Part Three Build your Own PC

The last equipment you need to purchase are the Hard Disk Drive, Optical Drive (DVDRW) and a Card Reader. Let's start with the hard drive. This is where your Operationg system is stored along with your Software (Office, DVD & CD burning software, ANd any other  programs you find you need to work on your PC. 
 
Brand Names Available.
Western Digital
Seagate
Hatachi

Hard Drive
As you can see from the list I prefer Western Digital. They are reliable and well built. WD has an exchange policy for defective Hard Drives, that is second to none. I prefer their the Blue lable drives for my desktop builds or the black label. What I won't use is the green label drives because they spin at a much lower speed then the other two, 5400 RPMs verses 7200 RPMs.

The minimum size hard drive I would consider for any home system is a 500 Gig, though you might well consider a 1 or 2 terabyte drive depending on the your need to store data and what data you are storing. The Drive interface must be SATA (Serial ATA) and is really to only choice available.

Optical Drive (DVDRW)
The choice you will have to make for an internal Optical Drive is what brand you prefer.

LG
Sony
Asus
Liton
HP

The list goes on. Pick one with a SATA interface. They will all mount the same. There is an additional option to consider, a Blue Ray drive. They are a bit pricier but can be added as a second optical drive, making your PC a Blue Ray and DVD player. The case we are using will accept two.

Card Reader
The Card Reader is used to transfer photos from your Camera's digital memory card to the PC's hard disk drive. It fits in the bay were the floppy drive would go. They are simple to hook up and Windows 7 has no problem configuring them. One of the better one is the Sabrent's CRW-UINB 68-in-1 card reader. It gives you fast, easy transfer of data between your flash media and computer, and an extra USB 2.0 slot on the front of your computer. It’s designed for easy installation into a 3.5" drive bay on your desktop computer.
The 5-slot reader reads Compact Flash, Secure Digital, Multi-Media Card, xD, MIcro SD, RS-MMC and Sony Memory Stick (MS, MS-Pro, MS-Duo, and MS Pro Duo) media, and many more formats.
Please see the specifications section for complete list of compatible media and adapter requirements. The black bezel ensures an attractive, professional-looking installation in addition to easy data transfers. Sabrent makes it easy and attractive to move all the data you need to.

NEXT:  Windows 7,  Video Card (as an option),  Assembly