detail information

Test machine:

For this review we will be using a computer with the following configuration:

Hardware:

• Motherboard: Intel 865
• Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz with Hyper Threading support
• Bus Speed: 800 MHz
• Memory: 2 GB
• Video: ATI RADEON 9600XT
• Sound: SB Live!
• Hard disks: 1X 160GB Seagate Barracuda; 1X 120GB Western Digital

System set-up:

The ASUS DRW-1608P3S was connected as Secondary Master and identified itself as ASUS DRW-1608P3S. DMA (Direct Memory Access) was enabled for all devices.

The ASUS DRW-1608P3S, which is connected as Secondary Master, supports faster type of DMA transfer mode of 'Ultra DMA Mode 4."

Software:

Windows XP Professional is installed on the computer along with Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. We will be using the following software in this review:

• Nero Burning ROM version 6.6.1.4
• Nero CD/DVD Speed V4.51.1
• Nero Info Tool v4.03
• Slysoft CloneCD v5.2.8.1
• Exact Audio Copy v0.95 beta 3
• K-Probe v2.5.2

Installation and supported features:

We installed the drive without any problems and here is a screenshot from Nero InfoTool:

From the screenshot above, we notice the installed firmware version is 1.0a with a 2 MB buffer size.

And another shot from Nero Burning ROM:

Nero Burning ROM claims Overburn support which we will test this later in the review. It also features Mount Rainier which is on the contrary to Nero InfoTool report above.

Included Software:

Now it's time to look at the included software. Notice that we may not use the included software in our performance testing part of the review.

Nero OEM Suite 2 software disc:

ULEAD DVD MovieFactory 4 SE:

Disc Writing Technology:

Now it's time to take a closer look at the write technology used by the ASUS DRW-1608P3S:

CD-Recordable:

The ASUS DRW-1608P3S uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 40X. This gives an average speed of 30.47x. Below are some other drives for comparison.

The Pioneer DVR-111 used CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write our CD-R media at 40x, this gave an average write speed of 30.31x and a total writing time of 3 minutes and 15 seconds.

The Samsung SH-W162L uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 48X. This gives an average speed of 37.21x and a total writing time of 2 minutes and 52 seconds.

 For comparison we have made the following table: 

As we can see from the table, the ASUS DRW-1608P3S is about average when it comes to writing CD-R's.

CD-Rewritable:

The ASUS DRW-1608P3S uses Z-CLV (Zone - Constant Linear Velocity) to write CD-RW media at its maximum speed of 32x, with an average write speed of 24.57x. Below are some other drives for comparison.

The Pioneer used Z-CLV (Zone Constant Linear Velocity) to write our CD-RW at its maximum speed of 32x, this gave an average write speed of 24.90x and a total writing time of 3 minutes and 49 seconds.

The Samsung SH-W162L uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) writing technology to write at 32X for CD-RW discs, the average speed is 28.44x and the total time 3 minutes and 35 seconds.

For a better overview we present the following comparison table:

As we can see from the table, the ASUS DRW-1608P3S performed above average on writing CD-RW's.

16X DVD+R Writing speed:

The ASUS DRW-1608P3S uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD+R at the maximum supported speed of 16x. This gives an average write speed of 11.66x and a writing time of 6 minutes 5 seconds.

16X DVD-R Writing speed:

The ASUS DRW-1608P3S uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD-R at the maximum supported speed of 16x. This gives an average write speed of 11.64x and a writing time of 5 minutes 50 seconds.

Below are some write graphs from some other drives for comparison.

The Pioneer DVR-111 uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD+R at the maximum supported speed of 16x. This gives an average write speed of 11.60x and a writing time of 6 minutes and 13 seconds.

The Samsung SH-W162L uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD+R at the maximum supported speed of 16x. This gives an average write speed of 11.93x and a writing time of 5 minutes and 35 seconds.

The Pioneer DVR-111 uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD-R at the maximum supported speed of 16x. This gives an average write speed of 11.54x and a writing time of 5 minutes and 57 seconds.

The Samsung SH-W162L uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD-R at its maximum speed of 16x. This gives an average write speed of 11.83x and a writing time of 5 minutes and 54 second. Below, we made a comparison table:

From the table above, we can see that the ASUS DRW-1608P3S is about average in writing DVD+R and DVD-R media.

8X DVD+RW writing speed:

The ASUS DRW-1608P3S uses Z-CLV (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+RW at 8x. The average speed is 7.86x and total writing time is 8:26 minutes.

Below are other drives for comparison.

The Pioneer DVR-111 uses Z-CLV, (Zone Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+RW at 8x. The average speed is 7.83x and total writing time is 7 minutes and 26 seconds.

The NEC ND-4550A uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+RW at 8x. The average speed is 7.98x and total writing time is 7 minutes and 15 seconds.

We made the table below for easy comparison.

The ASUS DRW-1608P3S was about average when it comes to writing DVD+RW at 8x.

6X DVD-RW writing speed:

The ASUS DRW-1608P3S uses CLV (Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-RW at 6x. The average speed is 6.04x and total writing time is 10:10 minutes.

Below are other drives for comparison.

The Pioneer DVR-111 uses CLV, (Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-RW at 6x. The average speed is 6.01x and the total writing time is 9 minutes and 56 seconds.

The Plextor PX-750A uses CLV, (Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-RW at 6x. The average speed is 5.92x and the total writing time is 10 minutes and 37 seconds.

We present the table below for easy comparison.

The ASUS DRW-1608P3S was among the fastest when writing DVD-RW media at 6x.

8X DVD+R DL writing speed:

The ASUS DRW-1608P3S supports 8x writing speed on DVD+R DL media.

The ASUS DRW-1608P3S uses Z-CLV (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+R DL at 8x. However the 2nd layer is written at 6x due to variability of media. The average speed is 6.64x and total writing time is 18:08 minutes.

Below are other drives for comparison.

The Pioneer DVR-111 uses Z-CLV, (Zone Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+R DL at 8x. The average speed is 7.30x and total writing time is 17:03 minutes.

The Plextor PX-755A used P-CAV, (Partial Constant Angular Velocity) to write the Verbatim DVD+R DL disc at 10x. The average speed was 8.61x and the total writing time was 14 minutes and 14 seconds.

The BenQ DW1640 uses P-CAV (Partial Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD+R DL at its maximum speed of 8x. This gives an average write speed of 7.32x and a total write tim