Do I need an Optical Drive for gaming?

[MatTech]

I'm going to be playing games like Sim City 5 and BF3 and 4. Even minecraft. As far as I know, these games can be downloaded from origin (excluding minecraft). I already have BF3 on CD. Can I use the product key and download it? Can all of these games be played without a CD? Thanks!

 

[logang]

Most games now a days use online DRM, at least the ones I play, and therefore can be played without the disk after instillation. I don't know if BF3 requires the disk to install or if you can just use the key code and get it online, but in the worst case scenario you can get an external portable disk drive and just plug it in when necessary.

I get most of my games from steam and haven't used a disk since Diablo 3 release, and that isn't necessary once you register the game with blizzard.

 

[MatTech]

Most games now a days use online DRM, at least the ones I play, and therefore can be played without the disk after instillation. I don't know if BF3 requires the disk to install or if you can just use the key code and get it online, but in the worst case scenario you can get an external portable disk drive and just plug it in when necessary.

I get most of my games from steam and haven't used a disk since Diablo 3 release, and that isn't necessary once you register the game with blizzard.

So I need the disk for installation?

 

[logang]

For BF3? I don't know. I know that once you register your key for Diablo 3 you can download it from their website instead of using the disk.