Plextor PX-W1610TA - Help me please

[northern monkey]

I bought the above CD writer yesterday after reading up on the best IDE CD at gamecopyworld which they said was the PX-W1210TA its now discontinued and the PX-W1610TA is it's replacement so its got to be better .... right????
(well same but faster)

Now on gamecopyworld it recommends that you downgrade the firmware

It says "Use firmware 1.00, 1.01, 1.02 or 1.04 - Newer firmware will not work, downgrade if possible!" for the 12 speed model, what version firmware do I use for the 16 speed? The only one available for download is V. 1.03 for the PX-w1610TA, how do I find out what version is shipped with the writer? And why would I want to downgrade?

Also my computer freezes now and powers off quite often could this be my power unit being inferior? Maybe need a higher wattage now I've got the writer.

Also am I right in thinking CDClone & Nero are probably the best software to use for backing up software, PC, PS1, PS2 & audio CD's?

Help appreciated Ben