new PC...which CD/DVD ROM DRIVE?????

[vik250]

hello,

i am building my first own pc
can someone help me find a good cd/dvd drive...that burns, reads and writes at decent, if not great speeds
withing 75-100 bucks...please....
thank you

 

[Kaldor]

You can pick up a DVD burner from Newegg for $20.

That good enough?

 

[Proximon]

2-3 years ago this was an important and accurate question.

At that time, I paid well over $100 for a top of the line HP DVD burner. I had to hand extensive tests benchmarking speeds and error handling.

No such reviews are written today and indeed, the consensus seems to be that they are all good

I recommend a retail SATA burner from newegg. HP comes with Nero 7:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827140031

 

[Kaldor]

I remember those days Prox. I paid $250 for a Plextor DVD burner back in the day.... Now you can buy a decent burner for next to nothing.

 

[vik250]

hey guys...another question....
i just received my mother board and it has "switch card"....what is that??? what is it used for??? am i suppose to install it on my motherboard?????

thanx guys....
i am going with the one proxi showed me....DVD drive...
:_)

 

[Kaldor]

What kind of mobo is it?

 

[vik250]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813153116

thats my motherboard

 

[vik250]

another question is .....my graphics card says "896MB DDR3"
and my motherboard supports DDR2 ram......does that mean anything???
does that mean my graphics card wont work on my motherboard????

 

[Kaldor]

Hmm. Cant seem to find a manual on Jetways website. From what I can see in the pics on Newegg it looks like something that goes into a PCI-E slot. I would take a look at your manual and it shoud say what its for.

 

[Kaldor]

Video card memory doesnt make difference. The DDR2 spec is for your system ram only.

 

[vik250]

thanx kaldor
all the help is very much appreciated
ill take a look at my motherboard manual and post my findings here....

looking forward for more help as i am about to start building first pcc....plz bear with me as i may ask stupid questions.....lol......thank u so much..

if it wasnt for this forum and u guys....i would have never dared to build a pc by myself....seriously

thank you all

 

[Proximon]

I think that switch card may be so that you can move your PCI-E card to the other slot... I'm not certain though.

 

[Kaldor]

Its not that hard. My only concern is the Jetway mobo... Their website seems to be lacking for support options.
Color me biased, but Gigabyte or Asus only for me. They have both treated me well in over 20 builds for myself and friends. My 4 current machines run a Gigabyte p45, an Asus x48, an Asus 680i, and an Asus 754 (iirc). I think Ive used at least 15 Asus and about 5-6 Gigabytes over the years.

 

[vik250]

i am reading my manual right now and i cant seem to find anything on switch card yet.....

 

[Proximon]

Ok, I have reviewed the "switch card" usage for the ASRock boards, and it would appear that the card is placed in one slot when you are only using a single card.

In other words, placing the switch card in the appropriate slot disables crossfire mode and ensures you get the full X16 bandwidth on the single GPU.

 

[vik250]

oh..ok...thank you so much proximon...