WD Velociraptor 1TB (WD1000DHTZ) - Larger Buffer, Better Performance

WD Velociraptor 1TB (WD1000DHTZ) - Larger Buffer, Better Performance

The New Generation

The 1TB WD1000DHTZ is WD’s latest model in its Velociraptor line of high performance hard drives. Putting it side by side with the two year old WD6000HLHX, the two internal hard drives bear no significant difference in the looks department. Like its predecessor, the new Velociraptor is actually a 2.5-inch hard drive fitted in a heatsink and an additional SATA adapter to attain the 3.5-inch standard. The heatsink dissipates heat that is generated by the hard drive due to its super-fast spindle speed of 10000 RPM, faster than the now common 7200 RPM.

In terms of the circuitry, onboard the new Velociraptor is a Samsung chip, a K4T511630J-BCE7, which serves as the hard drive’s 64MB buffer. This doubles the 32MB buffer that the WD6000HLHX has. A hard drive with a larger buffer means that it can store more frequently used data resulting in faster performance.

Another chip that we spotted on the WD1000DHTZ, which is the largest, is a Marvell 88i9346-TFJ2. It works as the device’s SATA controller. This is similar to the Marvell 88i9045-TFJ2 found on the older Velociraptor. Removing the circuit board of the two hard drives, we discovered that they also differ in terms of how they are connected. The new model makes use of pins, whereas the older model utilizes a socket interface.

In actuality, the physical interface does not really matter in the world of internal hard drives. Performance is more important. While the two Velociraptors carry the same SATA 6Gbps interface and boast the same 10000 RPM spindle speed, our benchmark results reveal that the new model is much better than the preceding one. Whether it is the sequential read and write speed through CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 or simulated computing performance via Futuremark’s PCMark 7 and the older PCMark Vantage, the WD1000DHTZ overwhelmed the WD6000HLHX. We deem that the secret sauce here is the double buffer size that the new Velociraptor has.

Apart from ample 1TB storage capacity, performance-conscious users will find the new WD1000DHTZ a godsend, thanks to its larger buffer size. It is a timely upgrade, considering that applications and content these days demand larger storage capacity and faster computing performance. While it is not as fast as today’s SSDs, it is a practical, high-performance hard drive from WD’s Velociraptor family, taking into account that solid state drives (SSDs) still carry limited storage capacities and come at expensive price points.