IDE or SATA cables will come with the mobo usually. Only slight criticism is that it's a fairly cheap mobo. Personal experience suggests that it's always better to spend £70 or so (more the better) in order to get a decent board. Rest looks fine though!

 

Oh, and also worth noting is that standard AMD coolers tend to be less-than-quiet. I'd reccomend replacing the cooler at some point. Again from personal experience, the Zalman CNPS9500 absolutely rocks bollocks! But you can of course easily do this after you've bought the thing.

As Dave!! said, I'd recommend getting a better motherboard (Asus, Abit, maybe DFI if you can afford it). Other than that, my advice would be to get a Crucial Ballistix memory kit - they work at tighter timings and I don't think the price difference is that big at all.

 

The PSU should be fine, I currently luuurve Seagete, make sure you have enough fans for cooling (1 front and 1 rear should be more than enough), again get a silent(er :& ) CPU fan, and you could even get an ATi/NV Silencer for your graphics card of choice, which will be considerably quieter and will expel the hot air outside the case straight away. Also try to have the front intake fan blowing on the hard drive(s), it will only do them good. Or ask Trig tbh.

I mean its upto you really......... I mean come one......

 

Technlogy that isnt fully used yet............

 

I mean........... its up to you ........... but...........

http://www.techneek.co.uk/reviews/Zalman-CNPS95/19.html

 

Heavy heavy heavy and large.. I would not choose Dave!!'s recommendations.

Unless you've already got a PCI express graphics card you'll be needing one to get a picture on your computer telly.

Compared to some heat sinks which are nearly a kilogram in weight, the Zalman is close enough to the recommended weight not to be a problem. 80 grams is nothing really.

And from THG:



Yeah Trig. What crap advice I'm offering!

That's the plan!

 

Also thanks to other peeps, I will look at other motherboards.

 

If I'm buying a fan/cooler do I need anything specific or will they all fit to whatever case/mobo?

They'll fit into any standard ATX case. Most motherboards are compatible, but to be sure, check here. However, it only covers boards made up to August 05. But it's a pretty comprehensive list.

Cool beanses. Think I've got it sorted now - whole system for about £750.

 

About graphics cards - there's no reason to go for a particular make, is there? And I take it 7800GTs are the cream of the crop at the moment?

No, ATi's are.

The X1900 is probably the fastest card around at the moment.

7900GT, in terms of price/performance. Toss-up between the 7900GTX and the X1900XTX in terms of more-money-than-sense.

Reeto.

Hello Nice People I have another question.

 

What is the best way to get Windows?

 

The computer I have at the moment was bought built from Evesham, so the License is on the computer. Can I use this key and just download Windoze (seeing as I don't have an XP CD, just two 'recovery' CDs.

 

But if this is not possiblé, I don't want to Jimlad XP properly, so I'd want to buy it. But the only student License I can seem to find is the Student Pro Upgrade one! So I take it I already need a windoze for that to work? It's all very confusing.

 

Also might it be better to wait for Vista so I don't have to pay mondo upgrade costs or is that too far in the future/ not really that much anyway.

 

Thanks for your help!

Your XP key should work but you will need to get the matching windows Version which is likely Windows XP Home OEM.

Ok cool. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find anywhere to... 'procure' such a program. Torrentspy only has Pro. Where's the best place to look?

Unfortunately, the best option is usually to ask someone for a copy whilst stressing to them that you've got a serial number and just need a copy of the disk. Almost all net versions are Pro Corporate. I've got disks of XP Home at work, but they're Dell only and won't work on none-Dell machines.

I (think) I've managed to find one! Seems to be downloading at a fair speed. Probably turn out to be an upgrade or something. Anyway, one more question, I think I'M BUYING TODAY as I had a shit exam and need some retail therapy - I don't need 64bit Windows do I? Normal will work just be less good and then I can wait for Vista?

Normal will work fine, it's just that you won't be able to run 64 bit stuff on it. But at the same time XP64 needs brand new drivers for everything and some bits have problems with it.

Rizocking. Thanks!