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ULT33115 :: Ultra Blue MicroFly Aluminum Micro ATX Tower Case with Front USB, FireWire and Audio Ports and Ultra V-Series 400-Watt Power Supply

MBM-MSA2-4600 :: Mach Speed Venom MSA2-6100V NVIDIA Socket AM2 MicroATX Motherboard and an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ 2.40GHz OEM Processor (2.45 lbs)

ULT40030 :: Ultra / X-Wind / Socket AM2/754/939/940 / Aluminum / CPU Cooling Fan

ULT31696 :: Ultra Dual Channel 2048MB PC4200 DDR2 533MHz Memory (2 x 1024MB)

E145-7840 :: EVGA GeForce 7300 GS / 256MB GDDR2 / PCI Express / DVI / VGA / TV Out /
L12-1132 :: Lite-On LH-20A1S SuperAllwrite / 20x DVD±R Burn / 16x DVD±R Read / 8x DVD+RW / 6x DVD-RW / 8x DVD±R DL / 12x DVD-RAM / 48x32x CD-R/RW / SATA / DVD Burner
E261-1038 :: HP USB Multimedia Keyboard with 2 Port HUB and Mouse (OEM)

He has an ide 250 hard drive already
so he's going to hookup the hard drive to the ide-which there is only one hookup
and hook the dvd to the sata

you can put the info in the search for the parts

http://www.tigerdirect.com/indexus.asp?

sorry i didn't hyperlink them

any advice or help is appreciated-will check back tomorrow
i don't know as much as he does about it
but he's built them at school

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Everything looks compatable but I do have a couple suggestions. First is get a different power supply. Many people don't realize how important it is to have a quality PSU. My personal favorite brand is Antec. They also sell case + PSU combos but I believe you would have to go to newegg to get one. Next suggestion is getting a single 1gb stick of RAM since the mobo only has two slots; and possibly faster speed if your son plans to overclock. This will allow him to upgrade later on if he chooses. PATA hard drivers are slower than their SATA counterparts but I couldn't tell you how big a of a difference it is because when I made the switch from IDE to SATA I had a whole new system.

Also don't forget about an operating system and thermal paste. I think Windows XP home and Vista both sell for around $90.

Looks like a good overclocker .

[Titan8990]

Everything looks compatable but I do have a couple suggestions. First is get a different power supply. Many people don't realize how important it is to have a quality PSU. My personal favorite brand is Antec. They also sell case + PSU combos but I believe you would have to go to newegg to get one. Next suggestion is getting a single 1gb stick of RAM since the mobo only has two slots; and possibly faster speed if your son plans to overclock. This will allow him to upgrade later on if he chooses. PATA hard drivers are slower than their SATA counterparts but I couldn't tell you how big a of a difference it is because when I made the switch from IDE to SATA I had a whole new system.

Also don't forget about an operating system and thermal paste. I think Windows XP home and Vista both sell for around $90.

Looks like a good overclocker .

[w0lverine]

Next suggestion is getting a single 1gb stick of RAM since the mobo only has two slots

I suggest sticking with the 2X1024. or you could just find a board that has 4 RAM slots. Newegg is the best place for parts these days, and if you already know then then cool. that is a very good system, infact, im looking to get that same athlon chip.

I also agree with Titan as to you should get a better Power supply. You will probably be maxing out the 400w that comes with that case. I use a 450 for a sempron 3000 machine, and its still not the best.

[w0lverine]

Heres a good board with adequate specs. One good thing about this board is SLi compatibility.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813128321

SLi is the ability for two video cards to run on the motherboard. Although you probably will not need or use that function, its always a fun upgrade to have available.
Here is a recommended Power Supply:
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817182032

Also recommended RAM to use with an Athlon 64 X2 system. Not Overclockable, but OC'ing should be done by professionals only really, as you risk bricking your hardware.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231087

=)

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Thanks for the help folks.
Yes, he has said he wants to upgrade the power supply.
And I'm not sure if another mother board will work with this small form factor.
But I'll check it out.
The High School provided windows xp professional.
A service of microsoft is to help students in this area-no charge.

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the case

http://www.tigerdire...p?EdpNo=1800611

motherboard

http://www.tigerdire...u=MBM-MSA2-4600

he had the teacher review his choices-seemed ok.

Edited by cmpm, 30 March 2007 - 01:23 AM.

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Money is an issue so the hard drive is a pull from a downed celeron emachine.
I had bought that hard drive for him some time ago cuz the 40 didn't hold all his music.
You know 17 year olds.......

[w0lverine]

So a microATX? man those can be annoying. my dad uses one at his office, and that thing is a straight pain to work on. Is there a reason your going for a microATX and not something like this?:

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811128028

mid tower cases tend to be easier to work in/on. and you can go with a cheaper combo like the second choice down:

http://www.newegg.co...o...e=10&page=1

if you check the second one down that is a good atx combo for the case above (same CPU)
if you still want to stick with the micro atx, the bottom three combos are all micro atx, and cheaper than what you are looking at, and the middle one comes with 4 RAM slots vs. the 2 slotted board you at looking at.

[w0lverine]

also with those combinations, you can save some money for a better HDD than a used pull like this sturdy fella:

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822148144

or if you dont need 16mb cache you can go for a 8mb cache:

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822148161

=)

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He wanted it more portable so he could take it to lan parties.

Thanks for the links though w0lverine.

I tried to talk him into a mid tower just for more pci slots,
but he is stuck with this one for now.

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O i forgot to say it is a 250 gig hard drive he has now.

He'll probably want a sata when he gets to college.
Then he will have two big hard drives.

edit- i did say 250..oops

Edited by cmpm, 30 March 2007 - 10:59 AM.

[w0lverine]

lol when i was his age we didnt have microATX cases to take to lan parties, we were stuck with our mid and full towers.
and that pull sounds like it would work fine seein as its a 250 gig.

[cmpm]

heyyyy......

The motherboard sets on a slide out tray
so just slide the tray out to put the motherboard on and everything else
then slide it back in
it can come completely out to work on it

so it's easy to work on, he's working on it now

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