I haven't seen much written up anywhere about it but Western Digital are making the switch to 160Gb platters from the old 125Gb platters for their new range. The WD5000KS is a 4 x 125Gb Platter design whereas the new WD5000AAKS is a 3 x 160GB platter design. The benefit of a larger capacity platter is that you can use less platters for the same capacity and in turn there should be a speed increase and supposedly a reduction in heat output.

The PCB is entirely different to the old version and the only other noticable difference is the absence of a molex power connector which can sometimes be a handy thing to have, but that's progress I suppose.

Here are a few Benchies I ran to see what had changed if anything:-

Intel E4300 @ 3.2GHz
Asus P5WDG2 WS Pro (ICH7R controller)
2 x Samsung Spinpoint 2504c RAID0 (OS)
1 x Western Digital WD5000KS - Connected to ICH7R
1 x Western Digital WD5000AAKS - Connected to ICH7R
OS used - XP Media Center Edition 2005

WD5000KS HDTach 32mb


WD5000AAKS HDTach 32mb


WD5000KS vs WD5000AAKS HDTach 32mb


For comparisons sake I also included HDTune benchmarks to verify the findings in HDTach:-

WD5000KS HDTune


WD5000AAKS HDTune



As you can see there is a noticeable speed increase with the move to 160Gb platters, but there is no discernable drop in temperatures. Overall I'm fairly impressed and especially being as the WD5000AAKS is £25 cheaper than the WD5000KS at just £89 including tax.




Maff

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