The Mitsumi drives are nothing special or rare, they're probably the most common 4x and 8x drives that you can still find. They're also not very good looking in my opinion. Sony is also very common from that era, but sellers usually know what they have and price them accordingly.

But 4x and 8x isn't period accurate anyway for your build. 4x is 1995, 10-12x was 1997, and in 1999 we were already at 48x. Even a DVD drive would be appropriate if you pretend to have a high-end 2000 machine.

Here's something else you could look into: Some drives can be slowed down at the firmware level without having to run any software in the background. You run the manufacturer's tool once and set the drive speed. For my late 90s build, I use an 48x drive that I have set to run at 4x, it's practically inaudible at that speed.

Edit: Just remembered what the deal was with the ugly Mitsumi drives. Some of them had that ridge along the CD tray, here's what I mean:
Ridge: https://www.ebay.com/itm/186618382264
No ridge: https://www.ebay.com/itm/167979440660

https://www.ebay.com/itm/274478083706

This would be a drive that allows setting the speed in firmware, manufactured by BTC. It's from 2001 though. Other manufacturers that had such firmware tools were Asus, Pioneer, Sony, Plextor.

asdf53 wrote on 2026-02-08, 14:08:

The Mitsumi drives are nothing special or rare, they're probably the most common 4x and 8x drives that you can still find. They' […]
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The Mitsumi drives are nothing special or rare, they're probably the most common 4x and 8x drives that you can still find. They're also not very good looking in my opinion. Sony is also very common from that era, but sellers usually know what they have and price them accordingly.

But 4x and 8x isn't period accurate anyway for your build. 4x is 1995, 10-12x was 1997, and in 1999 we were already at 48x. Even a DVD drive would be appropriate if you pretend to have a high-end 2000 machine.

Here's something else you could look into: Some drives can be slowed down at the firmware level without having to run any software in the background. You run the manufacturer's tool once and set the drive speed. For my late 90s build, I use an 48x drive that I have set to run at 4x, it's practically inaudible at that speed.

Edit: Just remembered what the deal was with the ugly Mitsumi drives. Some of them had that ridge along the CD tray, here's what I mean:
Ridge: https://www.ebay.com/itm/186618382264
No ridge: https://www.ebay.com/itm/167979440660

I see. I believe the motherboard/hardware are dated around 1999-2001 for my machine, but I feel 48x would still be too fast and noisy. A DVD drive I have considered, though the only game that comes to mind that would benefit from it is after I've put together the DVD version of Tex Murphy: Overseer, but even then it would be an image mounted by the virtual CD/DVD drive.

The manufacturer's tool would be a great way of setting the speed! Unfortunately though, I'm not sure if or where one would be for my current CD drive, which is a Creative CD5233E. If it's from Creative though, I presume there must be one somewhere. I'll take another look.

asdf53 wrote on 2026-02-08, 14:08:

The Mitsumi drives are nothing special or rare, they're probably the most common 4x and 8x drives that you can still find. They're also not very good looking in my opinion.

I've always liked the look of Mitsumi drives. The fact they have the speed embossed in the plastic instead of silkscreened in giant ugly print makes Mitsumi drives better looking than most, imho.

I've never had such a modern Mitsumi drive! 😄

I don't mind the way they look, to be honest. And I quite like that the speed is embossed on them. 😀

Anyway, I've had no luck finding a tool for my current CD drive. It doesn't even look as though Creative has much of a legacy selection of hardware and software, particularly CD drives.

I have these Mitsumi 4x and 8x drives and while you could argue about the looks, the other problem is that they feel cheap - the volume wheel and the flimsy tray in particular. It's a bit shocking because you'd think Mitsumi = Japan, quality, but these were definitely low-end. Also, at least the 8x model doesn't feel particularly vintage to me because it was still being produced in 1997 when 10x-16x-even 24x drives were were already around. I will say that I remember them being quiet though, so that's a plus.

Edit: I remembered wrong. This is how they sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4xXD2wMHc0
And yes, mine sound exactly like that. That's actually very loud for a 4x drive. In these drives, the noise doesn't come from the relatively slow rotation, it comes from the seeking mechanism.

But sure - the market is difficult and if it's all that can be bought for a reasonable price, I couldn't say much against it - except to try and wait a bit to see if something better pops up.

What would be considered better? And why?

Honestly, my personal sweetspot is a 1998 drive at 24 to 36 speed. Certainly hearable but not as ludicrous as the 48/52/56x drives (which also can tear up your media on a minimum of dust).

Where comes to mind: why didn't they ever release a double laser driver; makes the drive almost twice as fast! If they can do it with hard drives ...

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-02-08, 18:20:

What would be considered better? And why?

