Optical Drive	Gigabyte M1600A	DVD-500M	DVD106	SD616	SDM1212	SM-308
Disk Type	DVD	DVD	DVD	DVD	DVD	DVD
Avg Speed:	4.71x	5.73x	5.74x	4.85x	4.52x	1.71x
Start Speed:	3.36x	3.25x	-	-	-	1.76x
End Speed:	2.40x	3.76x	-	-	-	1.74x
Type:	CAV	P-CAV	-	-	-	CLV
Random Seek Time:	113ms	90ms	98ms	81ms	111ms	103
1/3 Seek Time:	116ms	103ms	111ms	88ms	116ms	110
Full Seek Time:	182ms	178ms	187ms	158ms	187ms	346
CPU use: 1X	3%	3%	16%	20%	21%	58%
Disk Info:	7.36GB	7.8GB	-	-	-	7.8
Spin Up:	1.85s	3.3sec	-	-	-	3.2
Spin Down:	1.27s	2.1sec	-	-	-	2.4

Using the Spiderman DVD, we tested the M1600A which is rated for 16X speed, and found it capped off at about 5X DVD playback on this disc. Realistically speaking, this is still a pretty good speed, and produced an error free image. Hint, if you would like to test out a DVD of your own in Nero DVDSpeed, but get errors every time you start the test, the problem lies with the copy protection on the DVD. Start the DVD playing on you computer first, close that program and then try testing your DVD-ROM once more. Playing the movie for a few seconds unlocks the DVD, and allows Nero to read the data for its tests.

Final words:

The Gigabyte M1600A is a pretty cool drive all things considered. Officially rated at 16X DVD read speeds, our tests came up a little less, but realistically speaking, all DVD drives tend to. The remainder of the benchmarks peg the M1600A as a competent 48X CD-ROM, though it's not about to nudge out the speedy Samsung optical drives from the top spot.

What really makes the Gigabyte M1600A a cool device to add to any small formfactor PC, or even full size PC, is the stylishly illuminated console with FM tuner. And most importantly, the ability to keep the tunes coming even with the PC turned off. There are a few quirks that might cause some frustration, the most significant of which is having to use the remote to choose a radio station, but perhaps a future firmware update will correct that... in the mean time, the remote handles the job, even if a little slowly.

I listen to a lot of music, and the hum of three or four cooling fans late in the night when I just want to play a CD, or a CD full of MP3's is a necessary evil we've all had to get used to. With the M1600A, we now have the option of shutting the PC down, and just playing the music.

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