(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best external cd drives

OK, long reply coming lol... first OP, don't be worried! Built my first one back in October and was terrified going into it, between getting the right parts and physically putting it together. Sites like this will more than happily help you with the parts, and you will be amazed how simple it is putting together (I won't lie, inserting the CPU will still be terrifying haha, they're so bloody tiny for the cost!).


So, first suggestion:

• This is a (very) upgraded version of my one which runs perfect for me, but yours would wipe the floor with it. The one downside is no CD/DVD drive so if that is a deal breaker, then never mind (or get an external one, they're only about $20-25 also - https://www.amazon.com/E-More-External-Portable-Rewriter-Desktops/dp/B01IPBOYI4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1492824355&sr=8-3&keywords=external+cd+dvd+rw - and personally, I haven't touched a CD in years). Also, what you said about size... well, you're going to laugh but this is possibly the smallest case you can get a full PSU and GPU into. :D
  
• It is $100 more than your current build, but that is from upgrading to an i5 to an i7 7700K, which along with the GPU would make this an absolute BEAST of a machine. You can downgrade to the i5 and wind up at the same price as your build BUT AMD just brought out their 'Ryzen' chipsets recently, which apparently are just better than i5s but for the same price. Thing is, they don't have their ITX motherboards out yet which is what this case works with (they were announced yesterday, so if you go with this build, waiting a few weeks and swapping the CPU/ITX mobo/cooler for their AMD equivalents will come to the same price as the i5 and may be the better option).
  
• If you do go down the i7 route, between that and the 11GB VRAM you should be future proofed for a long, long time. If you want to go this route but don't have the extra $100 right now, maybe pick up 8GB RAM and the SSD, then in a few weeks get the HDD and second 8GB RAM (8GB is good enough for pretty much any game at present, esp at 3200MHZ). Your GPU is basically the biggest part of your computer, so I've given you a huge boost to a GTX 1080 TI 11GB there. The GTX 480 came out over 7 years ago for example, and still plays new games pretty well all things considered, which should give you an idea of how well these things future proof. They also still sell for $50+ on ebay etc, meaning all those years down the line when it's time to upgrade, even if you leave it most of a decade, you'll still have a bit or resale value to put into your next GPU. i5 2500's which were released over 6 years ago also still work perfectly fine, probably have a little more life in them yet, and also still have a resale value of about $70, so same again. Here's a video of Witcher 3 (one of the most demanding games around) on an i5 2500 & GTX 480 all these years later, for example - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ9kFLzSQ_I
  
• Despite the size, this case was incredibly easy to put together for me. Taking everything out of the box, having never done anything like this, I had it up and running in maybe 90 minutes. Whatever case you choose, there is likely a few youtube videos of people putting them together... youtube is SERIOUSLY your best friend on a first build for the actual putting together of the parts. Quick vid on this case: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ptbpKpObzs&t=8s
  
• Also because of the mesh holes in the case, any heat coming from the system just flows right out of it - with something so small, that is a great feature. It fits in a backpack and is super easy to move from one part of the house to another, it's not too different from a shoe box in size.
  
• Here is a picture of my case beside a can of coke, to give you an idea of how small it is. The length and width are identical to an A4 sheet of paper - http://s13.postimg.org/mucsw7653/20161019_211453.jpg
  

• Anyway, the build... i7 7700K, 11GB GTX 1080 and all! :D
  

  PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
  

  
  

  Type|Item|Price
  

  ----|:----|:----
  CPU | Intel Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor | $329.99 @ Amazon
  CPU Cooler | Noctua NH-L9i 33.8 CFM CPU Cooler | $38.88 @ OutletPC
  Motherboard | MSI B250I GAMING PRO AC Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard | $93.89 @ OutletPC
  Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory | $113.99 @ Newegg
  Storage | Crucial MX300 525GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $149.99 @ Amazon
  Storage | Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $66.44 @ OutletPC
  Video Card | EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB Founder Edition Video Card | $698.79 @ SuperBiiz
  Case | Silverstone Sugo SG13B Mini ITX Tower Case | $39.99 @ Amazon
  Power Supply | XFX XTR 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | $83.99 @ SuperBiiz
  Operating System | Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit | $88.58 @ OutletPC
  | Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
  | Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1714.53
  | Mail-in rebates | -$10.00
  | Total | $1704.53
  | Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-21 22:12 EDT-0400 |
  
