Test machine:

For this review we will be using a “Home Built” computer with the following configurations:

• Processor:  Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.6GHz
• Memory:  4GB, OCZ Reaper DDR2 1066
• Video: SAPHIRE Radeon HD 4850 256-bit GDDR3
• Sound:  Realtek 8111B 8 Channels Audio, onboard
• Hard Disks: 1X WD Raptor WD150GB, 1X WD 750 GB
• Optical Drives: ASUS DRW-20B1lT, BenQ DW1655, Lite-On DH203AH,  LG GGW-H20L,  Optiarc AD-7200A, Sony BWU-200S, Pioneer DVR-216D and the LG GH22LP20.

System setup:

Screenshot from Nero InfoTool:

From the screenshot from Nero InfoTool above, we can see the ASUS DRW-20B1LT supports DVD-RAM read and write. The drive came shipped with firmware version 1.00.

Installed software:

For conducting our various tests, we will be using the following applications.

• Nero Burning Rom 8
• Nero CD/DVD Speed
• Nero InfoTool
• DVDFab Platinum

Our review PC has Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit installed with Service Pack 1.

Features and techniques

BookType (BitSetting):

The ASUS DRW-20B1LT does not support automatic bit-setting.

Writing technique

Now it’s time to take a closer look at the write technology used by the ASUS DRW-20B1LT:

For these tests we used CD-Speed and wrote a full disc at the drives maximum speed.

CD Recordable:

According to the specifications of the ASUS DRW-20B1LT, it should be able to write CD-R media at a maximum speed of 48X.

The ASUS DRW-20B1LT uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 48X. This gives an average speed of 36.44X and a total writing time of 2 minutes and 46 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

As we can see, the ASUS DRW-20B1LT was one of the fastest drives when writing CD-R media.

CD Re-writable:

According to the specifications of the ASUS DRW-20B1LT, it should be able to write CD-RW media at a maximum speed of 32X.

The ASUS DRW-20B1LT uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 32X. This gives an average speed of 24.89X and a total writing time of 3 minutes and 53 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

As we can see, the ASUS DRW-20B1LT performs on average when writing CD-RW media.

20x DVD+R/-R writing speed:

According to the specifications of the ASUS DRW-20B1LT, it should be able to write DVD+R/-R media at a maximum speed of 20X.

DVD+R

The ASUS DRW-20B1LT uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity) to write at its maximum speed of 20X. This gives an average speed of 14.96X and a total writing time of 5 minutes and 04 seconds.

DVD-R

The ASUS DRW-20B1LT uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 20X. This gives an average speed of 14.94X and a total writing time of 4 minutes and 46 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

As we can see from our table, the ASUS DRW-20B1LT performs nicely when writing our test DVD±R media.

8X DVD+RW writing speed:

According to the specifications of the ASUS DRW-20B1LT, it should be able to write DVD+RW at a maximum speed of 8X.

The ASUS DRW-20B1LT uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 8X. This gives an average speed of 7.50X and a total writing time of 7 minutes and 56 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

The ASUS DRW-20B1LT was one of the fastest drives when writing our test DVD+RW media.

6x DVD-RW writing speed:

According to the specifications of the ASUS DRW-20B1LT, it should be able to write DVD-RW at a maximum speed of 6X.

The ASUS DRW-20B1LT uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 6X. This gives an average speed of 5.92X and a total writing time of 10 minutes and 5 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

The ASUS DRW-20B1LT was average when writing DVD-RW media.

DVD+R DL writing speed:

According to the specifications of the ASUS DRW-20B1LT, it should be able to write DVD+R DL at a maximum speed of 12X.  However, we do not have any 12X capable DL media available for testing.  We will test a Verbatim 8X DVD+R DL disc which the ASUS DRW-20B1LT reports an 8X capable write:

The ASUS DRW-20B1LT uses Z-CAV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at 8X. This gives an average speed of 6.36X and a total writing time of 18 minutes and 48 seconds.

DVD-R DL writing speed:

According to the specifications of the ASUS DRW-20B1LT, it should be able to write DVD-R DL at a maximum speed of 12X. We had no media that was supported at this writing speed, so we show a disc burned at 4X instead.

The ASUS DRW-20B1LT uses CLV, (Constant Linear Velocity), to write at 4X. This gives an average speed of 4.00X and a total writing time of 27 minutes and 05 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

The ASUS DRW-20B1LT was one of the slowest drives when writing DVD+R double layer media at 8X; we regret that we do not have the high-speed DVD-R DL discs to test the 12X capable speed for this drive.

12x DVD-RAM writing speed:

According to the specifications of the ASUS DRW-20B1LT, it should be able to write DVD-RAM at a maximum speed of 12X.

The ASUS DRW-20B1LT uses P-CAV, (Partial Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 12X. This gives an average speed of 10.11X and a total writing time of 5 minutes and 41 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

The ASUS DRW-20B1LT was one of the fastest drives when writing our test DVD-RAM media.

Summary:

The ASUS DRW-20B1LT has excellent writing performance on DVD and CD recordable media.

Let’s head on to the next page where we will check reading performance….