Best/Most Reliable Internal DVD Burner Right Now?

[Chewy]

If I was going to keep the force in balance, playback and posssible encoding x264 at high bitrate I would want a mid level dual core cpu with 2 gigs of good ram and a HD video card.

[dr_ml422]

It will fit in the old DVD slot you are removing, and if you don't have a spare SATA connection get an IDE version and use the master connection and not the slave connection.

Using DVD+R media will usually run faster and Imgburn can create book type settings on your plus media.

Hi Ed. I've seen many posts where they suggest hooking up a new burner as master and not slave. Is there something to this that makes the burner more compatible, efficient or w/e? Thnx.

[dr_ml422]

Hi Chewy. Guess sooner or later that build is going to have to come to frution. Blu-ray's right around the corner. Will a Dual core cpu and HD video card require a new mobo? Thnx.

[Chewy]

you can't upgrade your machine much more than you already have

If the video card is efficient enough with hi-def/x264 then a decent single core should handle it

not sure if the software players take advantage of dual core anyway

I'll sit out the HD revolution for another year or so till the dust settles

[dr_ml422]

I was going to sit it out myself anyway also. especially w/my experiences w/new burners I learned to let things get ironed out and then start buying. I knew that this was it for my pc as far as upgrading. just wasn't sure about how much was needed for this whole new HD transformation. By software players you talking about any of the media players used to watch, play games etc...?

[ed klein]

@dr ml422

quote
Hi Ed. I've seen many posts where they suggest hooking up a new burner as master and not slave. Is there something to this that makes the burner more compatible, efficient or w/e? Thnx.

Not that I am aware of, I only keep my IDE primary and secondary slave connection vacant for speed purpose, and only use them if I have no other connection to go to. All of my IDE primary and seconday master connections are filled, alone with all of my SATA connections primary and secondary.

While you got your case open you might consider replacing your primary and secondary IDE cables with 80 lead 40 pin cables instead of the older 40 lead 40 pin cables if you have the older ones, they are cheap to replace and your case will be open.

[dr_ml422]

Hi Ed. Those 80 lead cables would they fit into the slots where the 40 pin cables are now? Or do i have to look for some other slot on my mobo to install them? Also can you elaborate on my case being open? Not sure whether you mean to use my pc w/out the case cover. Thnx.

[Chewy]

most newer computers have used the 80 conductor for a few years now, even for optical drives

it never hurts to have a spare for troubleshooting

some cases are designed to only pull cool air past the cpu heat sink when they are closed, for some the powersupply fan is the main case cooling

procede with caution leaving the case open

[dr_ml422]

Hi Chewy. I just finished cleaning the inside of my case and checking out the cables. Are conductors and pins 2 different things? My ide cables do have 40 pins. Just not sure about the conductor thing. Btw there's only 1 ide cable w/a master and slave hook up on it. My ide samsung is hooked up to the master. Thnx.

[Chewy]

If you get a magnifying glass and look at the cable there will be 80 conductors going to a 40 pin connector

the extra 40 are grounds, reduces the electromagneticfield effect or noise between wires

I thought all this was a bunch of smoke and mirrors at first until a lady at maxtor told me you had to use them with their udma drives and now we find out some burners hate the old cables

A dvd burner as standalone master is always safest/best, but that's not to say the another one slaved will not work just as good. Slaving a new dvd burner to an old POS cd-rom/burner is crazy tho, especially when they share power on the same string of connections

[dr_ml422]

Thnx Chewy. Figured there was some method to the madness w/the 80 conductor 40 pin thingy. I only have the ide sammy on master and alone on that ide cable. My sata sammy's on the extra sata port.

Btw looks like OfficeMax might be the way to go 4 certain things now that CompUSA is gone. Saw some verbatim discs there today when I picked up a Targus dvd case.

[ed klein]

@dr ml422

Most IDE cables are designed or layout for the one end of the IDE cable goes to the motherboard (40pins on the motherboard) and the OPOSITE END of the IDE cable is the master connection and goes to your optical drive (40 pins on the optical drive. The slave connection is in the middle of the IDE cable.

Electrical speaking if you have ONLY ONE hardware connection (optical drive or hard drive) on the IDE cable the current drain will be the same load even if it is connected to the slave position. So first choice master connection, second choice slave connection, but try not to have both IF POSSIBLE.



What I was refering to when I said "case open" was you physically have the case open to replace the optical drive, so why not look and see if you have the new IDE cables at the same time, and NOT to leave the case open after you have installed the new optical drive.

A properly engineered computer from the factory should have enough built-in cooling strength, even with a mild overclocking to cool properly without the back or sides removed.

But if you soup-up your computer like max overclocking, adding much more hardware components then you will need ADDITIONAL cooling, water or fans, and a larger power supply in watts to handle the extra power requirements.

[dr_ml422]

Thnx Ed. Everything's hooked up like suggested. I noticed that the ide cables, the 1 for the burners and another 1 I have no idea what it's 4 are more or less blocking a lil bit of the fan from the psu. Can't these knuckle heads at the major computer companies reconfigure the mobos so that they wouldn't interfere w/airflow at all? I was able to get my sata cable out of the way cause it was long enough to do so. Do new ide cables come longer than the ones that come w/pre-builts?

[doctorhardware]

I would get the round style IDE cables, and yes the cables do come in different lenghts.

[dr_ml422]

ok. sounds like a lil better way to go. Radio Shack? OfficeMax? Looking to pay cash 4 now n reduce my plastic to zero. Gonna need it by next year or so for The Build. If you know what I mean. Thnx.