Well, decided that after the fiasco of my last store bought computer (Advent T9207 *spits*) i've decided to have a pop at building my own and could use some advice. I've listed the parts i'm buying / already have, would it be possible for someone who knows what they are doing to have a glance and see if any of them conflict / any other parts I may need. I've read up as much as I can and am fairly certain they're all compatible, but naturally i'm anxious to be certain.

Also, i'm going to be putting the Hard Drive from my old computer straight into the new one, and haven't had a chance to format it before doing so. Will this have any negative effect or will I be able to format it on the new computer? (Windows XP is integrated and it doesnt use a disc to format).

Thanks in advance guys.

Asus P5N-E SLI 650i Socket 775 PCI-E Onboard Audio ATX Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping (2.4GHz 1066MHz) Socket 775 L2 8MB Cache (2x4MB (4MB per core pair) Retail Boxed Processor

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800Mhz/PC2-6400 Memory GOLD DUAL CHANNEL Unbuffered CL5(5-5-5-18)

Extra Value Pst700-it1 Thermal Compound Silver Grease Injection Tube

Extra Value 650W Modular 12cm Fan PSU - 20+4pin 4/8pin ATX12V, PCI-E, 3x SATA

Casecom Black Mid Tower Case - Front Blue LED 120mm Fan - With Side Window

Zotac 8800GT 512MB DDR3 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card

Hard Drive is a 250gb 7200RPM, the DVD-RW drive is dual layer but thats all the information I have on it and i'll be using a 19" sony LCD monitor

Also any tips on the actual building process itself would be much appreciated, as well as any common pitfalls to avoid! Also, I have little idea what to do with the thermal compound except it was reccommended heavily on every article I read. Is it worth having?

CrazyBizzle,

Good Build but have only one suggestion::

I prefer ANTEC FULL TOWER METAL CASES for the extra space and you can order spare parts by number.

When you start to cram more components in the case (And You Will; Believe Me), you'll really appreciate the Full Tower.

They are competitive in price also.

One Building Tip::

Use a non-conductive (carpeted) table or bench and mount all components on the Mother Board (FIRST) before installing the board in the case.

This way, you are not putting strain on the board by pressing in (ram, CPU, etc.) which sits on brass offsets on the case back plate.

Regards and Have Fun,
Rick P.

Well, if you format it immediately, you will lose all of that data that you have on it. When you go to install your operating system, it will give you the option to format the drive.

Question, are you using the stock heatsink and fan for your cpu? If so, you will want to remove the thermal transfer 'paste' that is on the back of the heatsink before you apply the thermal paste you got.

If you want to recover the data from the old hard drive, I would use an USB attached enclosure (they come for $20). Then you can always use it as an external disk. Unless it is a super disk with a large capacity, I would probably not mess up my new system with it. Disks are so cheap these days, that it is not worth it.
I see your point on the Q6600. Yes it's cheap, but you get what you pay for. And I think there is no need to overclock in this day and age (with the selection available). Too many risks involved.

@whs

Ah i'm not worried about losing the information, so it should be ok to attach and reformat straight away? Excellent. Ideally I'd like to get a new HD but its just one of those things... its a 250gb and i'm loathe to buy another one unless I take the step up in the RPM and SATA sections, which I can't afford at this time.

@budhorseman

To be completely honest I whacked the grease in there as it was ridiculously well recommended, will the paste that comes with the retail box be sufficient enough?

@raphoenix

But wouldn't a nVidia chipset be better for gaming and the potential to add a second graphics card at a (hopefully soon) later date? Or does the performance boost by using harmonious chipset-processor outweigh this?

If you are not overclocking you should be fine with the stock solution, if you plan to overclock you will want a different cooling solution.

As for the chipsets, keep in mind the Vista and nVidia have not been playing well together and have been know to give people headaches, so you may wish to consider an ATI crossfire set-up.

@ Rick P.,

not to but in but i noticed you said "Use a non-conductive (carpeted) table or bench and mount all components on the Mother Board (FIRST) before installing the board in the case."

Does this mean that you want him to build the PC on carpet?

Dan

@ Rick,

Sorry to take so long to reply, In my experience it is best to build PCs on an anti-static mat. I understand that this is not possible for everyone so if you can not get one than build on non-static surface like a table or counter top. The problem with carpet is that it can create static and PCs and static do not get along very well.

Dan