Read Tests - Printed Media


Seek Times - Pressed CD 74:40.02
Drive Random Full
ASUS DRW-0402P/D 123ms 163ms
ASUS DRW-0804P 127ms 296ms
Gigabyte GO-W0404A 92ms 187ms
LiteOn LDW-411S 88ms 179ms
MSI DR4-A 128ms 188ms
MSI DR8-A 76ms 145ms
NEC 1300A 121ms 183ms
Nu Tech DDW-081 102ms 167ms
Plextor 708A 94ms 167ms
Sony DRU-530A 125ms 199ms

Seek Times - DVD 4.38GB
Drive Random Full
ASUS DRW-0402P/D 145ms 188ms
ASUS DRW-0804P 130ms 312ms
Gigabyte GO-W0404A 142ms 173ms
LiteOn LDW-411S 120ms 196ms
MSI DR4-A 166ms 249ms
MSI DR8-A 117ms 170ms
NEC 1300A 124ms 167ms
Nu Tech DDW-081 135ms 144ms
Plextor 708A 170ms 228ms
Sony DRU-530A 175ms 242ms

CD and DVD seek times were particularly poor on the 8x8. We noticed this on the previous generation of ASUS/Pioneer drives as well.

We used various DVD and CD media around the lab for this portion of the benchmark. We attempted to use discs that contained no errors or scratches. Higher read speed averages are better.

Read - Pressed CD
Drive Average Read Length
ASUS DRW-0402P/D 25.10X 74:43.00
ASUS DRW-0804P 30.89X 74:43.00
Gigabyte GO-W0404A 30.42X 74:43.00
LiteOn LDW-411S 30.39X 74:43.00
MSI DR4-A 30.81X 74:43.00
MSI DR8-A 30.62X 74:43.00
NEC 1300A 31.01X 74:43.00
Nu Tech DDW-081 32.22X 74:43.00
Plextor 708A 31.66X 74:43.00
Sony DRU-530A 31.59X 74:43.00

Read - DVDR
Drive Average Read Length
ASUS DRW-0402P/D 4.62X 4.38GB
ASUS DRW-0804P 6.27X 4.38GB
Gigabyte GO-W0404A 5.22X 4.38GB
LiteOn LDW-411S 5.23X 4.38GB
MSI DR4-A 4.05X 4.38GB
MSI DR8-A 4.04X 4.38GB
NEC 1300A 3.66X 4.38GB
Nu Tech DDW-081 6.26X 4.38GB
Plextor 708A 6.05X 4.38GB
Sony DRU-530A 3.48X 4.38GB

Read - Pressed DVD Video
Drive Average Read Length
ASUS DRW-0402P/D 2.18X 7.88GB
ASUS DRW-0804P 6.34X 7.88GB
Gigabyte GO-W0404A 9.26X 7.88GB
LiteOn LDW-411S 9.24X 7.88GB
MSI DR4-A 2.04X 7.88GB
MSI DR8-A 9.01X 7.88GB
NEC 1300A 3.66X 7.88GB
Nu Tech DDW-081 3.11X 7.88GB
Plextor 708A 9.14X 7.88GB
Sony DRU-530A 2.01X 7.88GB

DVD and CD reads were right about where we expected on the DR8-A. Eject time was measured at 1.4s.

Burn Tests DVD-RW Media Final Thoughts
Comments Locked

8 Comments

View All Comments

  • TrogdorJW - Tuesday, April 27, 2004 - link

    Let's not forget #5 that Blu Ray discs won't be readable in standard DVD players either, right? Might as well go buy one of those new Sony drives that cost $2500 to $3000 and store an amazing 37 GB or some such of data. And they "only" cost $45 per cartridge. Gee... $80 GB hard drives only cost about $70 and are much faster. Get some hot-swap setup, and these cartridge optical discs are destined for the scrap heap of history.

    And WTF is up with my login password not sticking!? Stupid LAN admins....
  • KristopherKubicki - Monday, April 26, 2004 - link

    Yeah, it should be published in the next couple days.

    Kristopher
  • LeftSide - Friday, April 23, 2004 - link

    I think anandtech needs to redo the review on the nu tech 81. They have released the new firmware that alows the buner to burn on dvd-r's.
  • Ian@CDRlabs - Wednesday, April 21, 2004 - link

    Blu-Ray? You're either very rich or you're willing to wait a few years until the technology becomes affordable.
  • PrinceGaz - Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - link

    I'm looking to buy a DVD burner very soon as software is increasingly being released on DVD instead of (or as well as) CD. Splitting multi-gig image-files across several CDs isn't the most elegant solution.

    From what I've read on cdfreaks.com (which despite how their url might sound is really a very fine site specialising in optical storage), the NEC ND-2500A and Pioneer DVR-107D are the best drives currently available that lots of people have tested with a wide variety of media, and they both have strengths and weaknesses. I'm seriously tempted to go with the NEC ND-2500A given its low price and generally excellent reports on burn quality which is the whole reason for having a DVD burner (the less than stellar read performance with damaged media isn't so important to me).

    Is the new 8x DVD burner round-up almost finished?

    Eeek, I've just checked prices and seen that CD readers are less than £13, and CD burners around £21. Theres even a 4x DVD burner coming in at as little as £50. Those prices are crazy! Has the bottom totally dropped out of the optical storage market?
  • SUOrangeman - Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - link

    I think any "waste" of money on current DVD burner must be weighted against the actual cost(s). For instance, if someone was running a special on this Asus drive for, say, $60, is that really as much of a "waste" as buying it for $120? Is it even a waste at all for $60?

    -SUO
  • araczynski - Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - link

    i think anyone with half a brain would have not waste any money on any DVD burner since the bluerays are just around the corner.

    besides, the name of the game is consumables, not the drive, they all use the same components from the same sources. just like printers.
  • spyhalfer - Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - link

    not much info imho, who cares about the 0.01 difference in speed?
    error checking tests, with different media, would had been nice

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now