BenQ 1640

LANsky · Post by **LANsky** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 9:08 am

This drive looks fantastic. Good firmware. Good speeds. Great reviews.

Anyone have it and know anything about how loud it gets?

EvilNick · Post by **EvilNick** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 9:54 am

I've got one. When reading, it spins pretty loudly, but after awhile settles down to an inaudible level. When writing, it's gonna be constantly loud.

Performance is excellent tho.

iatacs19 · Post by **iatacs19** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 11:16 am

Retail Pioneers have more silencing features.

Einllel · Post by **Einllel** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 2:43 pm

I have suffered three DVD burner failures in last year (2 LiteOn's 832 and the last one a Benq DW1640). At the end I decided to buy a Plextor, and I have burned a pair of Spindles (of 25 pcs) in the last 6 months without a single problem (I will never buy a sub-60 € burner again).

This are my two cents.

Oliver · Post by **Oliver** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 9:48 am

EvilNick wrote:I've got one. When reading, it spins pretty loudly, but after awhile settles down to an inaudible level. When writing, it's gonna be constantly loud.

Performance is excellent tho.

Does it shake or vibrate much?
Or does it seem to keep the media balanced pretty well as it spins up?

Tom Brown · Post by **Tom Brown** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 4:29 pm

Oliver wrote:
EvilNick wrote:I've got one. When reading, it spins pretty loudly, but after awhile settles down to an inaudible level. When writing, it's gonna be constantly loud.

Performance is excellent tho.
Does it shake or vibrate much?
Or does it seem to keep the media balanced pretty well as it spins up?

My experience with the 1640 is about the same as Nick's. The sound that comes from the drive is not particularly undesireable. I've never heard it shake or vibrate. It makes a gentle hiss and every once in a while, it makes a sort of low amplitude, high pitched whistle at some speeds.

One thing of note... the tray mechanism is particularly quiet on the DW1640. It's beautiful.

My Pioneer DVR-107D is quieter than the BenQ DW1640.

Einllel, the latest Plextor burner (the PX-740A) is a BenQ DW1640. Only the firmware is different. The hardware is converging. If you look at some of the DVD firmware hack sites, this becomes obvious when a single firmware works on a number of different drives from different manufacturers. It's possible to make a Plextor think it's a BenQ, etc., etc.

For what it's worth, I feel this BenQ DW-1640 is reasonably quiet, although not silent, and fine for occasional use in a quiet PC. Sure, I'd like it quieter but the drive performs beautifully and will back up my hard drive far more quickly than my Pioneer. To me, performance is worth something to. I'm quite happy with the drive.

EvilNick · Post by **EvilNick** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 2:44 am

Yeah, the tray mechanism on the DW1640 is just beautiful. Slides gracefully, then settles into its position with a very nice low "chunk" sound.

I did not really think the noise a drive makes while burning discs matters unless you happen to be burning discs all of the time. And it's pretty quiet while reading.

Tom Brown · Post by **Tom Brown** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 9:32 am

EvilNick wrote:I did not really think the noise a drive makes while burning discs matters unless you happen to be burning discs all of the time. And it's pretty quiet while reading.

That's how I look at it too. It's not much louder than my Pioneer DVR-107D and the performance of the BenQ is second to none.

Check out the latest BIOS with SolidBurn:

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/12266

Einllel · Post by **Einllel** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 4:32 pm

Tom Brown wrote:
Oliver wrote:
EvilNick wrote: Einllel, the latest Plextor burner (the PX-740A) is a BenQ DW1640. Only the firmware is different. The hardware is converging. If you look at some of the DVD firmware hack sites, this becomes obvious when a single firmware works on a number of different drives from different manufacturers. It's possible to make a Plextor think it's a BenQ, etc., etc.

Yes the Px-740 is a cheap version of the PX-716 and has different chipset than the PX-716. I was talking about PX-716A.

SweeJ · Post by **SweeJ** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 7:01 am

Hi, I know people have said the BenQ is not as quiet, but compared to my old Lite-On, it's WAAAY quiet, even at 48X CD-R burn speed. Love it!!, reading DVD/CDs very, very quiet.

Edwood · Post by **Edwood** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 1:09 am

Just got one myself. It's much quieter than the LiteOn drive it was replacing. Doesn't "hiss" like the LiteOn's do either.

-Ed

rei · Post by **rei** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 7:34 pm

my lg1640b (or something) is a bit loud when the tray opens but dvd playback is quite quiet.

i am mulling spending $100us for the dvr-09xl or just getting a benq.

the bezel for the benq is nice, but the retail pioneer seems to be the best. just like a 2x/3x premium though.

marcmercer · Post by **marcmercer** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 4:19 am

Can anyone who has the BenQ 1640 confirm it's behaviour when watching DVDs? I know many drives have a "riplock" feature that default the drive to 4X when reading DVDs in order to keep it quiet. My searches on the net give conflicting opinions on whether this is enabled or not on the benq.

