Best quiet DVD-RW?

[Diasper]

I've used my NEC2510 with great success and has been pretty quiet to boot.

However, how are the later generation of drives looking regards quality/quiet performance?

 

[AmberClad]

NEC3540A? I think it's pretty quiet. I can't hear it over the sound of the PSU, CPU, and GPU fans (no case fans). It's a fairly popular DVD-RW drive. NewEgg/Monarch/ZZF tend to have pretty frequent price wars over that model; the best price I've seen so far is $41 shipped.

Lite-ons, BenQs, and Plextors seem to be other ones that are popular in general, but not having used any of those, I can't really attest to how quiet or loud they are.

 

[Cerb]

LiteOns are LOUD. NEC and Samsung are fairly quiet, as are Pioneer. Dunnot about others.

 

[n7]

Text

 

[Diasper]

Originally posted by: Cerb
LiteOns are LOUD. NEC and Samsung are fairly quiet, as are Pioneer. Dunnot about others.

Yeah I have one of their 52X CD-RW ...when I luckily don't have to too often it sounds like a jet engine taking off!

Yeah the NEC drives seem quite good and I'm impressed by my 2510. However, I was looking at other options in case.

Samsung is one that I heard were quiet - seems like everything they do these days is quiet. I think I've heard relatively good impressions of MSI and Sony although those might be for older drives now.

I guess NEC or Samsung would be among the best - Samsung just seem to be dominating on so many technical fields while offering very good quality (heh, I still remember my old A800 phone that surivived two 'swimming lessons'...)

Does anyone have any of the other drives: Samsung, MSI or Sony?

 

[n7]

Did you see my link?

 

[Diasper]

Originally posted by: n7
Did you see my link?

Yeah I did. I'm just slightly sceptical that websites like that are uptodate with all the latest information and have actually throroughly tested it.

Was just looking for some anandtechers first hand experiences to corroborate

 

[Hurricane Andrew]

I have two Benq 1640's, and they are the quietest optical drives I've used to date. Noticeably quieter than even the Samsung that n7's link mentions (I have one of those also). You can get the 1640 at newegg for $46.99 with free shipping at present. Not a bad deal for an outstanding DL burner.

 

[firerock]

Pioneer is very quiet; but you have to get the retail version, not their OEM. Their retail version has the damping/softening function for their discs, so it doesn't vibrate as much; thus quieter drive.

 

[n7]

Well, BenQ DW1640 it is then.

I personally would much rather recommend the BenQ DW1640, but i wasn't sure how silent they were.

I know my 1620 is very quiet though.

Good to know.

Even more reason for me to harp at the NEC fanbois

 

[effee]

Would you guys suggest a internal or external DVD-RW?

 

[Cerb]

If you can get the BenQ external for $40 or less above internal cost, then external. Otherwise, internal, and then an enclosure with a chipset it likes (Prolink?). Check CDFreaks (try the big enclosure thread)...I know at least one or two of the BenQs have more toruble than most other burners in enclosures, but don't know if the 1640 is one of them.

 

[dclapps]

Grabbed a NEC 3540 during a deal on newegg's, like under $40 shipped or something. Have burned 50 dvd's with it, and haven't heard it once. I've got a quiet case with only three fans in it [cpu, gpu, and exhaust fan]. It's got a bit of following behind it that likes to make firmware for it, so it helps me play my +r's on my older dvd players. It seems a lot of people don't like it because it only utilizes one light on the faceplate, a green LED that is on when the disc is being read and the same green when a disc is burning. Personally, I already know if I'm reading the disc/burning a disc because I initiated such an action.

I suggest internal but I am biased; I had a CD burned off of an external burner and it was jumping around on the cd, a wierd problem I never saw with any of my internal drives.

 

[BespinReactorShaft]

Vote for BenQ 1620.

I'll never consider Samsung again the way two of their drives died on me.

 

[UltraWide]

I have a single layer BTC burner and it's the quietest drive I have ever owned. Even when it was reading @ 8X it sounded like 1X. they are not great performance wise, but they are darn quiet.

 

[UltraWide]

http://www.silentpcreview.com/index.php

good source as well.