  
  
  Second suggestion:
  
  
  

• If that's not your thing, here is a tweaked version of your current ATX build with the i5 stuff switched out for the Ryzen. Comes to $10 or so more, but does still include the internal CD/DVD RW drive. I also moved you down to a much cheaper case - your call of course, I just think moving that and the storage savings investments into the GPU are more important. You would want to double check some of the specs here though like the cooler, since I am not as familiar with Ryzen.
  

  
  

  PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
  

  
  

  Type|Item|Price
  

  ----|:----|:----
  CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 1600X 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor | $248.99 @ SuperBiiz
  CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler | $24.88 @ OutletPC
  Motherboard | MSI B350M MORTAR Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard | $93.99 @ SuperBiiz
  Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory | $113.99 @ Newegg
  Storage | Crucial MX300 525GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive | $146.98 @ Directron
  Storage | Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $66.44 @ OutletPC
  Video Card | EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB Founder Edition Video Card | $698.79 @ SuperBiiz
  Case | Rosewill SRM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case | $28.22 @ Amazon
  Power Supply | EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | $88.89 @ OutletPC
  Optical Drive | Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer | $18.88 @ OutletPC
  Operating System | Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit | $88.58 @ OutletPC
  | Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
  | Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1653.63
  | Mail-in rebates | -$35.00
  | Total | $1618.63
  | Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-21 22:23 EDT-0400 |
  
  
  

• Keep in mind, on either system you can updrade to a 4TB HDD for $34 if you want it to also feature as a giant media library - https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-BarraCuda-3-5-Inch-Internal-ST2000DM006/dp/B01LNJBA50/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1492828379&sr=8-3&keywords=seagate%2B2tb&th=1 - just mentioning because that is an exceptionally good price for so much storage from a good brand, but unnecessary unless you are planning on building a HUGE media library in it.

Upgraded the CPU cooler, because I changed the case to something that I think will work out better for you (especially cable management wise, and overall airflow). You can get the 970 EVO for much less, and with that I also upgraded the motherboard to a much better one. I just dropped 1TB from the HDD, but it's still the same Toshiba X300.

For the CD drive, I do recommend external, as you probably won't be using it as much as people did before. More and more, I'm finding people go with external cd drives, and they're better off overall, because they can get better components for the tower.

A few recommendations... LG GP65NB60 | ASUS ZenDrive (USB-C)

(The case I recommended has a USB-C front panel port)

PCPartPicker Part List

|Type|Item|Price|
|:-|:-|:-|
|CPU|AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor|$327.99 @ Amazon|
|CPU Cooler|Corsair H150i PRO 47.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler|$179.99 @ Amazon|
|Thermal Compound|Corsair TM30 3 g Thermal Paste|$7.99 @ Amazon|
|Motherboard|MSI MPG X570 GAMING EDGE WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard|$199.99 @ Amazon|
|Memory|G.Skill Trident Z 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory|$129.99 @ Newegg|
|Storage|Samsung 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive|$89.99 @ Amazon|
|Storage|Toshiba X300 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive|$109.99 @ Amazon|
|Video Card|MSI GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB GAMING X TRIO Video Card|$749.99 @ Newegg|
|Case|Fractal Design Meshify S2 ATX Mid Tower Case|$145.99 @ Amazon|
|Power Supply|Corsair HX Platinum 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply|$119.99 @ Newegg|
|Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts|||
|Total (before mail-in rebates)|$2081.90||
|Mail-in rebates|-$20.00||
|Total|$2061.90||
|Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-18 02:17 EST-0500|||

Hey friends, I recently bought the PC game from amazon and was super excited until I realized I don't have an optical drive on my PC...so i purchased an external drive and i wanted to make sure it would install the game. what do y'all think? also, can i install the game and then play it without the disc in the drive or do i need the disc spinning to play the game/

Thanks for the help!

