Samsung SW-252B 52/24/52 CD-RW 2MB or 8 MB Buffer

[trixter]

In a few days I'll be upgrading my Plextor 24X CD writer with a Samsung SW252 52X writer. But I can't find a 8MB Buffer version of this writer in my country.
Could anyone be so kind to let me know will there be a big performance difference between 2MB Buffered ver. vs 8 MB Buffered ver. ?

My system config. is :
P4 2.4 HT w/256x2 Dual Channel 400 Hz DDR Ram.
Win XP SP1
80GB Western Digital HD
Sony 52 X Cd rom
Plextor 24 X CD-Writer
Pioneer A105 4X DVD Writer

Thanks for your advises.
Ayhan

[Bhairav]

There won't be too much of a difference IMO. With the buffer-underrun technologies today, 8 MB might not make too much difference.
BTW, if you want the 8MB version, go for the retail box pack version of the drive. Retail Samsung drives have 8MB buffer and OEM drives have 2 MB buffer.

[RJW]

I wouldn't replace the PLex if I was you unless it is broken. Newer drives might be faster but most of the drives still sold today can not compare when it comes to burnquality and the build quality at least that's my experience.

[CDRecorder]

There shouldn't be any performance difference between the 2MB and 8MB buffers for your system configuration. If your system was really slow, the 8MB buffer might slightly improve performance when you're packet writing, but that's about it.

RJW: I have actually come to the opposite conclusion about new drives. In my experience, my newer Lite-On drives (2 LTR-52327S and 1 LTR-48125W) actually have equal or better writing quality than the older drives, depending on the media and old drive used.