^ wow do I hear an echo in here? sandiman pretty much repeated what I said BUT:
I would get a Radeon 9800 XT also but the GeForce is just fine. Don't wait for PCI express like he says, it wont work in that mobo.
No, you shouldnt use onboard sound (Not when you are getting a 5.1 speaker system). Like I said. Audigy 2 ZS.
People need to learn to read the entire post before writing. As mentioned, I checked that mobo and it comes with a great CPU, the AMD 64 3400+.
The HDD coolers are unnecessary, but fun to have (plus they move air through the case up top a little better). So, I would leave it in. Extra air movement in the case is never a bad thing.
I already said what you should do with the hard drives. As for the Raptors, they are great, but expensive, and only 80 gigs apiece. If you are going to get a Raptor, you might as well get 2 and RAID them. However, that would only be 160 gigs. If you want more space (like it seems you do) go with my original suggestion.
as for the athlon comment.. uhm, regular athlons don't work in this board. only AMD 64s. and it comes with the CPU. so yeah...
one last thing i forgot to mention. That Speeze cooler isnt that much better than the stock cooler that comes with your CPU. I would suggest something like a thermaltake venus 12 instead, if you are really looking for a high-performance heat sink
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