80-Pin IDE

[mis3]

I remember at one time, some CD burners needed to be connected using a 80-pin IDE cable.

Does new DVD burners need this kind of cable?

[redwudz]

They are all 40 Pin. The IDE (ATA) cables themselves can be 80 conductor for ATA devices faster than 66MB/s. Hard drives need the 80 conductor cables. I would use them for DVD drives also. The 40 conductor cables are fine for CD drives. The extra 40 conductors are for better shielding. You can tell them apart by the smaller size of the individual conductors. A 40 conductor cable looks similar to a floppy cable in individual conductor size.

[edDV]

I remember at one time, some CD burners needed to be connected using a 80-pin IDE cable.

Does new DVD burners need this kind of cable?

Yes, best to use 80-pin IDE. 80-pin is used for ATA/66 data flows and above. DVD data bursts to the buffer fall into that range. The drive itself runs slower.

[mis3]

Does OEM DVD drivers come with 80-PIN IDE connector?

[redwudz]

If you mean an OEM drive, they usually come with nothing but the bare drive. If you buy a boxed drive, then it would come with the cable, a manual and usually a CD disk with a burner program. But you should be able to get 80 conductor cables most anywhere. Check a local computer shop and they may give you one for free. Most motherboards come with some. I generally use aftermarket round cables and I always have a bunch of the flat 80 conductor cables in the junk box.

[mis3]

I did not upgrade my system for a few years.

My system consists of a P4-2.2 GHz (OC to 2.4 GHz), 1 GB of RDRAM and 80 GB HDD. Does this meet the system requirement of a new DVD burner?

[redwudz]

Your system should be good for a DVD burner. You just need an open 5.25" bay in the computer and a spare IDE channel to hook the burner to. If you buy a boxed DVD burner, it should come with installation instructions and all the parts needed.