new machine parts advice needed

[savalas]

i folks, i'm putting a new machine together, so far have chosen:

MOBO: Abit NF7-S v2.0 nForce2 (Socket A) Motherboard (MB-028-AB)

PROCESSOR: AMD Barton 2500+ OEM

MEMORY: Corsair TWINX3200LL which should run at 400MHz

Would appreciate (not too expensive) recommendations for:

SATA HD
(do i need a PSU that supports this? are they any good?)

PSU
(been offered a free 350 watt quiet psu, is this powerful enough?)

CASE
nothing flash just reliable and easily accessible, suited to my mobo.

CD Burner
something fast and reliable

DVD rom
that plays multiregion dvd's

think thats all, do i need anything else?

tia, Dan

[nichomach]

Well, as far as the SATA hard disk goes, Maxtor DiamondMax Plus9 of whatever size. Fast enough, reliable as half a brick in a sock, and has a regular molex connector, so no special PSU or adapater needed.

[Trickle]

A gfx card.

A 300W psu would be fine for the above. The quality is possibly more important than the wattage. Usually peeps end up buying an el cheapo 400+ one which tends to end up handling the actual 200 or so watts actual max load perfectly fine.

Consider buying a DVD writer instead of 2 separate drives unless you physically need top speed on CD writing. The (still under scruitiny) Liton -+WR's are only £100 now. The fully tried and tested Pioneer 106's are about £120 (possibly the rebadged ones less?).

SATA. Possibly worth getting if you still see yourself using the HD: on a system 5 years from now. Otherwise its currently extra expense for no speed gain.

[Austin]

Mobo and CPU are the top choices. Don't forget a HSF, Volcano 11 (or 12?) are great and only about £15 so cheap. Corsair are over-priced, certainly no need for them nor 'twin' / 'matched' stuff either (just buy 2 sticks of the same stuff). I'd look at TwinMOS (esp with WinBond) and possibly Crucial or Adata too. 2x256MB PC3200 is all you need, lower latency or PC3500+ if you want to push for every last 1% of perf.

For SATA the Maxtor seems top choice although my one combined with my NF7-S v2.0 doesn't seem to be working 'optimally'. As said you don't need to buy a special SATA power connector if you get the Maxtor as it has both the std plug and a SATA plug. Also as said I'd rec you get regular PATA, I esp like Maxtor (7200-2 or 7200-8) not only because you get great speed, cool running, pretty quiet operation etc but because you can adjust the noise level (with relative perf drop) which is nice if the HD is simply too loud for you. 120GB is a nice size esp when you factor in price.

As also mentioned it is quality (hence brand) that's way more important than simple (claimed) Wattage. Brands to look out for are Antec, Enermax, ThermalTake, ToPower, S.Flower (TTGI) and Sparkle in rough order of pref. IIRC Scan sell CTW/CWT which are most likely rebadged Antecs, well worth checking out. 350-400W is probably wise, see how prices compare. For the case I advise trawling around local shops, see and feel them in the flesh and check they have good quality, good ventilation and case fan mounts. You ideally want vents at the bottom front (ideally with placement for a fan) and an exhaust fan at the back near where the CPU will be.

As also said (I feel like an echo) do consider a DVD Writer as they along with their media have come down and many now do both + & - writing. NEC are another brand to look out for. Just be sure you can multi-region it and rip at full speed. If you do go seperates top picks are LiteOn for both CDRW and DVDROM.

If you want to play games then the gfx card is THE most important part of all. Best bang while looking to the long term has to be the Rad9600PRO esp if you're happy to o/c. If gaming is a smaller concern then look for a good deal on a GF4TI4200. If you don't really want it for gaming you could settle for a GF4MX but I would suggest going a little better for at least GF-FX5200 or Rad9000-9200. Finally don't underestimate how much diff a nice keyb and mouse will make ... or how much extra you get out of your PC by adding a good printer, scanner, d.camera etc.

PS. Monitor, CRT or LCD?

[savalas]

Excellent advice so far... many thanks.

currently using a CRT monitor, will update that at a later date, hoping LCD prices keep dropping!

[Volcano]

IMO go for a 80gb Maxtor plus9 8mb cache IDE.

On the NF7-S v2 with the new 3.13 nforce drivers they fly