EggXpert

   I'm looking for a drive for a gaming computer.  Does anyone have any recommendations on what type or brand to get?  CD drives are pretty much out of the question now so I'm stuck between DVD and Blue Ray drives.  I don't know if there are any major performance issues between DVD and Blue Ray drives (or even if any for *all* drives) but I have no intentions to watch Blue Ray movies so I don't see the point in getting one.

   DVD or Blue Ray for gaming?  Opinions? :)

jaxstraww:

DVD. Pretty much the DVD spins up when the game is launched but its your install files on the PC playing the game. After install you could use a record player as a DVD player. Don't over think this.

    So in other words it dosn't really matter what kind of DVD drive I have?  I was just wondering if there is a specific brand or type of DVD drive that was best. :)

Nah, the days of Plextor running game on everyone are long over.  You can get a great drive now from a number of good brands.  =]

jaxstraww:

After install you could use a record player as a DVD player.

Hmmm, I've got my turntable ready, yo.  How do I adapt the rca cables to IDE?  ::elbow to ribs:: 

jaxstraww:

DVD. Pretty much the DVD spins up when the game is launched but its your install files on the PC playing the game. After install you could use a record player as a DVD player. Don't over think this.

get the point. the games are installed in your HDD and after that  it has nothing to do with dvd player any more.

but i think Asus sometimes makes good DVD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135156

$35 sounds not bad.

One thing I recommend is getting Alcohol 52% free.  You can rip the discs onto your hard drive, and with the CD/DVD drive emulation feature, you can use CDs and DVDs at the speed of your hard drive. Perfect for the gaming thing you speak of.

just my 2c.

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Rattletrap:

jaxstraww:

DVD. Pretty much the DVD spins up when the game is launched but its your install files on the PC playing the game. After install you could use a record player as a DVD player. Don't over think this.

    So in other words it dosn't really matter what kind of DVD drive I have?  I was just wondering if there is a specific brand or type of DVD drive that was best. :)

A DVD is a DVD and there's not a whole lot to it.  Ultimately speed choice is more or less how long you are willing to wait for a long install.  Reliability and quality simply come with the same brand names as more or less anything else.  My general solution is to google "<brand name> DVD drive"  or something similar before I buy to find anything about drive failures being posted, but there's basically a level marketplace on that stuff now.  Other than actually watching a DVD, nothing really references disks anymore while playing, especially not to the extent that it would bottleneck anything.

As for blu ray, there are two reasons to spend the money.  The first is to watch blu-ray movies.  The second (requiring a blu-ray WRITER drive), is to have massive amounts of backup storage on a single optical disk.  You could compress a 25 spool of DVD backups down to maybe 5 or less disks depending on how you want to categorize them, but you would have to keep in mind that if the drive goes, you won't be able to get at the backup data without buying another very expensive drive first.