Jase's Artec Overclocking Page

With the information contained on this page you can overclock your Artec 32x12x48, 40x12x48 or Aopen 32x12x48, 40x12x48 (*untested at present!!!) to a Cy'Qve (Artec) 48x16x48!!! (*16x rewrite untested at present).

The Artec 32x and 40x writers appear to be the same internally, as I have previously verified that the firmware from one can be used on the other with no apparent side-effects. In addition the Aopen 32x and 40x writers also appear to be the same as each other, and clearly at least based on the same base (Ricoh) reference design as the Artec drives. The Aopen 32/40 firmware will work in the Artec 32/40 and vice-versa (the disc eject speeds may be different due to the slightly different hardware).

Aopen have since moved on to their 48x and 52x machines which use CAV writing techniques rather than the Z-CLV of previous drives. These drives' firmwares are NOT compatible with the earlier drives (it is reported that the 48x Aopen firmware will work on the 40x writers but only at 12x writing). Artec have also brought out their 52x device which appears to be a different design this time from the Aopen (the write speeds are different for a start).

However, an interesting drive which Artec brought out was the 48x unit. This still used Z-CLV writing and the burn speeds appeared to be little more than the 40x but with an extra 48x segment put on the end at around the 70-minute mark. Could this drive be similar to the earlier models?

It appears so. The circuit-boards and servo mechanisms appear very similar on the two drives. The problem is that Artec have not released their firmware for the 48x drive. However, our saviour comes in the shape of Cy'Qve, who have released the latest (1.08 at time of writing) firmware for their rebadged version of the Artec drive :)

OK, so how do we get the 48x firmware on our 32x/40x drive? First we need the following, all available from The Firmware Page or CDR-Info :

1) Firmware release 1.08 for ther Cy'Qve CQ4848Pro.

2) Artec's 5.20 release of their firmware-flash utility.

3) A copy of the firmware of the drive you wish to upgrade (these are all available it seems).

Please note I accept ABSOLUTELY NO RESPONSIBILITY WHATSOEVER if you damage your drive doing this!!!!!

Put the two .bin files and the Util in the same directory. Rename your drive's file to a.bin and the Cy'Qve file to b.bin. Load up the util, select your drive in the top drop-down menu and a.bin in the second. The name of your drive should appear in the grey box. You might want to back-up your existing firmware at this stage!!!

Press "Next". Then rename a.bin to a1.bin and b.bin to a.bin (thereby making the Cy'Qve file the one going into the drive). Then press "Start". When finish, reboot your PC and you're done!!!

Now, some tests. For this test I have used some Acer 16x media (the Artec 48x is picky and I have no 48x media to hand!!)

The simulate option in Nero DriveSpeed works just fine:

(Ignore the Write Error -- that was from a previous attempt with different non-48x compatible media lol).

The speed isn't great but hey, it's 48x max ain't it ;)

I wrote a test CD with Nero CD speed, at 48x, and ran CD Doctor on the disc using a LiteOn 52246S (actually a 48246S overclocked :) and got the following:

That is a long way from being a bad result -- in fact any write with a C1 error rate average of less than 1 can be considered "very good". There was a slight increase in errors at 48x toward the end but this is a 16x-rated disc we're talking about here!!!

Give it a go -- and let me know how you get on. My email address is jase@jjs.demon.co.uk . If you know anyone else with an Aopen or Artec 32x or 40x drive, pass this URL on!!!