Friend of mine has an old PC that he wants to try a DVD-RW Drive in, Its a P3 633mhz with 348MB RAM, is this powerful enough to burn DVD's? Why he wants to try this beats me.
Yeah maybe if they can find a drive that will support these specs. Will meet the ram for some but most of the newer ones require over 1 ghz for the processor speed. Maybe an older one would do it. But as you know it will take awhile - just about the same time it would take to watch the movie or longer
NEC 3550a will do a treat.. That is slightly better specs than my machine on 1 cpu which has happened from time to time.. I have a p3 560 dell which is managing to convert avi's to dvd and makes good burns with 256MB ram so the old systems will do OK. You can burn dvd's on a p2 266 if you are prepared to wait for them..
It can be done (I've done it, btw). But you must optimize for the burn. i.e, nothing else running, and use an older burner that doesn't require a cpu to encode.
Sorry Guys, its an P3 601MHZ with 384 MB Ram, "older burner that doesn't require a cpu to encode" Can you still buy one? Am in UK
I'm bad. Tossed in a little info regarding recoding in my above response, oops. I'd check the computer & find out what's the max DMA speed it supports. I'd bet it's either Ultra DMA 3 or 2. So you'd need a burner like a Sony DRU-500 which is a 4x burner or maybe something a little newer such as an 8x drive. The other issue might be finding discs that can be burned slow.
Might be hard to find unless you can get a used one. deadlove might have some suggestions for you in the UK. Several years ago, every once in awhile I used an IBM Aptiva w/ I think a processor speed of 533 mhz (no higher) & 256mb ram. I tried using a burner that required a higher processor speed and it was pretty hit or miss. I then got a LiteOn 8x (only one I could find that didn't require higher specs) that the pc barely met the processor requirements. This was about 4 years ago. Worked but took forever. That LiteOn is now in another pc and still burning - even the different 16x media.
My Friend is going to try one of the current DVD-RW's, maybe a Lite-On SOHW-1693S or a LH-20A1H, and if it does not work he is going to up grade, thinks his RAM is maybe 1GB (yes,a noob), have not seen this system myself, any suggestions for a current burner?
Either one of those is good - LiteOn is a good drive. But he still needs to meet the processing speed (very unlikely he has 1 gig ram w/ that cpu). But hey since he's so dead set on doing it - go for it. It won't be problem free though.
Binkie, yeah, thought it was a little wierd when he said RAM maybe 2x500MB, a noob, i've explained what may happen, and he accepts that, it may work, he has to suck and see, he says it has a CD-RW at the mo that does a complete CD in about 5 minutes, I'm interested to see, he seems to upgrade if needed, Thanks all for your help Guys
Not a problem barndoor Let's us know how it turns out for him. As you know ripping & burning cd's is way different then ripping & burning dvd's. He'll find out soon enuf
talking to him today, wants to go for a new system build now, seems to be getting the bug! think i will be answering alot of questions shortly! This has got me thinking, really liked my BenQ alot, not made now, whats the best current writer? Is the new NEC Optiarc any good?
Good for him - it really is time for an upgrade. Totally worth it compared to what he has now. Not sure on how good that drive is - probably decent I would guess. The 2 I recommend and use are LiteOn and Pioneer. I've used both for years.
He is now thinking of a system build from new, Have looked at both the Pioneer 112 and Liteon LH-20A1H-487C, the lite-on looks to have the better specs?
Either one would be good - both good drives. The one diff is the LiteOn will booktype +R to DVD-Rom while the Pioneer doesn't unless you find some modified firmware. Most newer players accept both formats ( - & + ) so the booktyping isn't always necessary on single layer discs. But if he's going to burn dual layer I'd definitely booktype those to increase compatibility.
