Ok, so I'm trying to gear up for my first ever computer build. I've rumaged around the internet for all the guidance I can find (alot of it from here, thank you very much ). I've almost got my parts list ready to order and ship but that's not what this threads about. What I want to know is the little things I need to make sure I buy or get or expect to need to do that isn't always mentioned in the descriptions of parts or how to guides on the web. For instance, one of the SATA HD's I was looking at was OEM and a reviewer happend to mention that you litterally just got the HD, no SATA cable. Are all OEM's like this or is it hit or miss? When I go to buy a SATA cable is there any difference besides the length? Or how about when I go to do the install, am I going to get half way through the build and then find out I need a banana shaped torx driver with a resevoir for blinker fluid to attach the cpu to the motherboard? So have at it, any little thing that you can think of that a first time builder should know. Thanks

Matt

Hi there,

Some good questions! Hopefully, some good answers:

The difference between OEM and Retail is pretty much the packaging and "extras". For a CPU, OEM means Processor only (in a basic protective box of some sort). Retail means Processor and heatsink/fan, thermal paste (usually pre-applied), flashy box, and manual. If you aren't overclocking, go retail and use the included heatsink/fan.

All hard drives and optical drives (DVD Burners etc...) that come as OEM are the drive itself. The retail version will include installation screws, flashy box, manual, and a CD with some form of software on it (e.g. Nero and troubleshooting tools).

Depending on how many components are going to need it, you shouldn't need to be getting any extra SATA cables. Just make sure you get the retail version motherboard, and it will come with a few in the box. Differences (apart from length) are limited to a standard cable, a "right-angled" cable designed for cable management, and Gigabyte's version with a small locking mechanism on it.

The only tools you will require are a good philips head screw driver, pointy-nose pliers (in case you drop any screws in a hard-to-reach spot), and an anti-static wrist strap for handling the sensitive components.

As a heads up, just make sure the motherboard, CPU, and case (minimum) are all retail, they will usually ship with enough stuff to cover the rest being OEM. (e.g. the case should come with enough screws to install the hard drive and DVD Burner).

And you're welcome to post the parts list if you wish, we can offer some advice if you want it.

Cheers

Troy

Thanks for the great feed back but I've come to expect no less from these forums. I will most definatly post a "final" list before I go to order. I got some other replies around the web talking about using a couple of smaller HD's rather than one large one. Their reasoning was that the larger HD's tend to fail more often than the smaller HD's. Any truth to this or is this just a rumor?