Maximum PC

i get confused with all the different disc combo's and disc speed, but i was thinking of getting a dvd/cd-rw combo. which i assume is a dvd player but also a burner for music cd's. so is this good to run my games on or do i need a regular but fast cd-r. and whats the recommened disc speed?....so don't laugh i really don't know this stuff but im eager to learn.

all you really need is a 32x cd drive

that could be within...

cd-r/cd-rw
dvd drive
cd-rw/dvd combo

basically any drive will do the job

just to clarify, when you say 'play games smoothly' do you mean that you choose 'minimal install' when you install your games and play the game off the cd?

Options abound. Like the others are questioning, if you do the full install, it shouldn't matter too much as it shouldn't access the disk. However, some games do still access the disc for additional info (I can't name one right now, but one of mine still does). In the later case, you may want to adjust the spin-down time to keep it on a bit longer. It's the spin-up time that seems to hang me up a little while it gets up to speed. Once it's up, then it putts right along.

But mounting games on virtual drives is a better option all around (if it's allowed).

Just get a fast burner and if the game speeds are improved, then so be it.