You could probably downgrade all the way to a 1500 without even noticing the drop; most games aren't CPU intensive.

The RAM is fine.

The MX300 doesn't go any faster as M.2; it's still a SATA drive. I'd probably drop it and pick up a 1 or 2 TB HDD for mass storage (just make sure the OS goes on the SSD you already have).

The Define R5 is a case specifically designed to be as quiet as possible. I'd strongly consider switching to a more cooling-focused case, like the Meshify C. On that note - you don't need 3 case fans. You'd have to get a USB-based CD drive (but then again, how often do you use CDs these days?).

You don't need a 80+platinum PSU unless you're paying truly extortionate rates for electricity.

With the money freed up from this you can add in a Vega 56 and still come out ahead (I'd actually recommend a 1070 if I didn't think you were concerned about freesync):

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD - Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor | $154.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard | MSI - B350 PC MATE ATX AM4 Motherboard | $84.99 @ Amazon
Memory | G.Skill - Trident Z 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory | $179.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Crucial - MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | Purchased For $0.00
Storage | *Hitachi - Deskstar 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $53.99 @ Amazon
Video Card | Gigabyte - Radeon RX VEGA 56 8GB Video Card | $394.98 @ Newegg
Case | Fractal Design - Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case | $79.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply | EVGA - 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply | $53.98 @ Newegg
Operating System | Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit | $99.00 @ Amazon
Wireless Network Adapter | Rosewill - N900PCE PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi Adapter | $29.91 @ Amazon
Case Fan | ARCTIC - Arctic F14 77.3 CFM 140mm Fan | $8.90 @ Amazon
Monitor | Acer - XF240H 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor | $244.99 @ Amazon
Other| Cocopa USB 3.0 External CD Drive| $23.99 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1449.70
| Mail-in rebates | -$40.00
| Total | $1409.70
| *Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria |
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-09 00:11 EST-0500 |

I was unable to locate system requirements for their 4D Embroidery Software on that page. Might you have a link around?
That aside, 250 max for a traditional laptop without refurbished is something of a challenge, depending on how demanding that software is. I obviously don't know your exact situation, but I would highly recommend a little flexibility in either your budget or your stance on refurbished/used items. I know I for one have never had an issue with Amazon Certified Refurbished products.

The way the market is trending, laptops for under 250 are primarily designed now to be ultraportable speedy little netbooks with low capacity Solid State Drives and no optical bay.

So with that all said, this is pretty much the best I can do to meet your requirements with your max budget.

This computer runs windows and has at least Intel HD Graphics.
https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-Cloudbook-11-AO1-11-6-Inch/dp/B01BTNV7NU/ref=sr_1_74?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1465395249&sr=1-74&keywords=Laptops+under+250+dollars&refinements=p_36%3A-25000

It has no optical drive but you can get an external USB one.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ODDE4JI/ref=twister_B00Q64O4KQ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

And store all your files on a spacious external hard drive, since the 16GB SSD wont hold much more than the operating system. This link directs you to the 2TB drive, simply select 1TB instead right there on the amazon page to be back within your budget.
https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Expansion-Portable-External-STEA2000400/dp/B00TKFEE5S/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1465395520&sr=1-2&keywords=2TB+external+drive

This would seem to meet your needs for under $250, though again, I'd feel better seeing the system requirements for what you want to run.

You won't find anything remotely close to the MBP in this price range, unfortunately. Sub-$500 is a place for budget laptops. If you can go without the optical drive, and just get an external optical drive, the best value would come from the Acer Aspire V5-473P.

It's the only laptop within your price range that has a 1080p display, and this one actually has a great 1080p IPS touch display. It gets good battery life, is relatively light, and quite thin. It should do well for her.

