Buy a PCI Firewire and / or USB 2.0 Card [external dvd writer] [pci firewire]
Q: Im buying a card, a USB 2 or Firewire or perhaps both, for my external DVD writer that can take either. 2 USB is cheaper, but Ive heard Firewire tends to work better, so Id go for that.
Anyway, what should I look for a card? Are they all pretty much the same? Some of them are available for only $ 7 (USB 2) but the controller is not as good? I really have no idea what makes a USB 2 or Firewire card are different, other than the number of ports.
Re:Originally posted by: tasburrfoot78362
Originally posted by: guy
Originally posted by: tasburrfoot78362
They are basically the same. And as far as what port to use, I would use firewire. Just my preference though.
Tas.
no they are not the same, the speeds are the close but they are not equal. i would get a card that has both, but would use the firewire because of the reports i have read, the firewire has better long term thoroughput for longer periods of time, and usb2 was a little spicky.
I was referring to cards. Not 1394 vs USB. There is little difference between chipsets for different USB cards. Same for 1394 ported cards.
Tas.
sorry, my bad
Re:I'm only speculating here, as I'm simply a user and haven't done any benchmarking or anything, but there probably isn't *that* much difference between one vendor and another. Higher quality (i.e. more expensive and well-known brands of) might deliver higher sustained speeds — due to less noise or whatever — than bargain cards, but then again they might not. Both technologies are fairly mature and are pretty commoditized at this point.
Again, even if you were only getting half the max transfer speed on your Firewire or USB, it's still going to be faster than your burner can burn.
Re:Originally posted by: guy
Originally posted by: tasburrfoot78362
They are basically the same. And as far as what port to use, I would use firewire. Just my preference though.
Tas.
no they are not the same, the speeds are the close but they are not equal. i would get a card that has both, but would use the firewire because of the reports i have read, the firewire has better long term thoroughput for longer periods of time, and usb2 was a little spicky.
I was referring to cards. Not 1394 vs USB. There is little difference between chipsets for different USB cards. Same for 1394 ported cards.
Tas.
Re:Originally posted by: guy
OK, that's not what I was asking. I'm aware of the differences between USB and Firewire.
I'm asking if cards made by different vendors are significantly different, and what those differences are.
i have a pci one that uses the nec chipset and an onboard one that uses the via chipeset and they both perform the same, as far as i can tell. the via one is on a m/b with a i865pe chipset and the nec is on a board that was made by western digital.
Re:OK, that's not what I was asking. I'm aware of the differences between USB and Firewire.
I'm asking if cards made by different vendors are significantly different, and what those differences are.
Re:Firewire is typically going to be faster, but USB is supported by more devices. Your external burner is going to be writing at a slower rate than the data being passed to it by either bus, though, so it really doesn't matter in this scenario. Go with whatever is cheaper, or just buy a card that has both.
Re:Originally posted by: tasburrfoot78362
They are basically the same. And as far as what port to use, I would use firewire. Just my preference though.
Tas.
no they are not the same, the speeds are the close but they are not equal. i would get a card that has both, but would use the firewire because of the reports i have read, the firewire has better long term thoroughput for longer periods of time, and usb2 was a little spicky.
Re:get one that has a nec chip!
Re:They are basically the same. And as far as what port to use, I would use firewire. Just my preference though.
Tas.
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Tags: external dvd writer, pci firewire