I'm planning on using this drive in an HTPC and would like to be able to watch DVDs without the drive continously spinning at full speed. I always used a program called CDbremse for this purpose before, but it would be nice if the drive did it without the need for the program.

There is the possibility that I will record TV directly to the DVDRW too - does anyone have experience with this?

Would I be better off with a Pioneer 110 or LG 4163B?

Thanks

Marc

rei · Post by **rei** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 5:56 am

I don't think any of the OEM Pioneers have ever been quiet. I've had the 05, 08, 09 myself. Just ordered the DVR-09XL.

It currently is $89.99 off buy.com (DVR-A09XLB) with a $30 mail-in-rebate for $30 off. Mail in Rebate ends August 31.

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?s ... c=101&sp=1

(for black)

Silent dvd-writer people might want to pick up one at this price. I know it's being harder to get and I can't get one at all up here in Canada now.

$3 more for silver:

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?s ... dwt=0&sp=1

justlnluck · Post by **justlnluck** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 11:58 am

Hi,

If you are interested in a quiet drive, I can confirm that the 1620 is very quiet. I was thinking about upgrading to the 1640, but now that people on here have described it as loud.....? I own the black OEM 1620 drive and it must be the quietest drive I have ever used. I have owned LiteOn and Pioneer DVD drives and neither of them come close. When playing DVDs, the 1620 makes no audible noise. I would know because I have made my entire computer silent, including the fans. I also cannot hear the drive when it is burning DVDs at 4x. I don't have 8x media, so I haven't tested that speed yet. The only time I have been able to hear the drive is when I use CDs and even then it only makes a muffled hum. So if you are nervous about the 1640, maybe you can pick up the 1620 for an even cheaper price.

Bob_the_lost · Post by **Bob_the_lost** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 3:13 pm

If you want a quiet drive then you might want to find a non OEM type firmware to flash it with, i know of at least one "silent" firmware hack for my drive NEC3540.

Look around at cdfreaks.com they are pretty good at that sort of thing, although they generally don't give a money's about the noise level.

mrk22 · Post by **mrk22** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 10:22 pm

marcmercer wrote:Can anyone who has the BenQ 1640 confirm it's behaviour when watching DVDs? I know many drives have a "riplock" feature that default the drive to 4X when reading DVDs in order to keep it quiet.

According to the ExtremeMhz review (http://www.extrememhz.com/dw1640-p9.shtml), the DW1640 rips a DVD in "record time".

Whether that means the drive is loud when just playing a DVD, I'm not sure.

Legionair · Post by **Legionair** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 9:47 am

I own 2 benq dvd burners which are the 1620 pro and 1640. For those who really want a quiet burner i would recommend a 1620 pro. As the drive is very silent when burning @ 4X and still very silent when overspeed burning the 4X media @ 12X. The 1620 pro supports overspeed burning on certain media and it is done automatically by the drive itself.

For the 1640 case, only the lastest firmware which has the solidburn and overspeed ability could support this feature. But first you need to have the Qsuite 2.0 installed. I have tried to burn the same media that i used to overspeed burn it on the 1620, this time i got it @ 16X, but the down side is the drive spins loudly which sounds like a jet engine. Luckily, the drive is silent when watching dvds, however it does spin up when the playing movie is stopped and choosing between chapters, but this only last for a few seconds before the drive is silent again, so no problem here.

When comparing 1620 with its little bro 1640, the difference is that the little bro is somehow 1/3 smaller than the bigger bro. And the little bro has much faster reading and writing speed.

If you are looking for a complete silent solution, you cant go wrong with the 1620 pro, as i have experienced myself.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 2:09 pm

Is it possible to set the 1640 in silent mode? If so, how to do it?

I'm probably ordering one within a few days, is there any reason for getting the retail over the bulk edition? The web-shop aint clear about the difference, except, that "drivers and utilities" is included in the retail version. But is it worth 30% extra?

My second choise is a Asus DRW 1608P. Price is almost the same, but it seems the BenQ performs better - especially, the Asus seems to have a limited media compability list. But the Asus is easy to set in quiet mode.

Thanks.

sipitai · Post by **sipitai** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 10:30 pm

This is probably a really dumb question, but this drive only makes noise when its in use right?

In other words, when its not being used it is completely silent right?

BrianE · Post by **BrianE** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 2:22 am

sipitai wrote:This is probably a really dumb question, but this drive only makes noise when its in use right?

In other words, when its not being used it is completely silent right?

I wish I had my 1640 installed to be able to tell you for sure

, but I think it depends on what you call "in use". The optical drives I have right now all still make some noise even when "idle" with a disc spinning in it, and even more noise when they read/write. I'm pretty sure that no optical drive will make noise when it is empty though.

jermaink · Post by **jermaink** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 9:24 pm

Does anyone know anything about the successor drive, the DW 1650, which is now on the BenQ website?

BenQ 1640

BenQ 1640

Mine only lasted 10 burns aprox.

Yes I know, but ...