Could do with some help for my first build :)

Hi,

I'd really appreciate it if someone could check over this build and see if the components are compatible. This is my first build so I'm abit of a noob :P And I was also wondering if I would need to purchase any more cables and I actually need to buy this thermal paste.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/arcti...n-their-h-s-fs)
Arctic Cooling MX-2 High Performance Thermal Compound (it's what arctic use on their Coolers)

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/samsu...-scribe-retail
Samsung SH-S223L/RSMS 22x DVD±R, 8x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, x12 RAM SATA L/scribe Retail

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500w-...-12v-120mm-fan
500W Silverstone SST-ST50F-ES Strider, 80 PLUS, 80% Eff', SLI/CrossFire, 34dB, EPS 12V, 120mm Fan

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/arcti...p-to-130-watts!
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro v2.1 - S1366/S1156/S775/AM3/AM2+/AM2/939 Up to 130 Watts!

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1gb-p...reet-fighter-4
1GB Palit GT 240, 1580MHz GDDR3, GPU 550MHz, Shader 1340MHz, 96 Cores, D-Sub/ DL DVI-I/ HDMI

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500gb...mb-cache-85-ms
500GB Hitachi 0F10381 Deskstar7K1000.C, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.5 ms

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/2gb-h...red-cas-9-150v
2GB Hypertec DDR3 PC3-10666 (1333) Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9, 1.50V

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/amd-a...mhz-95w-retail
AMD Athlon II X4 640, Propus, Quad Core, S AM3, 3GHz, 2MB Total Cache, HT 2000MHz, 95W, Retail

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/asus-...er-case-no-psu
Asus TA-D21, Black, Midi Tower Case, No PSU

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/msi-8...-sata-raid-atx
MSI 870U-G55, AMD 770, S AM3, PCI-E (x16), DDR3 1600MHz (OC), SATA 3Gb/s, SATA RAID, ATX

Thanks very much for taking the time :)

I'd go for the GT 430 rather than the GT240.

It may also be worth considering the Core i3 540 over the Athlon X4 as it tends to be faster in most scenarios.

Thanks for the advice! Apart from that is everything compatible? And do i need to purchase the thermal paste or will the cpu come with some?

Everything seems compatible.

Obviously if you went with the i3, you would need a P55/H55 motherboard.

Yes, boxed CPU's come with thermal paste on the heatsink, also, the Arctic Cooler comes with thermal paste already on it so you wouldn't need to buy any separate.

Ah rite, that saves me 3 or 4 squid then :P One last question (sorry for being a complete noob but I've gotta start somewhere) Will I need to purchase any more cables or will everything needed be included?
I think I'll stick with the athlon and the motherboard I have right now because I like the idea of crossfire graphics cards that I'll probably be upgrading to in the near future.
thanks again for time :)

Cables for your hard drives and dvd drives should come with the motherboard, usually 2-4 SATA cables will be bundled. All other cables you need to power your drives etc will come attached to the PSU :)

for preference i would have gone for a micro atx case and mainboard, normal thermal compound is fine, if you need a monitor check out the LED ones they cost more but over 3 years they will save you in energy and they look better. 1tb for 10 quids more will be handy if ever u get a tv recording card.

Personally I'd not go with the Asus cases then then to be a bit :censored:
have a look at these instead
Cooler master Elite 330 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coole...r-case-w-o-psu or 331 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coole...r-case-w-o-psu or 370 (although currently out of stock) http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coole...r-case-w-o-psu

I'd also look at the NZXT Evo beta http://www.scan.co.uk/products/nzxt-...r-case-w-o-psu :)

Cooler, I'd look at ether the Xigmatek HDT-S963 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/xigma...fan-cpu-cooler same size and performance as the ACf7p but cheaper
or the Coolermaster hyper 212+ http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coole...m2-am2plus-am3 better than the ACf7p and only £3 more ;) (make sure the case you buy is at least 190mm wide, if it's narrower you may have issues with the size of the cooler, all the cases I suggested will if it ;))

Bigger issue of graphics, what do you want to use this for? gaming? if so you'll want a better graphics card, if only internet/office/watching movies or simular then don't bother with a seperate graphics card, go for a 785g or 880g chipset motherboard and just use the onboard graphics.