Advice on DVD drive compatibility please

stew8888 · 12 Feb 2020 at 20:31

I have a B450 Gaming pro carbon AC from MSI and had identified a retail packaged ASUS 24DMFT drive to partner it in my new build. I just have a concern that its not listed on the tested compatible drives on the MSI support page for the motherboard. Is this a significant enough concern that i should avoid buying it? My second problem is that of those listed i'm having trouble tracking down a reasonably priced one which comes with all the bits and pieces for out of the box clean install and use. Everything i seem to identify around the usual seller webpages is OEM packaged if i understand correctly means the cables and software to operate need to purchased separately and frankly i don't know enough about optical drives to take a chance and muck something up buying aftermarket cables etc....

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-24x-dvdrw-drw-24d5mt-sata-rewriter-black-retail-cd-056-as.html

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/B450-GAMING-PRO-CARBON-AC#support-test

Gray2233 · 12 Feb 2020 at 20:34

It should work just fine.

I wouldn't be overly concerned about compatibility lists, there's so much hardware out there that it's literally impossible to test everything. The thing is, almost everything involved in modern consumer computing adheres to some sort of standard, so outside of rare cases or chipset specific support (for example, a B450 wouldn't support an Intel CPU) most things get along with each other.

As for the cables needed for such a device, a SATA cable is a SATA cable for the most part. Again it's not something I'd worry about much. The motherboard you buy will probably come bundled with a bunch anyway.

stew8888 · 12 Feb 2020 at 20:37

Gray2233 said:
It should work just fine.

I wouldn't be overly concerned about compatibility lists, there's so much hardware out there that it's literally impossible to test everything. The thing is, almost everything involved in modern consumer computing adheres to some sort of standard, so outside of rare cases or chipset specific support (for example, a B450 wouldn't support an Intel CPU) most things get along with each other.

Thats re-assuring, thanks! I think my problem is go way over the top in my research and drive myself to paranoia!

Just to clarify retail packaging effectively means plug and play as far optical drives go?

Gray2233 · 12 Feb 2020 at 20:39

stew8888 said:
Thats re-assuring, thanks! I think my problem is go way over the top in my research and drive myself to paranoia!

Just to clarify retail packaging effectively means plug and play as far optical drives go?

Pretty much any modern optical drive you buy will be plug and play, they don't need any additional software in the form of drivers or anything. Obviously if you want to burn discs or watch movies you'll need some form of burner software, or a media player, but Windows alone will pick the drive up just fine for general use.

stew8888 · 12 Feb 2020 at 20:43

Gray2233 said:
Pretty much any modern optical drive you buy will be plug and play, they don't need any additional software in the form of drivers or anything. Obviously if you want to burn discs or watch movies you'll need some form of burner software, or a media player, but Windows alone will pick the drive up just fine for general use.

I see, does that mean the only difference between retail and OEM packaged is a SATA provided/not? A lot of the product descriptions are poor and not clear what is included in the packaging i have found

Gray2233 · 12 Feb 2020 at 21:01

Mostly just a fancy box and a manual really, I'm not sure if a SATA cable will be included or not, but as mentioned you should get a bunch with your motherboard. The retail might come with a software license for a media player or burning software, although that'll depend on the product and chances are you'll be able to find better alternatives online anyway.

stew8888 · 12 Feb 2020 at 21:18

Gray2233 said:
Mostly just a fancy box and a manual really, I'm not sure if a SATA cable will be included or not, but as mentioned you should get a bunch with your motherboard. The retail might come with a software license for a media player or burning software, although that'll depend on the product and chances are you'll be able to find better alternatives online anyway.

Understood, thanks for the advice!

The_Arbiter · 12 Feb 2020 at 22:11

For all you know a cable might be too long or too short even. DVD drives don't tend to use special drivers, just like many hard drives use generic windows ones btw. You could pick up round cable or 90 degree sata head cable even, to make the build cleaner/easier. (at a later date)

Enjoy the new build