Starting off this is the barebone kit I'm going to buy. Asus M2N-MX SE Plus Motherboard AMD A64 X2 5000+ 2.60GHz Black Edition PowerUp Mid-T Case Crucial 2048MB PC5400 DDR2 667MHz Memory :X2 I'm planning on throwing in my 80GB Western Digital Cavier HD for now. Along with my Coolmax 400W Switching Power Supply. I'm also buying an EVGA Geforce 8400 GS 256mb Vid card. Throwing in my Pioneer DVD RW DVR-111 or w/e it is I forget... Heres a few questions: Will the coolmax PS be enough... it was a cheap budget PS for my old crap P3, wanted to salvage it to save money. Can the HD be swapped in without having to format? (I'm doubting this but hoping theres a quick alternative to formatting again) Will a hermaltake P4 S478 CPU Cooling Fan be enough to cool the Athlon X2 5000+ (I'm really doubting it will...) So yea, I'm pretty sure I have everything covered now... onboard sound is good enough for me (I have a very basic speaker setup).
How much is this barebone kit cost? I want to know because I think you may be able to shoot for some better parts with the same amount of money(you're in canada right?) If you're switching from a P3 then you will need to format your HDD. I WOULD STRONGLY recommend getting a decent PSU. Don't skimp on that.
Coolmax = Death. No more elaboration needed. Get a proper PSU or else. I recommend a Corsair VX 450W.
I actually had some problems with my Cred Card and lost out on this comp deal but started browsing Ebay for better ones, then got an email from tigerdirect with a new barebones kit. MSI K9N6SGM-V Motherboard - Qty: 1 $60.99 AMD A64 X2 5000+ 2.60GHz Black Edition Retail - Qty: 1 $85.99 Crucial 2048MB PC5400 DDR2 667MHz Memory - Qty: 1 $49.99 Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case - Qty: 1 $48.72 ‡You Save $75.70 I like the mobo+CPU, the case has a 450 watt PSU included(I can upgrade later for good measure) and Crucial ram isn't my ideal brand but will do for the price (hell it aint bad). The ram is listed here for $50 but its actually $30 so I bought another stick giving me 4GB (max mobo will handle). I also went with a Cooler Master 752 Vortex CPU fan+Heatsink. It was the best bang for buck wile keeping costs low. http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3427261&CatId=493 And for now I'm swapping in my old 80GB IDE HD till next month when I'm getting a 160GB Seagate Sata HD. All in all I'm paying $281 now, with $50 later for a HD making a full working system for about $331. Doesn't seem bad to me.
The power supply will be a deathtrap, I guarantee it. NEVER use it, and get your own. You could also have got this much better CPU heatsink, had you asked first: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=17225&vpn=FREEZER-7-PRO&manufacture=Arctic Cooling
It's not a great deal better, and depending on the shipping from ncix.com, it might cost me more. I got the cool master from tigerdirect for 30 plus it only added like 2 or 3 bucks extra to my shipping... The arctic cooling is 27 with a likelyhood of $7-$10 shipping at least... I'm paying less but getting less but it should be enough for my CPU shouldn't it?
Ah, hold on, you're using an AMD CPU aren't you? My mistake. you'd need the freezer 64 cooler instead, which aren't as good as the Freezer 7s, your choice is fine. In any case, since AMDs don't overclock very well, you don't really need a powerful cooler anyway.
