Why don't PC cases have 5.25" external drive bays anymore?

I went USB 3 for all optical drive needs. I do use it but I keep them in the drawer.
 
I'm with the "who the hell still uses CDs?" group.

Haven't used a CD in nearly a decade. As soon as you could boot from USB to install OSs and the price of drives bottomed out, why would you?

Discs are so highly unreliable in my experience. There was a time and place, especially when you considered the amount of data they could hold, but now? No thanks.

I used to keep a drive in my PC, but I never used it. New case came without one and increased my watercooling options.
 
lopoetve said:
8x SAS SSD in 5.25" bay is not outdated :p
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I should really revise my stance, I guess. CD's are worthless and stupid to keep. That is specifically my point with my first message, most notably because they were saying they wanted the drive space for burning CDs.
 
auntjemima said:
I should really revise my stance, I guess. CD's are worthless and stupid to keep. That is specifically my point with my first message, most notably because they were saying they wanted the drive space for burning CDs.
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Oh agreed. But the BAY is useful!
 
Wouldn't you have problems with heat with the 2.5" SSD drives packed so tightly? Looks like there would be zero room between them, basically, along with probably not getting much airflow to cool, particularly the inner ones.
 
JonCZ said:
Wouldn't you have problems with heat with the 2.5" SSD drives packed so tightly? Looks like there would be zero room between them, basically, along with probably not getting much airflow to cool, particularly the inner ones.
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I wouldn't suspect much difference over NVMEs jammed right against the board and usually just above, or under, the GPU lol
 
auntjemima said:
I wouldn't suspect much difference over NVMEs jammed right against the board and usually just above, or under, the GPU lol
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True, but at least they (generally) get at least some air flowing over them. Also you can install heat sinks on them and some of them even come with them. Most cases have the 2.5" SSD mounts right against the side or front of the case, where little air would reach. With one or two, I wouldn't imagine it being much of a problem. But with eight, jam-packed in a 5.25" bay, against each other.. I'm not so sure. It would be interesting to see if there would be any way to test the thermals in such a setup.
 
JonCZ said:
True, but at least they (generally) get at least some air flowing over them. Also you can install heat sinks on them and some of them even come with them. Most cases have the 2.5" SSD mounts right against the side or front of the case, where little air would reach. With one or two, I wouldn't imagine it being much of a problem. But with eight, jam-packed in a 5.25" bay, against each other.. I'm not so sure. It would be interesting to see if there would be any way to test the thermals in such a setup.
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Most older laptops have the 2.5" position under the laptop with little or no airflow. With a single drive it's absolutely no problem. With a set of 8, it might be a bit hot, but in a sufficiently cooled PC and room it should be fine. With 24, you probably want forced air cooling on at least one side of the drives.
 
NightReaver said:
Literally nothing outdated about 5.25" bays. Cd drives, sure.
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I disagree with you on this. The main purpose of 5.25" bays was/is to hold 5.25" drives, which themselves are outdated. That said, they have been repurposed in many ways, so they aren't obsolete, but I would still argue they're somewhat outdated.
Sure, there are case manufacturers that include them today, because the drives are not obsolete and are still of some value to some users. But most cases no longer have these bays because the majority of consumers no longer need them. As a general statement, the PC community has largely moved on from 5.25" drives and bays. Albeit not completely, which is why you do still see them available to an extent.
 
JonCZ said:
I disagree with you on this. The main purpose of 5.25" bays was/is to hold 5.25" drives, which themselves are outdated. That said, they have been repurposed in many ways, so they aren't obsolete, but I would still argue they're somewhat outdated.
Sure, there are case manufacturers that include them today, because the drives are not obsolete and are still of some value to some users. But most cases no longer have these bays because the majority of consumers no longer need them. As a general statement, the PC community has largely moved on from 5.25" drives and bays. Albeit not completely, which is why you do still see them available to an extent.
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Idk, I still wouldn't chalk that up to the 5.25" bay being outdated. It can do things that no other solution can. I think if general PC users had a wider knowledge of what 1 or 2 of them can enable, you'd see them around more.

It seems nowadays most people just copy what YouTube influencer X or tech forum Y says.

Agree to disagree though.
 
Nobu said:
usb/media card readers, lcd displays, hot-swap bays, tool trays (for the really old school), buttons and knobs...
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usb readers are usually 3.5, ok maybe hot-swap bays, lol ok...
none are widley used and we can let 5.25 die.
 
pendragon1 said:
such as? res bays are gone, optical is next to dead, fan controllers maybe, but what else?!
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As mentioned before, most compact way of storing SATA ssds. Being able to fit 8 of them in a single bay is incredible. Better than having a couple of them bolted to random places in the PC. Some even open from the front for hotswapping.

Same with m.2 ssds.

