max # of optical drives

[HatchetMan]

Ok, so most mobos support 2 hdd's, more than that with a pci card.
How many optical drives do most mobo's support? I have 2, if I wanted to add a third and fourth, would I have to buy a pci card?

My 2 current hdd's are sata and I am adding a pci for a third one (which happens to be ide). Just very curious about the optical ide drives. I have empty bays and various devices just laying around. Thanks in advance.

[Raga]

Most (old) mobos support four IDE PATA devices over two cables. You can divide that between hard drives and optical drives as you prefer.

Most new mobos also have SATA-ports to make your day. Mine has place for four SATA-devices and four PATA-devices.

You have Asus P5P800 - it seems to have room for 2 SATA hard drives and 2 PATA devices, unless I'm totally misreading their site. A bit on the slim side - surprising! With regards to your question, it would then mean that you can have two optical drives tops, leaving you room for two SATA hard drives.

[HatchetMan]

That's about just what I was thinking, thank you.