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I am building a new system, as mine is very old and out of date now. I think i have picked out all the componants that will work together ok, but i would be gratefull if someone who has more experience than me having a gander and telling me if it will all work together ok! All the items are on PC Help Forum - Computer Tech Support and i am enclosing the quick find codes to make things a bit speedier!

ECS RS48m-m V1.0 socket AM2 onboard vga and audio matx - Quick find 125459

AMD Athlon 64 x2 5000 = (2.6ghz) socket AM2 dual core 1mb L2 cache - Quick find 111294

Coolermaster mars RR-CCX-W9u1-GP AM2 + socket 775 processor cooler - Quickfind 125165

Cruicial 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-4200 DDR2- 533 - Quick find 106132


Western digital WD2500KS 250GB 7200 rpm SATA2/300 16MB cache hard drive oem - Quick find 94403

Thermal take VA3000 BWA tsunami black aluminium midi tower case with window - Quick find 101936

Extra value 500w gold atx silent psu with pfc and 12cm fan -20 + 4 pin with 1xsata - Quickfind 126928

Zalman ZM-STG1 thermal grease - Quick find 125310

I think these will go together ok, but another opinion would be good. Can anyone tell me what OEM means? This is listed after a few of the items. I have an external cd/dvd drive that i will be using so that is why it is not on my list. Also, I have not included a graphics card, i think will need a pci express card, at the moment i have a radeon 9600 in my machine, i dont think I will be able to use it, but I dont know if I really need to buy one. I play all my games on my xbox 360, never on the pc anymore, all i will be using the pc for is windows and watching movies, do i really need to buy a graphics card for that?

Thanks in advance for your opinion

Ok, here's my opinion.

That looks like a very good system for just doing general things there is however a couple of things that I would personally do differently.

The first is the Power Supply, I seriously suggest spending a little more on a power supply and getting something decent as if you buy decent the first time chances are it's going to be safe and you won't have to buy again, I would go for this Coolermaster Power supply it's not too expensive and it is a very good power supply, If you cannot stretch to this I recommend getting a slightly cheaper case to make it fit the budget.

The second is the RAM, what you have gone for is fine but I would personally go for something a little faster such as this OZC 2GB Kit.

Another thing is why do you need to spend £34 on a CPU cooler when the cooler included with the CPU is more than adequate for this use and you will probably get a couple of 80/120mm fans included with the case, save the money and put it towards RAM/PSU.

The thermal grease I would go for something such as OCZ Ultra 5+ which is rebranded Arctic Silver 5, this is optional and purely a 'tried and true' for me.

The last thing I will say is graphics card is your choice, remember if you run anything even slightly graphically intense with onboard graphics it will take it's toll as it uses RAM and cpu cycles to render anything graphical, I personally would go with a CHEAP graphics card, doesn't matter what it is it will be better than on board and take the load off the system, especially if you plan to run vista.

OEM in this context means you will get the part advertised and nothing more, in the case of your hard drive it means you will get the drive only, no cables/manuals etc.

ok thanks for your opinion, i will get those things. Would this graphics card be ok?
Asus EAX300SE-X TD 128MB DVI-D/VGA PCI-E Graphics Card Quickfind code 105505

Sorry for the late response. Do you still require assistance with this problem?

No its fine thanks, i got that card and it works fine

Glad to hear you got it resolved.

*Marked as Resolved*