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Features The Shuttle CR40 is nothing
extravagantly new from a technological standpoint, but what it does do
is make your SFF or even your regular ATX system look good. The main
drive panel comes in three different colors and Shuttle makes it clear
that they are the first to offer a white face, not beige on this burner.
This color matches up with their white SFF systems.
The white face is actually clear by using a thick
clear face plastic. It makes for a nice design trend typical of
Shuttle's careful esthetic design.
Another look at the clean look of this burner.
The newest copy of Nero 6 comes with the CR40. The
even included Nero Media Player with it which is good for us audiophiles
out there. This addition of Nero may need updates, but for our testing
it performed flawlessly with full 16x capability.
Performance
We used the Nero Speed Test for our benchmarks since it
seems the most accurate representation of what we would normally use as
a test to verify the abilities of the specifications of the CR40 Burner.
It would be nice to see something else come out, but unless you own a
Plextor burner you're pretty much stuck with Nero or Sandra.
The key thing we noticed was how smooth this burner
operates. It is very quiet, and even under stressful conditions such as
installing a game or ripping audio the drive is so incredibly quiet. It
was nice to see that according to Nero, all of the speed that the drive
is specified to be at was dead on. It was even faster if we ran one test
after another which should indicate that the drive likes to be used a
lot..
CDR Performance (Click an image for a larger version)
CD Create |
CD Transfer Rate |
CD Burst Rate |
CD Seek |
CD CPU Usage |
CD Spin Up/Down |
As you can see the CR40 does a very good job at just good 'ole
regular CD Burning. This is essential for those of you (much like
us) that keep all your MP3's on your system ready to burn when you
feel like it.
DVD Performance
DVD Create |
DVD Transfer Rate |
DVD Burst Rate |
DVD Seek |
DVD CPU Usage |
DVD Spin Up/Down |
The DVD Creation process does take some time, but again with the
correct media 16x speeds are attainable. The only media in the local
Boise area is questionable at 16X, and even though we were able to
create at 16x, not everything ran up to the same par as it should.
We do not blame the drive for this, but we do blame the makers of
DVD media. Its shocking to see, although the same kind of story can
be said about video cards. Paper launches are not something that we
really like.
Conclusion
The Shuttle CR40 does exactly
what it is supposed to do and it does it smoothly and with style.
Sure there are other burners out there with just as many features,
but they cost more. One of the finer aspects of good burners is that
you don't walk away after purchasing it thinking it's going to go
south, but with the Shuttle CR40, you have a fine medium of not too
cheap, and not too expensive. That gives us a real big nod towards
the value category, and with the looks of the CR40, its just icing
on the cake. ClubOC recommended...
|
Club Overclocker Rating |
|
Innovation: |
8.5
out of 10 |
|
Performance: |
9.0 out of
10 |
|
Quality: |
8.5
out of 10 |
|
Stability: |
10 out of 10 |
|
Overclocking: |
N/A |
|
Software
Pack: |
8.5 out of 10 |
|
Value: |
Unknown |
|
Overall Rating
9.0 |
| |
|
|
Skill Level |
|
Project
Skill Level
(10 being hardest) |
3
out of 10 |
 |
|
|