If you're looking for an easy to use drive without much consideration for security, etc, you might wanna consider a WD MyCloud. Simple enough to use, and it's wireless so you could access it on your TV, I believe.

For external disc drive, well, external drives aren't usually as reliable as internal, and they're slower too. But to get it done, you could check out this one. Or for no BluRay, check this one.

My office bought a bunch of LG External Super Multi DVD Rewriter drives. Model GP08LU11. This looks like it. They're a few years old, you can probably get nicer ones now. The only time you would need a power adapter or two USB ports for power reasons are for older computers that don't put out enough power over a single USB. Nothing you can buy today fits that description.

You might not be aware of how inexpensive external DVD burners actually are. After a quick search on Amazon, here's one for $24. I'm not vouching for it, though. I just found it via a search.

Two things to note. One, none of the known, reliable companies are making them, and two, you absolutely want USB 3.x. USB 2.x and lower transfer speeds are atrocious and you'll spend way too long transferring data across that super slow cable regardless of the actual speed of the burner. Read the reviews and make sure it's USB 3.x.

If you mean you want to make an ISO from another computer, ImgBurn is the best way to do that, but DVD movies have copy protection, and it's against Reddit rules to discuss that. It's been a 100% solved problem for over a decade, though, so it won't be hard for you to find. :)

Hey all! The OP made this post on my behalf. Just made an account :) Thanks for the advice so far. I'm seriously considering the Silverstone Raven RVZ01 case. It's pretty damn sexy, but I'm having a hard time dealing with the cost of a blu-ray slot load drive. I can't seem to bite the bullet on that one. I suppose I can always revisit it down the line.

What do you guys think of this build?

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/finky314/saved/3Vtx

http://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-Interface-Drive-Optical-SOD02B/dp/B004X9PHFC/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163252 (ships in 3-5 weeks on amazon)

Thanks again!

Good luck with booting Linux live, then. USB 3.0 external DVD-RWs are only $27 now, and it sounds like virtualization is your only alternative: https://www.amazon.com/External-Portable-Rewriter-Transfer-Notebook/dp/B0757B1ZSX/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1536647044&sr=8-2&keywords=usb+dvd-rw+external

What a fun theme! Dystopian can be interpreted two ways -- futuristic (think Matrix) OR fallen Earth / post-apocalyptic (think steampunk or maybe Mad Max).

For the former, these sunglasses would be easy and very cool.

For the latter, you can channel Mad Max with these spiked sunglasses. For something simpler, you could do spiked leather bracelets or a spiked choker.

There are a lot of options if you want to go more steampunk too. Like these sunglasses or gear chain necklace.

See if there are any more specifications about what kind of dystopian, and go from there. :)

You can buy a usb connector that has a cd drive on the end of it. Very easy way to get around the no cd drive on Mac laptops. Probably can find a cheap one on amazon something like this: https://www.amazon.com/External-Rewriter-Desktops-Aooking-Tech/dp/B01HELU822

I am just not sure if sims 1 is Mac compatible? If it is please let me know how to get it so I can download it too!

It's NOT hard to find a CD player these days. ;)

$22 on Amazon. Bonus - does DVD too.

https://www.amazon.com/External-BEVA-Portable-Desktop-MacBook/dp/B07HK6D974/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?keywords=usb+cd+player

Many larger public libraries will allow account holders to check out an external USB-driven CD/DVD player; with it you can make a Linux OS ISO. I've done over 30 Linux OS installs on laptops & PC's, and I've never (yet) used a USB stick. I prefer the CD method; systems easily recognize it, and often better than a formatted USB stick. And, you can buy one for $18 . I bought my Asus Drive plus a pack of DVD's in 2011 and I'm still using them. But you can just buy the OS DVD's.

Interesting question.

How fast is the dvd reader you want to use? According to https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/DVD-Burner,2447-2.html, 1x dvd read/write speed is 1.32 MB/s. https://www.amazon.com/External-Transfer-Desktop-Macbook-Windows/dp/B07FDNXKSR as an example for an external dvd reader has only 8x read speed (looks small to me, I might mix something up here), that's 10.56MB/s.

