Optical Drive Question

I am currently figuring out which parts to buy for a ~$550 gaming machine. With the parts I have now, I am over-budget with shipping. Then I got the idea that I can use an external dvd burner (that uses USB 2.0) that I occasionally use with my netbook in place of an internal one to save $30. What I would like to know is that if I do this, will I see less performance than if I would have used an internal SATA drive?

time to install is considerably slower. same with large file transfers from disc.

its not the end of the world tho. "performance" will be the same everywhere it counts. burning dvds would be the same, as that wont saturate the usb bandwidth. only when you are transferring information as fast as possible are you going to see the limits of usb 2.0 (which, is actually fairly limited and slow.)

i say, skip the internal dvd, use the usb. and if the slow installs piss you off, pick up a dvd burner. they cost next to peanuts anyway.