Sharky Extreme tested the ASUS CD-S500 under a variety of synthetic and real world benchmarks to find out if the drive had the goods to make it a champion. We also compared the 50x speedster's performance to that of the previously mentioned ASUS CD-S400 40x drive, as well as a generic OEM Toshiba 32x drive. No fluff in our hardware lab folks, Sharky Extreme delivers the real story.

Before we get to the results of the tests, here's the full book on what the CD-S500 supports and offers statistically:

Spindle Rotational Speed
10,400rpm Constant Angular Velocity

Sustained Transfer Rate
3300 to 7500 kb/sec.(UltraDMA Mode 1)

Access time
75 - 150ms typical

Data Buffer
128 kbytes

Interface
Standard Enhanced IDE (ATAPI) bus interface

Data Format Support
CD-Audio CD-ROM, Mode 1 and Mode 2 CD-ROM XA, Mode 2, form 1 and form 2 CD-I Trax Karaoke CD Photo-CD (Single & Multi-session) Video CD Mixed Mode CD (Audio combined data) CD-Extra

Data/Audio Capacity
656 Mbytes (Mode 1) 748 Mbytes (Mode 2) 74 minutes and 42 seconds

Front panel Controls
An Open/Close/Stop button An Audio Play/Skip button A Volume control knob A green LED, it indicates POWER ON & BUSY Emergency ejection hole

OS Compatibility
Operation System: DOS 6.xx, Windows 3.x, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Netware, SCO UNIX, OS/2 Warp MPC level 3 compatible.

The stats tell the tale, especially the unit's 10,400rpm spindle speed. Upon learning of the CDS-500's massive rotational velocity, Sharky Extreme's own Mossad was overheard asking whether or not the drive was a CD-ROM or a Hard Drive. With specs like the CD-S500 possesses it's easy to get confused, CD-ROM technology is rapidly ascending along with everything else these days. There's hardly a doubt in our minds that we could see a 100x (20,000rpm) CAV CD-ROM drive or two by the end of this year.