Gigabyte GO-W0808A

Another returning competitor to our roundup is Gigabyte. Gigabyte's GO-W0404A was based on the same LiteOn chasis and MediaTek MT1818E chipset found in the LiteOn LDW-411S and both drives showed very similar performance.

Gigabyte GO-W0808A
Interface IDE
CD Write Speed 40X, 32X, 24X (CAV)
16X, 12X, 8X, 4X (CLV)
CD Rewrite Speed 24X, 16X (CAV)
12X, 8X, 4X (CLV)
CD Read Speed 40X Max (CAV)
DVD-R Write Speed 8X (Z-CLV)
4X, 2X (CLV)
DVD-RW Rewrite Speed 4X, 2X, 1X (CLV)
DVD+R Write Speed 8X (Z-CLV)
4X, 2X (CLV)
DVD+RW Rewrite Speed 4X, 2.4X (CLV)
DVD Read Speed 12X Max (CAV)
Supported Modes DAO / DAO-RAW 16 & 96
TAO
SAO / SAO 16 & 96
Packet Write
MultiSession
Supported Formats DVD+R (DAO, incremental, seq)
DVD+RW (random)
DVD-R (DAO, incremental, seq)
DVD-RW (random)
CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM, CD-DA,
CD-ROM XA, Mixed Mode, CD Extra
Photo CD, CD Text, Bootable CD, UDF
Access Time CD: 160ms
DVD: 160ms
Buffer 2MB

One thing that sets the GO-W0808A apart from the other drives in this roundup is its slightly shorter depth, under 7 inches.

There are several other drives that use the same 8X dual enabled MediaTek MT1818E chipset found in this drive. We would expect similar performance of the Gigabyte GO-W0808A with:
  • TEAC DV-W58G-A
  • LiteOn SOHW-812S
The MediaTek MT1818E has been highly reused in many other drives going all the way back to some of the original dual format burners only capable of 4X and 2X burn speeds. Updates on the analog controller seem to be the major contributor to increased performance.

NuTech DDW-082 ASUS DRW-0804P
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  • rlrus - Tuesday, May 4, 2004 - link

    Nu has posted the official firmware upgrade B373, I hope this one is as good or better than the unofficial B372. I bought this drive and hope I have as good results as Anand Tech. With it's ability to write 8 times on 4 times Media and it's speed and error rate being almost as good as the more expensive drives it seemed a bargain.
  • mcveigh - Sunday, May 2, 2004 - link

    21:

    the Nu models do as well or better than everyone else and at the lowest price point.

    why shouldn't they win?
  • KristopherKubicki - Saturday, May 1, 2004 - link

    Jeff7181: I think there is a way to get it to scale proper. I will do that for the next review.

    Kristopher
  • QuaiBoy - Friday, April 30, 2004 - link

    Seems to me that all of the DVD writer reviews lately on Anandtech seem to favor the Nutech product. I don't see a reason from these results to pick that drive over any of the others. There's nothing that makes it anything special, and it certainly doesn't deserve an award over the other drives.
    Another vote for total write times and for not claiming that all drives with the same chipset will perform similarly. Too many variables. At least test with more media types, like TY and Optodisc. Cheapies like Princo appeal to many as well.

    -Evan-
  • Jeff7181 - Friday, April 30, 2004 - link

    The Write Quality graphs are very misleading/hard to read since they are all on different scales... makes on look like crap until you realize you're looking at a 0 - 10 scale rather than 0 - 70. Anything you can do about that or are you just stuck displaying what the crappy software showed you?
  • KristopherKubicki - Thursday, April 29, 2004 - link

    This was all commented on in the article. The 708A and the 2500A also use radically different pickups and servos. But then again, i never claimed those two were similar in the review either.

    Belzer: most of those drives i pointed out were clearly rebadges.

    Kristopher
  • CrazeeHorse - Thursday, April 29, 2004 - link

    Belzer,yes. Maybe I should have rephrased my statement, as MAXIMUM burning speed. Yep, it also depends on the burn strategy employed.
  • CrazeeHorse - Thursday, April 29, 2004 - link

    Belzer,yes. Maybe I should have rephrased my statement, as MAXIMUM burning speed. Yep, it also depends on the burn strategy employed.
  • CrazeeHorse - Thursday, April 29, 2004 - link

  • Belzer - Thursday, April 29, 2004 - link

    "If you mean burn speed, of course it will be similar in different drives that use the same chipset, as their burn speeds are defined by the chipset!"

    Uhm, no! Burn speed also depends very much on the write strategies implemented in the firmware. For example NEC ND-2500A and Pioneer DVR-A07 use the same chipset. The NEC uses a 4x-6x-8x Z-CLV technique for 8x burns, the Pioneer uses a 6x-8x Z-CLV technique and is faster.

    Drives with the same chipset can have very different properties, only complete rebadged drives will have the same properties.



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