The drive supports 8X, 16X, 24X, 32X, 40X and 48X (CAV) writing speeds.

According to Nero CDSpeed, the reported average speed when recording at 48X is 36.43X.

- CD-R Recording Times

We created an 80min data compilation with Nero Burning Rom and recorded it on a 700MB disc. The writing times vary only slightly depending to the inserted media. Below is a chart depicting all recording times with various media brands.

Best burn (speed wise) came with Verbatim CD media, burned in 3:00 at a max speed of 48X. The difference however is negligible.

- Other features

The drive supports CD Over-burning up to 99mins.

- CD-RW Format

The BenQ DW-1655 supports 4X, 10X, 16X (CLV), 24X (Z-CLV) and 32X (P-CAV) rewriting speeds, with Ultra Speed Rewritable Media (US-RW).

Below you can see the Nero CD-DVD Speed writing simulation test with blank 32x US-RW media.

The drive, when recording at 32X, reported an average writing speed of 30.80X.