Res bays aren't gone. Can still find them around. I'm using one of the nice koolance ones that has dual d5 pumps. All in the space of 2 bays. The aquaero 6xt is also really nice.

I feel like 5.25" bays get a lot of flack because people instantly dismiss them as "lol cd drives" without bothering to read any further.
 
NightReaver said:
As mentioned before, most compact way of storing SATA ssds. Being able to fit 8 of them in a single bay is incredible. Better than having a couple of them bolted to random places in the PC. Some even open from the front for hotswapping.

Same with m.2 ssds.

Res bays aren't gone. Can still find them around. I'm using one of the nice koolance ones that has dual d5 pumps. All in the space of 2 bays. The aquaero 6xt is also really nice.

I feel like 5.25" bays get a lot of flack because people instantly dismiss them as "lol cd drives" without bothering to read any further.
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ive watched all the shit that goes into them come and go.
so as stated, there are a couple specialized things that go in them, that 98% of people never use.
and as i stated on page one, two years ago, you can still get them IF you need them...
 
pendragon1 said:
ive watched all the shit that goes into them come and go.
so as stated, there are a couple specialized things that go in them, that 98% of people never use.
and as i stated on page one, two years ago, you can still get them IF you need them...
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Eh, that's their loss then. Doesn't change the fact that they're by far the most versatile bay in a PC and many people don't bother to even consider them outside of being a cd drive.
 
My last case I made sure to get a drive bay. I like having the option if I get an itch for an old game I have and want to replay.
 
The easiest thing is to get an external disc drive if you need it. This is especially helpful if you have a mATX/mITX build. Even today's typical ATX mid tower frees up so much space by leaving the internal 5.25" bay out.
 
JonCZ said:
The easiest thing is to get an external disc drive if you need it. This is especially helpful if you have a mATX/mITX build. Even today's typical ATX mid tower frees up so much space by leaving the internal 5.25" bay out.
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With 5 1/4" bays, I feel like I need a massive case to make building the machine not suck. I'm still using a big case, but the O11 Dynamic XL for example is way smaller than any case I've had in years and offered similar ease of building out the system as my larger cases did.
 
scojer said:
My last case I made sure to get a drive bay. I like having the option if I get an itch for an old game I have and want to replay.
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I have older games ripped to ISO, or I download them as I need them.
 
Dan_D said:
With 5 1/4" bays, I feel like I need a massive case to make building the machine not suck. I'm still using a big case, but the O11 Dynamic XL for example is way smaller than any case I've had in years and offered similar ease of building out the system as my larger cases did.
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Pretty much. Those bays are just in the way for cooling, fan placement, wire routing.

As Pendragon has said, most people have no use for them. They don't need SD readers (is this really that common of a thing?) or LCD displays or the like.

However, this place is supposed to be [H]ard, so we should all be aware of them. 10 years ago I was into those 5.25" bay add-ons, but these days I just want the PC to work.
 
scojer said:
I get that, but there's just something to owning a physical copy that I prefer.
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I own copies of all my games. It doesn't mean I want to wait an hour to install a game from a disc because of the slow speed. Personal preference, I guess.
 
auntjemima said:
I own copies of all my games. It doesn't mean I want to wait an hour to install a game from a disc because of the slow speed. Personal preference, I guess.
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To each their own!
It took me until 2014 or so to get rid of my floppy drive.
 
scojer said:
My last case I made sure to get a drive bay
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My newest case is a Phanteks (PH-ES614PTG_BK) Enthoo Pro I specifically picked this for the 3x 5.25" bays!
I still use optical media I buy CDs and DVDs (as well as Blu-ray discs but not as many) at second hand (thrift stores) stores for cheap and I need the drives to rip the content for my media server
auntjemima said:
It's funny we are all talking about this, because I noticed that my PC at work, which isn't THAT old (i5-6500), has a spot for a floppy drive.
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I doubt it actually has a place on the motherboard to plug in a floppy drive though. It is probably just a 3.5" external drive bay
 
Format _C: said:
My newest case is a Phanteks (PH-ES614PTG_BK) Enthoo Pro I specifically picked this for the 3x 5.25" bays!
I still use optical media I buy CDs and DVDs (as well as Blu-ray discs but not as many) at second hand (thrift stores) stores for cheap and I need the drives to rip the content for my media server.
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Just get a Linux distro version of the movie at the point. Will be better quality then DVDs too.
 
Format _C: said:
I doubt it actually has a place on the motherboard to plug in a floppy drive though. It is probably just a 3.5" external drive bay
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you used to be able to get floppy drive that connected to the internal usb header, sorta like this aio unit:
Sabrent CRW-FLP2 68-in-1 USB Internal Card Reader Plus 1.44 MB Floppy Drive - Vista Ready : Electronics (amazon.com)
1654809437464.png
 
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