detail information

Test machine:

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

Hardware:

• Motherboard: ASUSTeK A8N-SLI DELUXE (nForce 4 SLI chipset)
• Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (Venice) 1000 MHz Hyper Transport
• RAM: 2 GB Corsair TWINX 2CL DDR
• GFX: Leadtek Winfast  6600 TD (PCI Express nVidia)
• Sound: SoundBlaster Audigy 2
• Hard disk: 1X 200GB Seagate Barracuda (SATA): 1X 120GB Maxtor (SATA)

System set-up:

The NEC ND-4570A was connected as Primary Master and identified itself as _NEC DVD_RW ND-4570A. DMA (Direct Memory Access) and auto-run was enabled for all devices.

Software:

Windows XP Professional x64 Edition is installed on the computer along with Service Pack 1. We will be using the following software in this preview:

• Nero CD-DVD Speed V4.11
• Ahead Nero InfoTool v4.00
• K-Probe v2.5.1
  

Installation:

We quickly installed the drive without any problems and here is a screenshot from Nero info tool:

Our drive came shipped with firmware 1.02. The only drawbacks we could see are: the missing Mt Rainier support along with the small buffer size.

Features and techniques:

Now let us take a look at the internal layout of the NEC ND-4570A.

The drive is powered by NEC's latest chipset the D53645 AGM.

ACTIVE OPC

NEC uses Active OPC Technology with its optical hardware. Active OPC constantly monitors the sensitivity of the media and adjusts the laser strength to achieve the best possible results. It does this by analyzing the reflection from the media's surface.

Disc Quality Scanning:

The NEC ND-4570A supports 'Disc Quality Scanning" via Nero CD-DVD Speed, and in the above screenshot we can see a result produced by this feature.

Writing Technique:

CD-R/RW:

According to the NEC ND-4570A specifications, the drive should be able to write CD-R at a maximum speed of 48x and CD-RW and a maximum speed of 32x.

We used Nero CD-DVD Speed (create data disc) function to write a test CD-R/RW. Below are our results.

CD-R

As we can see from the above screenshot; the NEC ND-4570A uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write CD-R at its maximum speed of 48x. This resulted in an average write speed of 36.26x and a total write time of 3 minutes and 1 second.

CD-RW

The NEC ND-4570A uses Z-CLV (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity) to write CD-RW media at its maximum write speed of 32x. This resulted in an average write speed of 29.73x and a total write time of 3 minutes 32 seconds.

DVD±R/RW:

The specifications of the ND-4570A tell us it should be able to write DVD±R media at 16x, DVD+RW at 8x and DVD-RW at 6x.

We used Nero CD-DVD Speed (create data disc) function to write a test DVD±R/RW.Below are our results.

DVD+R

The NEC ND-4570A uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD+R media at its maximum speed of 16x. This resulted in an average write speed of 11.75x and a total write time of 6 minutes and 8 seconds.

DVD+RW

The NEC ND-4570A uses Z-CLV (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+RW media at its maximum speed of 8x. This resulted in an average write speed of 8x and a total write time of 7 minutes and 14 seconds.

DVD-R/RW:

DVD-R

The NEC ND-4570A uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD-R media at its maximum speed of 16x. This resulted in an average write speed of 11.72x and a total write time of 6 minutes and 9 seconds.

DVD-RW

The NEC ND-4570A uses CLV (Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-RW media at its maximum speed of 6x. This resulted in an average write speed of 6.20x and a total write time of 10 minutes and 8 seconds.

DVD±R DL:

The specifications of the ND-4570A tell us it should be able to write DVD±R DL media at 8x.

We used Nero CD-DVD Speed (create data disc) function to write a test DVD±R DL media.Below are our results.

DVD+R DL

The NEC ND-4570A uses Z-CLV (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+R DL media at its maximum speed of 8x. This resulted in an average write speed of 6.56x and a total write time of 18 minutes and 33 seconds.

DVD-R DL

The NEC ND-4570A uses Z-CLV (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-R DL media at its maximum speed of 8x. Unfortunately we did not have any 8x compatible DVD-R DL media to test the drive at its maximum speed. We were able to write a test DVD-R DL at 6x. This resulted in an average write speed of 5.67x and a total write time of 20 minutes and 41 seconds.

DVD-RAM:

The specifications of the ND-4570A tell us it should be able to write DVD-RAM media at 5x. Below is our result.

DVD-RAM

The NEC ND-4570A uses CLV (Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-RAM media at its maximum speed of 5x (verify off). This resulted in an average write speed of 4.86x and a total write time of 11 minutes and 26 seconds.

Now let's head over to the next page where we will test the ND-4570A reading performance.