Recommendations for silent(ish) DVD-ROM Drive?

I've managed to address all the main points of silent cooling in my newly built pc (enermax psu, seagate barracuda hdd, passively cooled northbridge and gfx card) but I've not bought a DVD-ROM drive yet. I doubt if it's possible to get one that's completely silent, but I want to get as close as possible.

I bought an LG CD-RW drive a few days ago and that seems fairly quiet compared with other drives I've used. Perhaps an LG DVD-ROM drive would be similar? Also, I'd like to have a region-free drive or one that can be easily modified (I read that most new ones can't). www.overclockers.co.uk do a pre-modified region free Pioneer 106S but reviews say it's noisy.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

I've tried many and my current fave is the LteOn LTD-163. Cheap, easy to make multi region, and very quiet for DVD as it slows down to 1x speed once it recognises a DVD.

Can now even be bought with a black bezel for HTPC use.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_CD_DVD_10.html

Regards,
Ian Guinan

 

Yup, the Liteon is a winner. I have also tried the Sony 1621 as well - again nice and quiet, and quieter when running at full speed (if it's important). However I got it at a good price (similar to the Liteon) - it's now more pricey, so I'd recommend the Liteon.

 

Thanks for the info. I found this page where it has a Windows RPC-1 program to download for the Liteon. Am I right in thinking that by using this, I don't need to use a firmware update?

 

Not used that, as it has come out since I flashed my Liteon (yes, I have one as well as the Sony). Certainly worth a go, but the firmware flash is OK, if a little nervewracking while you wait for it to work!
You'll still need DVDGenie or similar to defeat the Windows region locking stuff, though.

 

That utility works a treat and a lot less nerve racking than a firmware update.

Regards,

Ian Guinan

 

I can vouch for the Liteon too - I got one to replace a noisy Pioneer that was having trouble recognising some DVDs.

It was easy to make region free using the DOS hack mentioned earlier.

Gary

 

It's not in stock at OcUK, but I've found the 165H in stock here. I've checked the specs and it's essentially the same, but uses UDMA mode 3 instead of mode 2, supports dvd-multiread/DVD-multi and uses the same hack.

 

I got mine from ebuyer too - looks like that's the replacement model. Pain at ebuyer is the delivery charge under £100, but still a good price. Mind you, most other places charge delivery too...
dabs have it and the black bezel (if you're interested), but they're more expensive than ebuyer.

 

How do I go about making my new 165H region free.

I'm using XP Pro which says that I have 4 charges left.

If I use the site given by feet14 which option do I select

 

Download this one, the blurb on the site says the following about it:

The same Windows utility also applies to the 163,163d,165h and 166s. I'd like to say I can vouch for the drive generally and this hack but I'm waiting for my 165h/166s (site didn't specify) to be delivered (first class post never seems to arrive in one day now). It's out of stock at OcUK, ebuyer,dabs(OEM in stock),jungle but I found that amazon have them in stock for a similar price so I bought from them.

I will hopefully be able to report back tommorow.

 

...and don't forget you need a utility like DVDGenie or RegionKiller to address the operating system's region counter.

 

I've got the drive up and working and as I expected. Quiet when playing DVD's although a bit noisy at full speed so I've restricted it with Nero Drivespeed. I did get the RPC program to work eventually but there are a couple of things I needed to do first.

On the firmware page where it talked about setting win98 compatability for win xp, this means you need to right click the RPC program -> properties ->compatability tab and select Windows 98 compatability mode.

Secondly, the Win98 compatability mode won't work with this program unless you install adaptec's ASPI layer which usually requires you to have some adaptec software installed. I found a cracked copy of v4.60 which is apparently better than the current v4.7x. I can't find where I downloaded it from but it worked perfectly.

Once the RPC program is working in Win98 compatability mode, it is simply a matter of selecting the correct drive and clicking disable. Drive Region checker confirmed that it had worked.

On the software side, I installed DVD Genie which is very simple to use and works perfectly. You do however need to select the region each time you switch to a different one.

There is also a program called DVD Region free which claims to work with region locked drives but costs $40 - not much less than what a new Liteon costs!

 

You don't need to install the Aspi software just copy the winaspi32.dll to the same directory as dvdgenie. You can also set dvdgenie to autoset region on startup, you need to swap discs a couple of times for it sink into dvdgenie but once done you can swap and change to your hearts content

 

Just also to clarify you can make the Pioneers very quiet by using the Pioneer DVD Tools to lock the player at 1x Speed for DVD making them effectively silent.

Most reviews are interested in throughput which is not relevant here.

Personally I prefer the slot loader

 

I've just bought the Pioneer slot loader 106s, but R2 locked.
Slowing it down did occur to me. I take it the Tools you're on about Jenz are a website link, or is it the players own software?
Also, what was the best link to enable a firmware upgrade to allow multi region please?

 

General go to

http://perso.club-internet.fr/farzeno/firmware/

Works a treat. Well it did on mine

 

Poo.

Gen it should be

http://perso

ignore the n i have put in there soz

Ignore this post. i've edited the above