Nero CD Speed v4.51 - DVD-ROM:
A little editorial note here. Like a CD-ROM, you will get different benchmark results depending on what kind of discs you are using. You are probably going to get varying results from a full data disc to a single layer movie disc. You're also going to get different results for single and dual layer discs.
The CD Speed website recommends using a single layer DVD-ROM disc with a capacity of at least 4GB. If you use a dual layer disc you probably won't get the best results because most DVD-ROM drives slow down to read them. Some even slow down to read single layer DVD-Video discs. To make a long story short, I am using a 4.37GB single layer, single sided disc for this test.
| LG GSA-H10N |
Plextor PX-760A |
Lite-On SHM-165H6S |
NEC ND-4550A |
|
| Transfer Speed Average: Start: End: |
12.31x 6.80x 16.46x |
12.06x 6.63x 16.13x |
12.11x 6.45x 16.20x |
11.94x 6.57x 15.97x |
| Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full: |
103ms 120ms 187ms |
102ms 113ms 189ms |
115ms 135ms 213ms |
136ms 148ms 226ms |
| CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x: |
6% 11% 22% 42% |
5% 9% 17% 32% |
9% 9% 20% 96% |
15% 15% 28% 52% |
The GSA-H10N performed very well when reading single layer DVD-ROM's. In our tests it started reading at 6.80x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 16.46x. Looking at the other scores, you can see that the drive's seek times were also quite good.
Nero CD Speed v4.51 - DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM:
First, we'll look at the drive's DVD-R and DVD-RW reading performance. For this I made copies of our DVD-ROM test disc using some general use 4x DVD-R and 2x DVD-RW media from Verbatim and then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. For the DVD-RAM tests, media from Maxell was used. The results are below.
Verbatim DVD-R
| LG GSA-H10N |
Plextor PX-760A |
Lite-On SHM-165H6S |
NEC ND-4550A |
|
| Transfer Speed Average: Start: End: |
12.35x 6.83x 16.52x |
9.05x 4.98x 12.10x |
9.20x 5.04x 12.29x |
11.97x 6.60x 16.01x |
| Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full: |
108ms 125ms 176ms |
103ms 119ms 180ms |
125ms 136ms 229ms |
135ms 156ms 248ms |
| CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x: |
6% 11% 22% 42% |
6% 11% 20% 39% |
5% 8% 25% n/a |
16% 17% 31% 62% |
Verbatim DVD-RW
| LG GSA-H10N |
Plextor PX-760A |
Lite-On SHM-165H6S |
NEC ND-4550A |
|
| Transfer Speed Average: Start: End: |
10.03x 5.55x 13.40x |
9.06x 4.97x 12.11x |
9.20x 5.05x 12.30x |
9.81x 5.40x 13.12x |
| Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full: |
128ms 150ms 217ms |
101ms 119ms 203ms |
110ms 120ms 202ms |
124ms 154ms 251ms |
| CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x: |
6% 11% 22% 57% |
5% 9% 16% 31% |
5% 9% 27% n/a |
9% 15% 28% 50% |
The GSA-H10N performed very well when reading DVD-R and DVD-RW media. In our tests, the drive read DVD-RW discs at 13x and DVD-R media at an impressive 16x.
Verbatim DVD-R DL
| LG GSA-H10N |
Plextor PX-760A |
Lite-On SHM-165H6S |
NEC ND-4550A |
|
| Transfer Speed Average: Start: End: |
9.27x 5.16x 12.36x |
6.05x 3.35x 8.08x |
6.05x 3.37x 8.06x |
5.47x 3.04x 7.29x |
| Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full: |
132ms 156ms 220ms |
109ms 121ms 219ms |
124ms 130ms 221ms |
211ms 221ms 316ms |
| CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: |
6% 12% 43% |
4% 7% n/a |
6% 9% n/a |
8% 13% n/a |
LG's new "Super-Multi" drive had no problems reading Verbatim's 4x DVD-R DL media. The GSA-H10N started reading at 5.16x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 12.36x.
