Asus DVD writer performance?

Question

is there a different in performance/burning in my dvd writer or just any cdwriter if your pc is a bit old? let's say.. Pentium4@ 1.8ghz. 512mb ram, 128 video and 80gb hardisk? and compare to my other pc w/c quite cheaper,AMD Sempron 3000+ 64-bit. 512mb ram, 256mb video and 250gb hardisk?

i also seen there's an update utility icon in my nero software. Why i still have to update, when i can still also burn cd? what's the benefit of the version is updated?

thank you guys for the help.

Answer 1

IF you're doing any editing or encoding use the AMD!!!

Because it's processing power is slightly better than the Pentium. AND, For the reasons below.....

If you're just burning data then you'll want to think about it...

Let's go over it....
Burning is about reliability and SPEED.

Ok there's a few things that are gonna affect you....

First off is Drive access times.....
Your 80G drive is slower than your 250G (Newer drives are simply faster)
This is important because the faster you can use a hard drive the faster you can make/burn a DVD/CD.

We are trying to get the data to the burner as fast and smoothly as possible.

Now as to the Ram typically more Ram reduces the need for memory paging (if you have more program running than you have Ram..the system "fakes" extra memory by swapping out the real memory to a file on the hard drive and back as needed. (called a ...Swapfile))

In the end...the larger RAM is another plus!

Vid card really won't affect you much. This is primarily disk access work... BTW you shouldn't use the computer for other tasks while you are burning a disk this can case the swapfile to be used and as the swapfile is on the hard drive you take up some of the data speed that could have gone to your burner.

Also, I suggest you shut down any other programs you don't need just in case they trigger swap action on their own. (They may have timers, housekeeping etc...best leave them off.)

You asked about the update...I suggest you check weekly at most..I prefer that or every two weeks. The reason for this is that occasionally information is discovered about Disks manufactured that have issues or other such. Sometimes Nero and Adaptec send down updates that look for specific series of Disks (they all have identifiers built into them) and react accordingly. Sometimes the program is repairing an error you didn't hit yet.. or an error that didn't stop you from burning.

Lastly the CPU speed.... the Pentium is a little slower than yer Sempron... But the motherboard pipe is what's important here...sometime AMD based boards slowdown the hard drive aces times.. (IF your AMD computer's bios has an ACPI function.. make sure that it's on...that normally speeds it up.)

SO......
Pentium CPU-->> slower HD, smoother Mobo, Less Ram
AMD CPU------->> Faster HD, average Mobo, More Ram

Broken down this way...The HD & RAM are the keys!!

I would use the AMD computer!!
[well, I would swap the HD & ram to the pentium... :) ]

But I don't think you want to rip apart the AMD and the performance boost wouldn't be that much....

Use the AMD my friend.

Hope this helped.

-dawgy

Answer 2

U need to have a good updated version of nero and a good RIG. If you are burning a Data CD then a P3 will do. But if you are going to re-encode videos to discs then you need a really good rig so you cut reduce the amount of time used for encoding.

Answer 3

I would just suggest burning at a slower rate such as 4x regardless of speed of computer. You don't have to update but it won't hurt to update its all personal preference.