Advice?

[Trendkill]

What's a good DVD/CD rom drive to get? I'm gonna play alot of games with my comp and was wondering what would be a good rom to get, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Trendkill]

Also, any advice on a good hard drive?

 

[rb56]

I personally like Plextor drives though they are higher priced than most. HD's... IDE or SATA? I have a WD 80GB SE that has been a very good drive. What size are you thinking about?

 

[Trendkill]

I'll probably go with an 80 or 120, not sure right now. I know nothing about computer parts so whatever advice you guys can give me will be very helpful.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I've had good experience with both Asus and Liteon drives.

Hard drives:
1. if money is no object, the $300 74 GB WD Raptor (SATA interface)

2. if that's too rich for your blood (doesn't matter whether it's "normal" IDE / PATA or SATA):
a. if you don't mind noise, a normal Western Digital is about the fastest, or Hitachi's new 250 series is fast and quiet
b. Maxtor is usually a little slower but quieter than WD
c. Samsung is cheap, quieter still, and has decent performance

Seagate used to be the silent champ, but that was a couple of generations ago (the IV, before the V and now 7200.x)

Edit: pay attention within a brand, some models have 1-year warranty while others are 3-year.

 

[rb56]

What type of rig are you putting it in, upgrade or new build? What do you have now for a HD (size etc.)?

 

[Trendkill]

I'm building my own comp, and this will be my first one. It's gonna be a pentium 4 system, and like i said, it will be used almost exclusively for gaming.

 

[rb56]

Other than the CPU (Pentium 4) do you have any other components picked yet? Have you already decided on a MB? Depending on the motherboard it could make a difference on the HD you pick (IDE or SATA).

 

[Trendkill]

I think i'm gonna go with an abit 875 mobo