Slimline DVD drives, inherently quieter?

The Gangrel · Post by **The Gangrel** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 2:54 am

I'm putting together a HTPC for myself, but instead of using a HTPC case, I'm going to use a normal case tucked away in the corner with a USB DVD drive under the TV.

Now, I'm wondering, are the slimline DVD drives quieter in general, purely because I'd imagine they're made to closer tolerances what with being so small...or am I miles off?

They certainly look less intrusive than the standard size drives(even if a little pricey), but are they quieter?

LodeHacker · Post by **LodeHacker** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 12:21 pm

What do you mean with quiet? some DVD drives allow to limit the read speed to 4x for example if that's what you mean. Generally DVD drives do not make any noise themselves, it's the spinning of a disc that causes noise. Also most DVD drives do not vibrate much so that there's a need to suspend them or something...

Spare Tire · Post by **Spare Tire** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 12:33 pm

I'd think it'd be quite the contrary. With less mass and the construction being more flimsy, it would tend to vibrate more.

frank2003 · Post by **frank2003** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 7:34 pm

With slim drives it's hit-or-miss when it comes to quiet operation. I have a Sony/NEC Optiarc slim DVD burner (IDE) and it's very quiet. Recently I bought a Lite-On slim DVD burner (SATA) and that thing was noisy as hell. I found the noise level unacceptable even when I was watching DVD movies from 12 ft away. I had to install Nero Drive Speed to make it spin no faster than 4x in order to make the noise level tolerable.

I never had a noise problem with full size DVD burners at all.

Aris · Post by **Aris** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:31 am

Spare Tire wrote:I'd think it'd be quite the contrary. With less mass and the construction being more flimsy, it would tend to vibrate more.

You'd think this to be true, but it seems that since there is less space, there is less play and its overall construction seems to be of a higher quality. The larger optical drives since they have so much excess space to work with they can be a bit more sloppy with construction and have it still work.

every slim optical drive i've ever owned has always been quieter than any traditional optical drive i've ever owned.

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:44 pm

Most dvd and cdrom drives are made like crap.

all the slims were quiet however. Pioneer makes a really quiet retail drive, not oem.

plextor's top end so far have been very quiet. pioneer 109a i have is the quietest optical drive I probably will ever own. I have also a plextor 760A and it is just about as quiet.

shleepy · Post by **shleepy** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 12:16 pm

In my experience, they are significantly quieter and usually get the job done. Maybe one factor is that while the desktop drives go for eXtReMe speedzzz that nobody ever really needs, the slim ones stay within reasonable ranges.

psiu · Post by **psiu** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 2:22 pm

I've got a Panasonic slot load notebook drive...loud. Lots of them are loud...at least at data speeds. Playing a movie probably not bad.

NeoteriX · Post by **NeoteriX** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 8:14 pm

My Samsung (Toshiba?) external USB DVD drive is pretty darn loud. Louder than any full sizer in any of my PCs. Put a disc in it and the whole thing shakes and rattles like an epileptic watching Power Rangers.

nutball · Post by **nutball** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:19 am

The slot-loading thing I have (Panasonic I think) certainly isn't quiet even at movie-playing speeds.

Honestly I think the quietest way to play DVDs is to rip the ISOs to a 1TB hard-disk and play them from there. You have to put up with the noise first time, but that's only a few minutes and only once.

Aris · Post by **Aris** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 10:53 am

To all those posting about them being loud, its likely because of the speed they are spinning at, and in that case ANY optical drive will be loud at those speeds.

Use software to lower the drive speed. You only need 1x on a DVD drive to play a movie.

LodeHacker · Post by **LodeHacker** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 11:29 am

Second what Aris says. Some drives just make the disc spin faster than others and so it isn't really a good comparison. As a note though I never really write at fast speeds because the risk of having a bad burn is higher, I always am patient while burning data/music onto a CD/DVD as I burn at 1x/2x/4x speed depending on the medium. Also like Aris says 1x speed is enough for playing a movie so unless you do CD audio or DVD video ripping often, having very high speeds is unnecessary.