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emsworthboy

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 20, 2012
49
0
Emsworth, England
Quote from Macworld latest speed tests "The new 27-inch iMacs are available in two standard configurations. Both have 8GB of RAM and feature Intel’s quad core Ivy Bridge processors. The $1999 model sports a 3.2GHz Core i5, while the $1799 model uses a 2.9GHz Core i5.

Both iMacs include 7200-rpm, 1TB SATA-3 hard drives, but the drives in these two iMacs we received are not identical—and neither were their performance scores. Our $1999 iMac has a Western Digital WD10EALX Caviar Blue drive with 32MB of cache. Our $1799 iMac has a Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 hard drive with 64MB of cache—twice the cache of the WD, and the advantage of the larger cache is evident in our test results."

Seems strange that Apple puts the faster drive in the lower priced option. I wonder if it's the same in all of those produced? :confused:
 

beardboy

macrumors regular
Nov 5, 2007
163
0
Bath
I've just checked my BTO iMac 27", 32GB RAM, 1TB Fusion drive and 2GB 680MX.

The standard HDD shows as a Seagate ST1000DM003 and the SSD part of the Fusion shows as a SM128E. Maybe they put the wrong drives on their test machines, or they just have a whole store that they pick from - luck of the draw...

Not sure what the SM128E is - presumably Apples own SSD.
 

AndiS.

macrumors regular
Dec 16, 2012
181
0
I've just checked my BTO iMac 27", 32GB RAM, 1TB Fusion drive and 2GB 680MX.

The standard HDD shows as a Seagate ST1000DM003 and the SSD part of the Fusion shows as a SM128E. Maybe they put the wrong drives on their test machines, or they just have a whole store that they pick from - luck of the draw...

Not sure what the SM128E is - presumably Apples own SSD.

where can you actually check that? I can see that I have the ST1000DM003, but it doesn't say Seagate
 

WilliamG

macrumors G3
Mar 29, 2008
9,920
3,800
Seattle
Please let this thread die. It's just random which drive goes in. My high-end 27" iMac got the faster Seagate.
 

Yullover

macrumors newbie
Dec 11, 2012
22
0
AHH... i'm not in those lucky person with the fastest.

I have Base 27" plus fusion 1To and i see : APPLE HDD WDC WD10EALX-408EA0 and APPLE SSD SM128E...

So it's not true what macworld said. i receive imac Jan 3.
 

beardboy

macrumors regular
Nov 5, 2007
163
0
Bath
where can you actually check that? I can see that I have the ST1000DM003, but it doesn't say Seagate

As formel1 says, the ST is a Seagate drive. It doesn't say it in System Information as it says Apple HDD instead, however i just know that ST is a Seagate drive from experience.
 

Arman

macrumors regular
Aug 27, 2008
204
1
SoCal
I've just checked my BTO iMac 27", 32GB RAM, 1TB Fusion drive and 2GB 680MX.

The standard HDD shows as a Seagate ST1000DM003 and the SSD part of the Fusion shows as a SM128E. Maybe they put the wrong drives on their test machines, or they just have a whole store that they pick from - luck of the draw...

Not sure what the SM128E is - presumably Apples own SSD.

Yeah, my high end iMac got the Seagate drive as well.
 

AndiS.

macrumors regular
Dec 16, 2012
181
0
Yeah, my high end iMac got the Seagate drive as well.

Is it safe to assume maybe, that all the Fusion Drive equipped iMacs feature the Seagate drive? I will be getting my replacement unit within the next hours, latest tomorrow, I will check to see which HDD it has.

Update: this unit also has the Seagate drive
 
Last edited:

NicB

macrumors newbie
Dec 12, 2012
10
0
Checked my high end 27" BTO Mac (i7/3.4ghz/3tb fusion) and it also has the Seagate drive.
 

bplein

macrumors 6502a
Jul 21, 2007
538
197
Austin, TX USA
I bought a 2012 27" 3.4GHz/1TB Fustion/680MX today from an Apple Store.

It came with the Western Digital hard drive WD10EALX-408EA0
 

emsworthboy

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 20, 2012
49
0
Emsworth, England
I bought a 2012 27" 3.4GHz/1TB Fustion/680MX today from an Apple Store.

It came with the Western Digital hard drive WD10EALX-408EA0

I have a 3.4, 1tb fusion, but a 675 and that has a WD drive as well. Perhaps with a fusion drive the size of the buffer memory is less important? :confused:
 

loicg

macrumors newbie
Jan 23, 2013
7
0
I have the base 27 inch model with the 1 TB Seagate SD1000DM003 hard drive.

Same here, so with 64mo cache.

I have to say, but no big surprise, it feels much much more faster than my late 2009 21.5". Don't know compared to WD.
 

notguiltystyle

macrumors member
Feb 14, 2008
41
0
I've got the Western Digital WD-WCATRA397780 drive. My spec: 27", I7 non fusion. Im barely getting 75mb read/write speeds through the Black Magic Drive speed test software, not impressed :mad:
 

WilliamG

macrumors G3
Mar 29, 2008
9,920
3,800
Seattle
I've got the Western Digital WD-WCATRA397780 drive. My spec: 27", I7 non fusion. Im barely getting 75mb read/write speeds through the Black Magic Drive speed test software, not impressed :mad:

Ouch... Black Magic is showing me ~165MB/s read/write with my Seagate 1TB, non-fusion.
 

AndiS.

macrumors regular
Dec 16, 2012
181
0
Ouch... Black Magic is showing me ~165MB/s read/write with my Seagate 1TB, non-fusion.

Can you please tell me, how much cache it shows you for the Seagate in system preferences?

I've received my 5th iMac two days ago, and unlike the previous 4, this one has the WD for a 1 TB Fusion drive. Every time I replaced the iMac, I told Apple to make sure to put in the Seagate, but the people ordering them apparently can't do much in those terms.

Anyways, when I told my Apple Care rep, he claimed that an engineer told him, that their vendors modify the hard drives, so they run with the same specs. Not sure if true, but in my personal real world use, gaming in bootcamp, I actually didn't notice any negative differences from the Seagate. Installation and load times appear to be the same. I can't really benchmark the speed with Blackmagic, since I have the Fusion Drive (which gives me the same speed results as in previous iMacs).

I think/hope that at the end of the day, the WD drive doesn't have any perceivable drawbacks for me, as I would like to keep this one as my final replacement.

In general I think that Apple should make sure to put in the same parts for every one though, we're all paying the same price for our drives/computers, Fusion or not.
 

WilliamG

macrumors G3
Mar 29, 2008
9,920
3,800
Seattle
Can you please tell me, how much cache it shows you for the Seagate in system preferences?

I've received my 5th iMac two days ago, and unlike the previous 4, this one has the WD for a 1 TB Fusion drive. Every time I replaced the iMac, I told Apple to make sure to put in the Seagate, but the people ordering them apparently can't do much in those terms.

Anyways, when I told my Apple Care rep, he claimed that an engineer told him, that their vendors modify the hard drives, so they run with the same specs. Not sure if true, but in my personal real world use, gaming in bootcamp, I actually didn't notice any negative differences from the Seagate. Installation and load times appear to be the same. I can't really benchmark the speed with Blackmagic, since I have the Fusion Drive (which gives me the same speed results as in previous iMacs).

I think/hope that at the end of the day, the WD drive doesn't have any perceivable drawbacks for me, as I would like to keep this one as my final replacement.

In general I think that Apple should make sure to put in the same parts for every one though, we're all paying the same price for our drives/computers, Fusion or not.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840

It's 64MB cache.
 
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