Hardware questions? CD-Rom's

[mjolnir2k]

I currently have a OEM CD-Rom installed in my system. It is 40x ATA33 (I think, MIGHT be ATA66).

I have been considering doing an upgrade to this component of my system as I THINK this might be hindering overall system performance when I run games etc...

System spec's are in sig

My questions,
1. Will I see a significant improvement in performance if I were to change to a higher 56x or 72x CD Rom that was ATA 100 (Do they make those?) , Or will it not really make a difference?

2. Can you reccomend a nice CD-Rom? What brand / Model would be a good fit?

I considered a DVD drive, but I can't imagine watching a DVD on my computer as opposed to my TV, so I nixed that idea.

Thanks all,
-mj2k

 

[Mitzi]

<< 1. Will I see a significant improvement in performance if I were to change to a higher 56x or 72x CD Rom that was ATA 100 (Do they make those?) , Or will it not really make a difference? >>



Most games nowadays give you the option to install and run the game from the hard drive. If you don't do this and do the minimal installs you will suffer performance problems related to your CD. I would suggest that you ensure you do full installs of all your games and you will not need to use the CDROM as much to load data whilst playing games.

I would NOT suggest upgrading your CDROM.

 

[herbage11]

I would not think it is your CD rom either. If it works it works. I also was wondering about not getting the DVD drive. But for the extra $20 I think I will. Might as well keep up w/ the times. I have a DVD drive now and I like it even though I dont watch DVDs it is a fast reliable drive.

 

[DN]

I'd make sure you have DMA enabled (device manager), that you don't auto-load any utility that interferes with the CDROM drive, make sure you full install your games (as someone else mentioned), that you don't have many, if any, memory resident programs loaded before playing a game..

To me, upgrading a 40x ATA-33 CDROM to another CDROM drive makes no sense unless you wanted to go DVD.. You could watch the DVD on your TV if your video card has video out (usually in the form of an s-video out connector) and your TV has video in (depends on the TV, but most modern TV's has an s-video in connector)..

 

[dunkster]

I agree with all the above advice.

Consider also that often upgrading to a higher-rated CDROM results in longer CDROM spin-up (when reading) and spin-down (when ejecting) times.

Hope this helps!

 

[mjolnir2k]

Thanks crew.

i'll just stick with what I have then. I definitely do full installs of my games anyway.

That damn "upgrade-itis" had me in it's cold grasp again! Barely escaped...THIS TIME!

 

[TheCorm]

I don't recall ever encountering an ATA-66 CD-ROM, I think there are a few ATA-66 DVD-ROM Drives though.

You could try running sisoft or nero cd-speed etc to test the drives performence.

Corm