Differences in ASUS DVD-E616P2 Drives?

[jimshu1]

NewEgg has three versions of this drive for sale. One is an OEM drive (avoid: ASUS's firmware won't recognize it for upgrades), and the other two are:

ASUS Black 16X DVD-ROM/ 48X CD-ROM Drive, Model DVD-E616P2
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 113&depa=0

ASUS Black 16X DVD-ROM/ 48X CD-ROM Drive, Model DVD-E616P2 QT
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 124&depa=0

Anybody know the difference with the QT (Quiet Track) model?? It's a whole $0.49 more expensive! Nothing on the ASUS website about a QT model. It appears all of the E616P2 are "Quiet Track".

Thanks for any replies!

[bingo13]

Asus told me the "QT" version (NewEgg p/n scheme) had an improved head mechanism, otherwise they are the same drive including firmware. I just ordered one from NewEgg yesterday.
I must be the only person around but both of my Aopen 1648/AAP drives have died within a couple of months of light usage. The Aopen is the best dvd-rom drive I have used but decided to try something different for the replacement drive. The Lite-On 167T has been a very good drive for me but the noise is a little too much now that I have gone to almost silent systems.

[jimshu1]

I ordered mine yesterday also. Ships today!

Interesting you mention silent systems. I just built a new one around the ANTEC Sonata case. Built in fan control through the PS and I used two 120mm fans for the case and a quiet Sunon 80mm for the heatsink. The silence is eerie, yet only 1 degree C rise over MB temp at idle with a P4 3.0Ghz (not overclocked)

Now my wife can't stand the perfectly good system I handed down to her. She says it's a junker cause of the fan noise!

Thanks for the information!

[Ian]

ASUS Black 16X DVD-ROM/ 48X CD-ROM Drive, Model DVD-E616P2
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 113&depa=0

That's odd.. the non-QT says QuieTrack on the box.

Personally, I thought the non-QT version of the DVD-E616P2 was the DVD-E616P1. Maybe not?

[dodecahedron]

Anybody know the difference with the QT (Quiet Track) model?? It's a whole $0.49 more expensive! Nothing on the ASUS website about a QT model. It appears all of the E616P2 are "Quiet Track".

don't know about newegg...they might have messed up.
the pictures of both products say #616P2 and QuieTrack.

Asus's website: (note - some links at Asus website are incorrect):
http://usa.asus.com/products/optical/dv ... eature.htm
http://www.asus.com/products/optical/dv ... eature.htm

if you compare the feature list, you see the P2 lists stuff not listed for the P1: specifically the AFFM

see this link:
http://usa.asus.com/products/optical/qu ... kp=optical

<by the way this page has a link to a CDRLabs review, and also the logo!>

QuieTrack is composed of: AFFM, DDSSII.
although the P1 feature page doesn't mention DDSSII, i'm sure it has it. DDSSII is not all that new. was on older Asus drives too.
according to Ian's review (linked there) QuieTrack also consists of something called Speed Read. however i found no mention of that on the QuieTrack page.

[bingo13]

Interesting you mention silent systems. I just built a new one around the ANTEC Sonata case. Built in fan control through the PS and I used two 120mm fans for the case and a quiet Sunon 80mm for the heatsink. The silence is eerie, yet only 1 degree C rise over MB temp at idle with a P4 3.0Ghz (not overclocked)

Now my wife can't stand the perfectly good system I handed down to her. She says it's a junker cause of the fan noise!

I have replaced the kids computers with these for the basis- http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=56-150-015&depa=0

I am using 3400+ CPUs (Zalman Fan), ATI X800XTs, Hitachi 160gb SATA in low acoustic mode, and either the Pioneer A08XL or BenQ 1620Pro. The systems are near quiet now, maybe just a whisper whoosh while operating. I was so impressed with the noise abatement that my Silverstone and Coolermaster cases are undergoing a silent treatment at this time. Part of the noise reduction is reducing the DVD drive noise which led me to the Asus drive after the Aopen failures. I just hope its performance is close to the Aopen or Lite-On. I was interested in the true difference between the two Asus "p2" drives so I ordered the other version yesterday.

My wife uses a notebook so she told it was about time for the noise reductions as the house was sounding more like an airport to her.

[bingo13]

I received my second retail Asus E616P2 drive today. This is the one marked non-QT on NewEgg's site. The drive is the same as the "QT" drive with the only difference being the manufacturer date in 9/04 compared to 11/04 for the "QT". The part numbers were the same and both had 1.03 firmware.

[Ankerson]

ASUS Black 16X DVD-ROM/ 48X CD-ROM Drive, Model DVD-E616P2
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 113&depa=0

That's odd.. the non-QT says QuieTrack on the box.

Personally, I thought the non-QT version of the DVD-E616P2 was the DVD-E616P1. Maybe not?

Yes I have one too (E616P2) and it is QT.

Awesome fast drive and very quiet.

[konsolen]

how is the read speed on DVD+R and DVD-R?
also 16x with nero cdspeed?

[SkaarjMaster]

Got both my new DVD-ROM drives today, but am waiting until tomorrow or Friday to install them. What's the procedure in XP for changing drives? Delete old in Device Manager, power down, switch drives, power back up, make sure DMA on, possible flash, etc.?

[dodecahedron]

Got both my new DVD-ROM drives today, but am waiting until tomorrow or Friday to install them. What's the procedure in XP for changing drives? Delete old in Device Manager, power down, switch drives, power back up, make sure DMA on, possible flash, etc.?

sounds OK, but i'm quite sure you don't need to uninstall the old drives in Device Manager though. WinXP will notice they're missing on it's own, they'll disappear from there.

[SkaarjMaster]

OK, it's easier than I thought. One more thing: how do you flash the firmware of the E616P3? Do you just run the executable in the zip file or do you need some flashing software and if so which one? Thanks.