Can USB 2.0 handle that? USB is a clusterfuck of different protocols, supporting different transfer rates, only USB 3 is worse. But according to https://superuser.com/questions/138845/speed-comparison-between-usb-2-0-usb-3-0-esata-firewire-and-thunderbolt, USB 2.0 supports 60 MB/s. Even when assuming that in practice that speed might not be reached, let's say half of that is realistic, that's more than enough to handle an external dvd reader.

But I'm not exactly sure what you are describing there. Why are you mixing USB and SATA, mentioning USB to SATA? Do you have internal DVD readers you want to connect to USB for some reason?

OP, here is a super cheap one I found on amazon.

There are a lot of better-reviewed options available around the $20 mark too.

Get a famous brand one like Samsung or LG...etc. I think it should work, I got an LG one I will test this for you later because I have only used it like once to install Windows 7 on a cousin's netbook(it go no cd/dvd drive).

It looked like this one:
https://www.amazon.com/LG-Portable-External-Notebooks-Computers/dp/B004W88SBE/

You can get a usb CD drive on amazon pretty cheap

Well, optical media is being phased out in favor of online distribution and rewritable media (such as flash drives). I'm unsure as to why someone would want one nowadays - if it's a must, you can get an external one for cheap.

I think the best laptop for you, aside from the optical drive, is this one: https://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/productID.333475500

And an external drive can be purchased here:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004W88SBE/

EDIT: Sorry to hear about your employer, I feel your pain.

This is not a noob question at all! I wondered the same thing, and decided to buy one since my H440 doesn't have any 5.25" bays. Just buy this one, or one that you like.

It doesn't tell you what drive dimensions it's designed for. How lame. You could contact them.

But since you're also restricted to mATX if you use an optical drive, you should totally get a SilverStone FT03 :) And you'd know for sure these would fit: http://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-Interface-Drive-Optical-SOD02B/dp/B004X9PHFC/ or http://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-12-7mm-Interface-Blu-Ray-SOB02/dp/B00BY3LCLI/

Other people have given you better answers, but you could just get an external USB DVD/CD reader for about $15 and read the CD they gave you.

Here is an example:
https://smile.amazon.com/Chuanganzhuo-External-Optical-Notebook-Computer/dp/B00SQZFT3O/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1550064356&sr=1-2&keywords=usb+dvd+drive

Or just get one of these if you don't want to bother.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SQZFT3O/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_c_api_i_I7p.Ab8SCH8M9

http://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-Interface-Drive-Optical-SOD02B/dp/B004X9PHFC/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1414546986&sr=1-1

I built my pc in 2013 with an optical drive and I have not used it once. I mean, not one time in the last four+ years.

Here is one for $21

https://www.amazon.com/External-Rewriter-Desktops-Aooking-Tech/dp/B01HELU822

https://www.amazon.com/External-Blingco-Protable-Notebook-Computer/dp/B072BR5VWK/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?keywords=cd+to+usb&qid=1555982711&s=gateway&sr=8-6

If you have a laptop and a thumb drive you can copy the disk files onto the thumbdrive and run the driver installer that way

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SQZFT3O/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_D2jzzb8AAGA4X

Here you go and here, part 2. Though I actually just ripped the SuperDrive out of my old MacBook Pro and got a SlimSATA connector.

http://www.amazon.com/External-CD-ROM-Drive-Laptop-notebook/dp/B003D15K44/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1414958606&sr=8-2&keywords=usb+disk+drive

Or a usb with windows on it. Only two options.

The lack of backwards compatibility is just them being cheap or lazy.

All the games youve ever bought should be playable on any applicable hardware. There should be one Nintendo account that transfers all of your games to the next system.

If its a hard copy version of a system (and not a download) it should know that you own the game and you should be able to download it in the future. Or....ya know, they could be smart and just offer an external reader to play old games.