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hi everybody,its been sometime since i last came online.hope everyone is fine and happy I am now shopping for a new pc again i didnt buy it the last time because of the silly option to purchase.....my question is why do pc now have the choice of 1 or 2 optical drives?so that we can play 2 games at the same time hehehe....kindly pls let advise me on that.thanks so much.

The only real reason to have two optical drives is if you want to use them to copy a CD or DVD. I use mine all the time to make copies of the Photo Album CDs I create after going on a trip.

Basically, you need a CD-ROM drive to read the original from and a CD-RW drive to write the copy.

It doesn't work with copy protected CDs as the copy will not play as the original but for self-created projects, it works just fine.

If you don't think you will ever copy CDs or DVDs, then you could also have two different game CDs loaded at the same time. I wouldn't recommend actually trying to play them at the same time but both would be available for use. Seems a bit expensive just so you don't have to swap out a game CD for another.

on a new pc it doesnt have any use to have 2 drives. as long as you got around 10gb free disc space youll never have to use 2 drives to copy. you just copy the dvd to your disc in an img file (or cd, but 650mb is hardly noticable on new HD's), put in the new dvd and burn it back again. and since you already have a comp you might as well get your current drive from it and put it in.

Since i watch dvd's true my computer on my telly i have a cd and a dvd drive in my system. Obviously you need an svhs cable from your videocard to your telly and the videocard has to have a tv-out plug, but as long as you have that your sorted:)

The cd drive i use because i have the music plug going to my boxes and my normal soundsytem using a splitter, so basecly its the coffeemaker i didnt hook up to my compter yet:)

But i can do much more now with my compter wich saves me space in the living room:)

The only problem with having a CD-ROM or CD-RW on a new computer is that CDs are almost obsolete now. any good DVD player/burner can play/burn CDs as well, so why limit yourself to only CDs?

True but i still had it in my system and why jank it away if it still works?

Krank wrote:... why jank it away if it still works?

Absolutely true but I thought we were talking about a new system.

Well how is this then;

Today or lately whatever makes your boat float, the cases have more room so built it in your new system then
Looking at my case right now i can put in 4 cd/dvd drives wherer i used to be able to put in just two.

Just keep the powersupply in mind, as in that you have enough:)

Don't forget, there are other peripherals besides CD and DVD drives. Tape drives, 3½" floppy drives, 5¼" floppy drives, Media slots for camera memory cards, and extra I/O ports are some of the things that the open bays could be used for.

Spock wrote:Don't forget, there are other peripherals besides CD and DVD drives. Tape drives, 3½" floppy drives, 5¼" floppy drives, Media slots for camera memory cards, and extra I/O ports are some of the things that the open bays could be used for.

agreed on that, i cant live without my front panel. when using USB memory sticks you really cant do without. its a pain to crawl behind your casing everytime, the same the few times i use my webcam (who invented msn shows when you have a webcam installed??). in my old pc there used to be 1 dvd burner, 1 cd burner, 1 front panel and 1 control panel for my coolers, that kinda fills it up

and also dont forget that 2 cd/dvd take 2 IDE slots, normal MB's just have 4. although most people dont have more then 2 discs it happens

Krank wrote:Just keep the powersupply in mind, as in that you have enough:)

If your going with a basic system, nothing that's insanely kick buttocks, a 350 or 400 watt PS usually does nicely. At my store, I only sell UL certified Power Supplies. In the small town where I live, if we don't provide quality stuff, people complain. The supplies we sell are around 57.50USD plus tax(exactly).

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[Added..On topic]
since yourbuying an already built unit, take caution. We had a couple weeks in my store with nothing but e-machines with bad powersupplies. The power supply fried and took out the motherboard. These computers were about a week or 2 out of warranty. We still get the occasional one(2 or 3 a month), all with the same problem. I couldn't tell you about the newer ones. They may be better or may be the same. Some last for a long time, and some don't.

cmptch wrote:... We had a couple weeks in my store with nothing but e-machines with bad powersupplies. ...

I've had my own problems with e-machines. Of the ones I've worked on, the power supplies are always some odd wattage, usually much smaller than anything else I've seen, which means that they must work at peak capacity 100% of the time that they're on.

If anything works at peak capacity (or beyond) long enough it's going to develop problems and finally fail. I much prefer a computer with a power supply that is larger than required as it then doesn't have to work as "hard". It doesn't have max current coursing through it causing max heat, which causes component value creep, which causes changes in circuit values, etc.

If I have a choice, I would get a power supply that has at least twice the capability needed for the current machine. That way it should not only run cooler but will provide enough extra power that future upgrades won't be a big problem due to lack of power.

Spock wrote:

cmptch wrote:... We had a couple weeks in my store with nothing but e-machines with bad powersupplies. ...

I've had my own problems with e-machines. Of the ones I've worked on, the power supplies are always some odd wattage, usually much smaller than anything else I've seen, which means that they must work at peak capacity 100% of the time that they're on...

For a long time I've had suspicions that e-machines have in-built redundancies, of course the manufactures always deny this, but the power supply case is a prime example. We also had an e-machine for about 18 months before what I suspect was overheating permanently damaged the processor, although it was only ever used for word processing and email, and never for extended periods.

wow thats alot of useful information for me.thanks again gentlemen

Lotussy wrote:Wow that's alot of useful information for me. Thanks again gentlemen

That's why I started this forum so we could help each other ... but I never claimed to be a gentleman. I won't speak for anyone other than myself though.

Dual Optical drives are nice if you just want to copy disk to disk, like making quick backups for actual cd's or dvd's that give you that option. No residual HD clutter or temp files to clean later either?