Hello all,

I'm working on building my PC and now I'm at optical drive. Specifically, I need an internal DVD burner. However, I have no need for blu-ray capabilities.

The two major brands I'm seeing as available are Lite-On and Asus.

Could someone please recommend a specific (model number) optical drive which they feel is quiet and reliable?

Thanks.

As a general rule there seems to be a great deal of variation from sample to sample and also from model to model when it comes to Optical Drives.

The only brand that seems to consistently do well with regards to noise is "Pioneer" but they are not easy to find any more.

Personally I only use LG drives unless I have no other choice as they seem to be decent in all areas including noise, but no optical drive is truly "silent" due to the fact taht they all attempt to spin at maximum speed whenever possible (52x CD spin speed). Your results may vary, good luck, and please post your results when you get a drive, the more collective knowledge the better this forum becomes.


Andy

I haven't even noticed that much of a pattern. It sounds like andyb is more experienced than I, so take my opinion with salt, but the only patterns I've noticed are that generics are almost always loud and brand-name drives targeted at film viewers are usually quieter.

Even the quietest drives I've heard have been really loud, though. Maybe I should see if I could build some kind of noise-proof box ....

I'm pretty sure all the Asus drives are re-badges. For example, the 24B3ST on Amazon atm is actually a LiteOn iHas 124.

As for the iHas 124, I can tell you that it's quieter than the Sony Optiarc 7240S/7280S. The Optiarcs are like old hoovers.