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Product:
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Samsung SM-352B CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive |
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Price:
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$100 (CAN) / $75 (U.S)
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Supplied By:
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Samsung Canada
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Author:
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BigDaddy
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Date:
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June 28th, 2003
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Rating:
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Samsung SM-352B DAE Test - Click image for larger view
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LiteOn 40125s DAE Test - Click image for larger view
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Using FujiFilm 80Min/700MB media rated at 48x, I created a test CD from Nero and ran the quality tests on both drives.
Both units got 100% quality, and the LiteOn managed to beat out the Samsung unit on the average speed, getting 33.96x
compared to the Samsung’s 29.73. The On The Fly Copying results once again showed some form of bottle neck on the
Samsung unit. It passes the 6x (900KB/s), but fails on any test over the 1MB/sec mark. Given that the test system
supports Ultra DMA mode 2, achieving a 1MB/sec burst instead of the rated 33MB/sec is clearly a major performance hit.
To ensure that it wasn’t an anomaly with either the product provided or the test system, I contacted Samsung Canada
regarding our results. Samsung advised that it is a known issue amoungst several different brands of optical drives
currently on the market and that the reported benchmark tests do not affect burst transfer rates. As we continue to
receive and review different brands of optical drives in the MTB Labs, we’ll keep our eye on the situation and report
our findings in future updates.
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Samsung SM-352B CDRW Re-Write Results
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As an end user, the meat and potatoes benchmark is, of course, writing and re-writing times. While the SM-352B is rated
at 24x Re-Write, I was unfortunately only able to acquire Sony 650MB High Speed CDRW’s rated up to 10x. Each drive was
timed re-writing 639MB of various file types, including large compressed files and varying media types. The units completed
the task within a minute of each other. Since the media only supports up to 10 x, the full potential of the Samsung could
not be tested, but the performance at 10x gives a good indicator of the drives re-writing performance.
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Samsung SM-352B CD Recording Times
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The same test sample of 639 MB was then burned onto Fuji Film 80Min/700MB media rated at 48x. The Samsung unit was easily
able to handle 48x throughout the burn, with the LiteOn throttling back to 32x. Again, I was amazed during both these
tests at the acoustical differences between the drives. While the LiteOn could be heard in the other room, I couldn’t even
tell if the Samsung was running or not.
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Conclusion:
The newer Ultra Speed drives are certainly a welcome addition to the hardware community, and the Samsung SM-352B CD-RW/DVD
Combo Drive is clearly a contender within that group. Given the huge list of features, along with the attractive price tag,
purchasing a combo drive is clearly a no-brainer for new systems, and is still a good investment for users looking to upgrade.
The software bundle is more than adequate for novice and veteran users alike. Super Link Technology paired with a 8MB buffer
means users won’t waste money on failed media writes. Home Theatre PC's will benefit from the near-silent operation of
the drive thanks to built-in absorbers and other systems in the unit. Additionally, the writing and re-writing performance
of the unit is quite good, holding it’s own as a combo drive compared to dedicated units. The clear set-back, however, is the
unit’s apparent bottleneck with burst mode transfers. While sustained transfers are usually the more important of the two
modes, a 1MB/sec transfer is clearly some kind of anomaly that needs to be investigated further by testing the Samsung SM-352B
unit with different brands of optical drives. As a side note, no included media also means users may have to do a fair bit of
shopping before finding media that will compliment the drives high speed performance. Aside from a few minor issues, I'm rating
the Samsung SM-352B CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive a final rating of 8.5 out of 10
and would recommend it to users looking for an all-in-one solution that’s light on the ears and the pocketbook. If you have any
questions regarding this review be sure to visit the Samsung Canada website
for more information or discuss them in our forums.
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Pros:
- Multiple CD and DVD formats supported
- 8MB Buffer
- Excellent software bundle
- Good performance overall
- Quiet operation
- Price
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Cons:
- Anomaly in burst rate benchmarks
- No media included
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