What's in the box?:
- ASUS DRW-1608P3S 16x DVD±RW/RAM Drive
- Quick Setup Guide
- Nero Software CD
- Ulead Disc Creator CD
- Mounting Screws
Physical Features:
The drive ASUS sent us for this review was manufactured in March of 2006 and had firmware 1.06.For this review the drive's firmware has been updated to version 1.24.
From the front, the DRW-1608P3S looks a lot like ASUS's previous 16x DVD±RW drives, the DRW-1608P and DRW-1608P2. While there are a few slight differences, all three drives share the same basic design and have many of the same logos. Along with the "ASUS" logo on the tray, you can see a few showing support for the DVD+ReWritable and DVD Multi specifications, as well as Ultra Speed CD-RW media.
Below the tray you can see the DRW-1608P3S's single LED. This "BUSY" indicator lights up green whenever the drive is reading or writing.
The rear of the DRW-1608P3S looks very similar to some of the other Pioneer based DVD writers we've reviewed. By looking at the picture below you can see the drive's IDE interface, power connector and analog audio output connector.
Starting from the left of the IDE connection you'll see the jumper switch for master, slave and cable select. By default the drive's jumper comes set to master. Next to the jumper block is the analog audio connector.
Technical Specs:
Most of the specs below have been taken from ASUS's website and the manual that came with the drive.
| ASUS DRW-1608P3S 16x DVD±RW/RAM | |
| CD Write Speeds | 40x (CAV) 32x, 24x (Z-CLV) 16x, 10x, 4x (CLV) |
| CD Rewrite Speeds | 32x, 24x, 20x (Z-CLV) 16x, 10x, 4x (CLV) |
| DVD+R Write Speeds | 16x (CAV) 12x, 8x (Z-CLV) 6x, 4x, 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD+RW Write Speeds | 8x (Z-CLV) 6x, 4x, 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD-R Write Speeds | 16x (CAV) 12x, 8x (Z-CLV) 6x, 4x, 2x, 1x (CLV) |
| DVD-RW Write Speeds | 6x, 4x, 2x, 1x (CLV) |
| DVD+R DL Write Speeds | 8x (Z-CLV) 6x, 4x, 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD-R DL Write Speeds | 8x (Z-CLV) 6x, 4x, 2x (CLV) |
| DVD-RAM Write Speeds | 5x, 3x, 2x (CLV) |
| CD Read Speeds | 40x Max (CD-ROM/CD-R) 32x Max (CD-RW) |
| DAE Speed | 40x Max |
| DVD Read Speeds | 16x Max (DVD-ROM Single Layer) 12x Max (DVD-ROM Dual Layer) 5x Max (DVD-Video) 12x Max (DVD±R) 8x Max (DVD±RW) 8x Max (DVD±R DL) 5x Max (DVD-RAM) |
| Buffer Size | 2MB |
| Access Times |
120 ms (CD-ROM) 130 ms (DVD-ROM) |
| CD Formats | CD-ROM CD-DA CD-Extra Photo CD Video CD CD-Text CD-R CD-RW |
| DVD Formats | DVD-ROM DVD+R/RW DVD-R/RW DVD+R DL DVD-R DL DVD-RAM |
| CD Recording Modes | Disc At Once Track At Once Session At Once Packet Writing Multi-Session |
| DVD+R and DVD+R DL Recording Modes |
Sequential Recording Multi-Session Recording |
| DVD+RW Recording Modes | Random Recording |
| DVD-R and DVD-R DL Recording Modes |
Disc At Once Incremental Recording Multi-Border Recording |
| DVD-RW Recording Modes | Restricted Overwriting Disc At Once Incremental Recording Multi-Border Recording |
The DRW-1608P3S also has many of the same features found on ASUS's other drives, including support for their FlextraLink, FlextraSpeed and DDSS II technologies. More information on these features can be found in our review of the CRW-5224A.
More Features:
By looking at the picture below, you can see that ASUS's new DVD writer is identified as an "ASUS DRW-1608P3S".
The Nero screenshot also shows that the DRW-1608P3S has a maximum CD writing speed of 40x and a 2000KB buffer. This buffer is also backed up by some form of buffer underrun protection. In this case, it is supposedly ASUS's FlextraLink technology. According to Nero, the drive can also write CD-Text and overburn. When testing the drive's capacity I found that the drive was able to overburn up to 94:27with CompUSA's 99 minute CD-R media.
Using Alex Noe's Weak Sector Utility we were able to determine that the DRW-1608P3S is a "two sheep" burner. This means that ASUS's new drive is capable of backing up titles protected by SafeDisc 2, including version 2.51.
Here is a screen shot from Nero's InfoTool. This program queries the drive to see what its reading and writing capabilities are. InfoTool had no problems detecting the DRW-1608P3S's maximum reading and writing speeds, recording modes, buffer underrun protection and 2MB buffer.
InfoTool also shows that the DRW-1608P3S is an RPC-2 DVD drive. This means that the drive's region is stored in the firmware. The drive's region can be changed five times and after that it cannot be changed anymore. A patched RPC-1 firmware can be downloaded here. Just keep in mind that it is not supported by ASUS nor by CDRLabs. Use it at your own risk.
While InfoTool gives us a quick glance at the DRW-1608P3S's features, DVDINFOpro provides a little more information on some of the drive's reading and writing capabilities. By looking at the screenshot above you can see that while ASUS's new drive can read and write to DVD+R DL, DVD-R DL and DVD-RAM media, it does not support the Mt. Rainier format.
The DRW-1608P3S doesn't let you set the book type of single layer DVD+R or DVD+RW media. However, the drive automatically sets the book type for DVD+R DL discs to "DVD-ROM". This greatly reduces compatibility problems, especially with older DVD players.