Maxell 12x DVD-RAM
| LG GSA-H10N |
Lite-On SHM-165H6S |
NEC ND-4550A |
|
| Transfer Speed Average: Start: End: |
10.26x 5.90x 12.07x |
4.64x 2.99x 5.00x |
4.99x 4.94x 5.01x |
| Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full: |
199ms 173ms 197ms |
125ms 137ms 274ms |
207ms 195ms 311ms |
| CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: |
7% 12% 21% |
6% 14% 25% |
7% 13% 24% |
LG's new drive has a maximum transfer speed of 12x when reading DVD-RAM discs. By looking at the screenshot you can see that it starts reading at 5.90x and accelerates, reaching 12x at the 2.7GB mark.
Nero CD Speed v4.51 - DVD+R and DVD+RW:
Next we'll look at the drive's DVD+R and DVD+RW reading performance. For this I made a copy of our DVD-ROM test disc using some 4x DVD+R and 2.4x DVD+RW media from Verbatim. I then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. The results are below.
Verbatim DVD+R
| LG GSA-H10N |
Plextor PX-760A |
Lite-On SHM-165H6S |
NEC ND-4550A |
|
| Transfer Speed Average: Start: End: |
12.33x 6.80x 16.50x |
9.04x 4.97x 12.11x |
9.17x 5.09x 12.27x |
11.96x 6.60x 16.00x |
| Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full: |
107ms 127ms 185ms |
104ms 114ms 199ms |
101ms 109ms 185ms |
133ms 154ms 250ms |
| CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x: |
6% 12% 22% 42% |
5% 9% 16% 31% |
10% 7% 25% n/a% |
16% 17% 34% 65% |
Verbatim DVD+RW
| LG GSA-H10N |
Plextor PX-760A |
Lite-On SHM-165H6S |
NEC ND-4550A |
|
| Transfer Speed Average: Start: End: |
10.03x 5.54x 13.39x |
9.06x 4.98x 12.09x |
9.22x 5.11x 12.33x |
9.81x 5.40x 13.12x |
| Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full: |
128ms 149ms 215ms |
104ms 113ms 199ms |
106ms 122ms 195ms |
128ms 160ms 258ms |
| CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x: |
6% 12% 22% 51% |
5% 9% 17% 31% |
8% 10% 29% n/a |
11% 21% 34% 64% |
The GSA-H10N's performance with DVD+R and DVD+RW media was very similar to what we saw with DVD-R and DVD-RW media.The drive read DVD+R discs at 16x and DVD+RW media at 13x.
Verbatim DVD+R DL
| LG GSA-H10N |
Plextor PX-760A |
Lite-On SHM-165H6S |
NEC ND-4550A |
|
| Transfer Speed Average: Start: End: |
9.27x 5.16x 12.38x |
6.04x 3.34x 8.07x |
6.05x 3.37x 8.07x |
5.47x 3.04x 7.30x |
| Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full: |
130ms 151ms 218ms |
104ms 115ms 193ms |
111ms 124ms 187ms |
148ms 185ms 294ms |
| CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: |
6% 11% 30% |
4% 7% n/a |
6% 8% n/a |
7% 12% n/a |
Reading Verbatim's double layer DVD+R media wasn't an issue for the GSA-H10N. With a maximum transfer speed of 12.38x, it had no problems taking the top spot in CD Speed's transfer rate tests.
Nero CD Speed v4.51 - DVD-Video:
For these tests I am using the US version of Transformers: The Movie on DVD. The disc is over 4GB and single sided.
| LG GSA-H10N |
Plextor PX-760A |
Lite-On SHM-165H6S |
NEC ND-4550A |
|
| Transfer Speed Average: Start: End: |
3.65x 2.02x 4.88x |
12.06x 6.63x 16.13x |
11.99x 6.62x 16.04x |
11.83x 6.49x 15.82x |
| Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full: |
121ms 147ms 219ms |
102ms 112ms 182ms |
114ms 122ms 197ms |
135ms 147ms 228ms |
| CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x: |
6% 11% 21% n/a |
5% 9% 17% 33% |
7% 10% 20% 97% |
15% 15% 28% 51% |
The GSA-H10N didn't do as well as some of the other drives when reading DVD videos. In our tests, it reached a maximum speed of about 4.8x when reading both single and dual layer discs.This is pretty slow considering there are drives out there that can reach speeds as high as 16x.
To see how well the GSA-H10N worked as a DVD player, I watched a few scenes from Transformers: The Movie and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace using WinDVD 4 and PowerDVD 5. The drive had no problems playing back these movies with either program and was fairly quiet.
