%	9%	4%	9%		69%
Disc recognition Time	6.17s	8.23s	6.59s	7.79s	6.53s	4s		0.08s
Disc Eject Time	1.79s	1.71s	1.04s	2.01s	4.62s	1.44s		1.66s
Disc Load Time	1.32s	0.13s	1.41s	1.33	0.96s	1.13s		19.25s

The MSI DR16-B's strength does not appear to be in audio. Here it's not only the slowest drive, its access time and CPU utilization are also on the high side.