Cheap Computers and Parts

Notes we've taken concerning CD/DVD Drives:

• Drive Interface(s): SATA 3.0Gb/s, PATA
• # of Available SATA Connections Remaining: 3
• # of Available PATA Connections Remaining: 1
• Color of Case: Black

Step 1: A Few Questions

When deciding on a CD/DVD drive, you must ask yourself a few things:

1. Do I want to burn cds?
2. Do I want to backup data?
3. Do I just want to read a CD?
4. Do I want to watch DVD movies on my PC?
5. Do I want to watch Blu-Ray movies on my PC?
6. Do I want to burn to Blu-Ray discs?

If you answered yes to everything but 5 & 6, read Step 2.

If you answered yes to everything, read Steps 2 and 3

Step 2: Buying a DVD Drive

Note: Most people overlook matching the color of the CD/DVD Drive faceplate to the color of the case. Unless you don't care, it looks a lot nicer to have a black CD/DVD drive with a black case than to have mismatching colors.

Our notes tell us we have 3 SATA connections remaining. Since SATA is faster than IDE, we should search for a SATA CD/DVD Drive:

Computer Hardware --> Internal (if on list) --> CD/DVD Drives --> CD/DVD ROMS or CD/DVD Burners --> Interface (SATA or IDE)

-Order by “lowest price”

It's becoming harder and harder to find just "CD Drives" and "CD Burners". Most standard drives today do both CDs and DVDs.

If you just want to read CDs and/or DVDs, you can usually pick up a drive for under $20.

CD-ROM Drive:

• HP 48x CD-ROM - $7.99 (we don't expect this to be available much longer)

DVD-ROM Drive:

• Sony Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive - $18.49

But why not spend a little more and get a drive that does everything except burn/read Blu-Ray. You never know when you might want to backup data onto a disc.

DVD-Burner:

• HP Black 22x Multifunctional DVD Writer - $24.99

Compare a few drives and find one with fast Read/Write speeds.

If you do not wish to purchase a Blu-Ray Drive, skip to Our Choice.

Step 3: Buying a Blu-Ray Drive

The price on these has come down but they are still somewhat expensive. The main benefit of owning a Blu-Ray drive, besides being able to watch Blu-Ray movies, is the fact Blu-Ray CDs can hold considerably more data than standard DVDs but can also cost twice as much, if not more, than a regular CD/DVD RW.

Computer Hardware --> Internal (if on list) --> CD/DVD Drives --> Blu-Ray ROMS or Blu-Ray Burners --> Interface (SATA or IDE)

-Order by “lowest price”

Blu-Ray Reader:

• Sony Optiarc Black 2X Blu-Ray Drive - $74.99

Blu-Ray Burner:

• LG Black 6X Blu-ray Burner - $159.99

Our Choice:

Most people will just use thier CD/DVD drive to install software or listen to music but every now and then they want to burn some music onto a CD if they don't have an iPod or they want to backup valuable data onto a CD. It's because of these reasons we want the best of both worlds so we are going with this:

HP Black 22x Multifunctional DVD Writer - $24.99

Notes to take before the next lesson:

We used up another SATA connection with the HP Black 22x Multifunctional DVD Writer.

• # of Available SATA Connections Remaining: 2
• # of Available PATA Connections Remaining: 1
• # of SATA power connections needed: 2 (1 for the Hard Drive and 1 for the DVD Drive)

Next Lesson:

This is the point where we can go several different directions.

Since our budget PC has integrated audio, video and networking we do not need to go through those lessons. We also do not need a floppy disk drive so we can skip that as well. However, I will still provide those lessons to whomever wants to view them.

Lesson 12: How to Find a Cheap Sound Card

Lesson 13: How to Find a Cheap Video Card

Lesson 14: How to Find a Cheap Network Card

Lesson 15: How to Find a Cheap Floppy Disk Drive

Or, skip directly to Lesson 16: How to Find a Cheap Power Supply