From my personal experience: I had drives by Sony and Aztech from that time, both were quieter and better built than the Mitsumi. I'll also see if I can dig up some magazine reviews from that time, some of them were very particular about the noise and even included measurements in decibels.

asdf53 wrote on 2026-02-08, 18:08:

Edit: I remembered wrong. This is how they sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4xXD2wMHc0
And yes, mine sound exactly like that. That's actually very loud for a 4x drive. In these drives, the noise doesn't come from the relatively slow rotation, it comes from the seeking mechanism.

I'll have to double check mine, but I don't think I've heard them sound that loud.

I've got a 12x Mitsumi in a recent Pentium MMX build and after throttling to 4x speed, it's quite quiet including the seek mechanism. I can barely hear it over the sound of the internal PSU fan.

Found this 1995 review of some drives including the 4x Mitsumi: https://archive.org/download/kultcds_230/1995 … %2FPCW_0695.PDF

It's in German, so you'll have to use Google translate. They criticized the build quality of the Mitsumi's tray, so it wasn't just me. They also tested a Sony and an Aztech and deemed their speed and build quality superior. What's a bit disappointing is that they didn't test noise at all, it probably didn't matter enough in the era of 4x speed.

They tested another batch of drives in the 08/1996 issue which would be interesting as well, but I can't find that one.

I've got a 12x Mitsumi in a recent Pentium MMX build and after throttling to 4x speed, it's quite quiet including the seek mechanism. I can barely hear it over the sound of the internal PSU fan.

It might just be quieter in general because it's built with newer parts. The 48x drive I have throttled to 4x I would consider very cheap and loud otherwise, but it's still virtually inaudible at 4x.

waterbeesje wrote on 2026-02-08, 18:32:

Honestly, my personal sweetspot is a 1998 drive at 24 to 36 speed. Certainly hearable but not as ludicrous as the 48/52/56x drives (which also can tear up your media on a minimum of dust).

Where comes to mind: why didn't they ever release a double laser driver; makes the drive almost twice as fast! If they can do it with hard drives ...

Well, there is the kenwood 72x drive.

asdf53 wrote on 2026-02-08, 19:45:

Found this 1995 review of some drives including the 4x Mitsumi: https://archive.org/download/kultcds_230/1995 … %2FPCW_0695.PDF

It's in German, so you'll have to use Google translate. They criticized the build quality of the Mitsumi's tray, so it wasn't just me. They also tested a Sony and an Aztech and deemed their speed and build quality superior. What's a bit disappointing is that they didn't test noise at all, it probably didn't matter enough in the era of 4x speed.

They tested another batch of drives in the 08/1996 issue which would be interesting as well, but I can't find that one.

Now I’m not entirely sure what to go for. 😅

I'd go for a Sony. They are the seond most common after Mitsumi, and not impossible to find for around 20-40€ if you look for a while, sometimes even cheaper on classifieds sites.

For example, here's a Sony 4x from 1995 in good condition for 23€: https://www.ebay.com/itm/366115765146
This one is an OEM model though, apparently from a Compaq PC. I don't know if they differ in quality from the retail models.

Okay. I have seen one from May 1997. Model CDU415. I believe it's 12x.

It's SCSI, so you need a controller card and cable. Nothing wrong with that though, it was common in higher end 90s PCs.

Sure I must have some beige drives I no longer need that might suit FoC - I'll dig out a list of models if you're interested.

I have also ditched most the fastest CD-ROM drives because of the noise and slowing them down with software is just not optimal. As many here mentioned, 4x drives are generally quiet, but I recently installed Hitachi 8x drive (can't remember model outright) in place of 52x screamer and it is a huge improvement. I have couple of other 8x drives too and these are all fine, so I'd say that generally 12x or 10x and below will be pleasant to use. I've also noticed that generally DVD drivers are much quiter than fast CD-drives, at least all the models I have in use in my more modern systems (Slot A, Socket A). The problem with slower drives is that at least locally they seem to be increasingly difficult to find, so I tend to snatch these slower drives when ever something pops up cheap.

I think the most quiet drives I have are Creative branded Sony CDU33A 2x drive with Sony interface and MediaVision branded 2x SCSI Sanyo drive. They both just make very quiet hissing noises and are just magnificent. Both are relatively early drives and pretty much fine with 486 preriod correct builds where the performance of these drives isn't a limitation.

asdf53 wrote on 2026-02-10, 06:02:

It's SCSI, so you need a controller card and cable. Nothing wrong with that though, it was common in higher end 90s PCs.

Ah. Nah, I think I'd rather stick to IDE/ATA for the moment. There's already plenty of cables everywhere as it is. ^^;

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2026-02-10, 06:37:

Sure I must have some beige drives I no longer need that might suit FoC - I'll dig out a list of models if you're interested.

Yeah, that would be great. Thanks. 😀