I can't hear my Lite-On dvd drive over the noise that my case fans make. I can hear it when it initially spins up, but overall noise level is low from the drive.
"God created man. Samuel Colt made them equal."
"Government does not tax to get the money it needs; government finds a need for the money it gets." - Ronald Reagan
FWIW, the Liteon 52x24x52 CDRW is loud. Fast enough that I use it, but loud enough that I use my no-namer 16X DVD for most reading. 52X for install, 16X for playing.
If you can find one of the old kenwood drives, thet were real quiet, but they have reliability problems. I had one for a year before it broke, but it was extremely fast and quiet.
I agree. If noise is a higher priority than perf look to an older 8x - 16x CDROM as these tended to be a fair bit quieter.