Quiet DVD burner?

JackieO · Post by **JackieO** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 7:59 pm

Hello,

I've been lurking for awhile and want to thank the Silent PC Review folks for being a font of advice these past few months. I have a question which I haven't seen answered and searching on the forum hasn't really netted me anything either.

I am looking for a relatively silent DVD-/+RW burner, you know the deal. Basically my SFF is whisper quiet except when a CD is being read/burned, etc... It's the only time I hear the thing and I'd like it to be lessened. I know it's not possible to have one that's completely silent, but the one I have now (Nu Tech 8x) is painfully loud, it whines, it clicks and clunks, I can't stand it.

Anyway, advice is very much appreciated!

Lliam · Post by **Lliam** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 2:39 am

www.quietpc.com sell the NEC 2510 DVD RW as a quiet drive.
ASUS use quietening technology reviewed www.silentpcreview.com/article154-page1.html
samsung review www.silentpcreview.com/article101-page1.html

acaurora · Post by **acaurora** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 4:55 am

Pioneer also has a nice quiet ones.

termcap · Post by **termcap** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 6:43 am

I have the previous (but still recent) version of the NEC drive mentioned above and can confirm that it is indeed quiet - quieter than any previous drive I have owned.

halcyon · Post by **halcyon** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 6:54 am

From the SPCReview forum archives (using search):

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... ght=BTC+LG

Neither the NEC nor the Pioneer is particularly quiet.

BTC is almost tolerable, but it is a _lousy_ writer.

LG is the best compromise, imho. It is a very good writer, good reader and less noisy than most.

rtsai · Post by **rtsai** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 7:36 am

My Sony DRU-510a CDRW/DVD+-RW is pretty quiet when burning DVDs. But I suspect it's because it's relatively slow (1x/2x/4x), far slower than my noisy CDRW burner (52x, although I think "x" might be different between CDs and DVDs?).

JackieO · Post by **JackieO** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 7:01 pm

Thanks for the suggestions folks - I'll do some reading and hopefully come to a up with a good compromise. I think I am less interested in performance of the drives than quiet operation, so at least I have somewhere to start.

Irianta · Post by **Irianta** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 8:53 pm

Hi JackieO,

I recently purchased a LG GSA-4120B burner, and it's surprisingly quiet; compared to my old LG CD-burner it's several orders of magnitude quieter. I do not, however, have experience with other recent DVD burners, so I don't know how it really compares. To give you some idea I'd compare the noise of the particular specimen I'm using to the 5-volted 92mm NMB fan that's cooling down the processor in my otherwise fanless computer.

The burner itself is a bit picky on the media that it likes, but with the right media it's a pure demon (in the good sense) as far as speed and write quality is concerned. Plus it supports DVD-RAM as an extra.

JackieO · Post by **JackieO** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 9:41 pm

Thanks Irianta and others. I actually ordered the LG tonight from Newegg based on the mentions where and the SPCR review. From the sounds of the review and the tesimonials here I think I'll be pleased with it = just about anything will be quieter than the one I have now. If I didn't mention it before it's a Nu Tech burner (8x all around), that is actually very nice when burning, not picky at all - however it is almost laughably loud.

Qwertyiopisme · Post by **Qwertyiopisme** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 5:14 am

My NEC ND-2510 is nice and quiet, the main noise is a soft *whooosh* when reading. The only bad thing with it is that it keeps spinning the cd for a long time (albeit at 1x), which is quite annoying (my setup is quieter than a Zalman 7000A @ 3V, so it'l be ok for most people).

Tetsujin · Post by **Tetsujin** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 6:35 am

My experience with the NEC ND-2510a has been really great, it's very quiet both reading and burning. Just about any ambient noise will drown it out. It's dual layer capable, comes in beige or black, and Newegg carries it right now for $65 plus 1.99 shipping (well, if you want beige.)

Sadly, the first one I got had a faulty optical pickup, but hey, that's why I order from Newegg, they don't give me any crap about RMA.

Spinner · Post by **Spinner** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 7:44 am

I bought a Pioneer DVR-108 yesterday, an OEM version of the DVR-A08XL. Despite being a quite powerful DVD burner (16x write speed and dual-layer writing at 4x), it is quieter than my OEM LG DVD reader when reading a DVD or a CD, but the tray is slightly noisier than the LG drive. I haven't tried burning anything yet, so I can't comment about that yet.

I found something interesting about the differences between the DVR-108 and it's retail counterpart, the DVR-A08XL. Here is an excerpt from an article found on cdrinfo.com :

The DVR-A08XL incorporates Pioneer's QuietDrive technology that was first introduced in the DVR-A07XL. QuietDrive features a honeycomb design in the unit's top outer casing that reduces vibration from the drive mechanism. Together with noise dampening firmware and a lack of integral fan, ambient noise from the DVR-A08XL is significantly reduced.

Sounds interesting doesn't it ?

CoccoBill · Post by **CoccoBill** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 9:21 am

Another lurker signing in. I pretty much only have experience with Sony and Plextor dvd-rws, and i've always thought the Plextor 708A to be reasonably quiet, both at idle and operation. Does anyone know if any of the mentioned models are notably more silent?

acaurora · Post by **acaurora** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 10:57 am

I have the Pioneer '07 model, the 8x8 one. It's quieter than the Plextor when burning, and near dead silent when reading. There's always that soft 'woosh' i suppose that would happen with all drives, though.

Gholam · Post by **Gholam** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 8:34 pm

I have a Plextor PX-712A, and while it's noise level during normal operation is about average, the PlexTools software allows you to control it's maximum speed, separately for reading and writing, which can bring you almost complete silence. You can even control the speed of the tray opening and closing. Don't have to leave PlexTools running either, settings are written into the drive firmware.

Jan Kivar · Post by **Jan Kivar** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 2:38 am

Speaking of ND-2510, do your drives make few (three?) noisy clicks whenever the tray is closed with no disc? OK, they're not that noisy, but they are the loudest sound from my comp at idle. Apart from the thing reading/writing/idling of course...

Cheers,

Jan