Militaris

I hope you realise that the Radeon 9800xt is a AGP card so it would not be comptaible with that motherboard.

I do not see any obvious problems with it, should be a decent machine... :) (ps. I still reckon you should of brought a laptop and a Desktop)

In my opinion Linux is not worth the hassle, although I have not had the best of luck when I have tried it, I have found it to be sluggish, unstable and not very user friendly. It also had a habit of corrupting itself and later refusing to start. If you have nothing better to do, then by all means learn how to use Linux, but it has next to no market share for a reason. I would only consider using it on a HTPC or a server.

Currently drive a 1991 Honda accord inspire, good car, although it does not like going where I take it. Thinking of selling it and purchasing a 4wd

The following is the 'gaming' computer I want from currently available parts in New Zealand retailers. (Although not planning on upgrading until later in the year) CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (maybe AMD Opteron) Motherboard: DFI NF4 SLI Infinity nForce4 Sli Memory: 2x 512MB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM Video Card: XFX 7800GT 256MB Hard-Drive: Seagate 160GB Case: Cooler Master Centurion PSU: Enermax 485w Noisetaker Current Computer Might end up as a HTPC later in the year. CPU: AMD athlon 2400+ Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-7N400-L Memory: 512 MB Video card: Legend GeForce 6600 GT (128 MB) Case: No idea 'ETC system sticker' PSU: Enermax 485w Noisetaker

I just buy the cheapest clothing which looks good... if it has a ugly logo I would avoid it. When I buy clothing for tramping I generally buy Swazi, EarthSeaSky, Kathmandu, Fairydown, Macpac, Mamoth, Icebreaker, The North Face.... (probably more) Then I would buy the cheapest brand which meets my requirements, also slightly bias towards the New Zealand brands.

The Gigabyte GA-K8NSC-939 ($62.00) has gotten good reviews for overclocking. (atleast board in that series have gotten good reviews) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128286 I was not able to find any decent reviews on the Mach Speed Viper or any other of the suitable boards.... (although I only did a search on about half of the ones on newegg)

k, that is a PSU. You really only need one power supply, I really can't think of anything that would require more than one per case I have 5 power supplies. They are useful to keep around just in case one dies or something.

The xion does look like the better case, although the supplied power supply could be underpowered.... Might want to look into getting a better quality PSU when finances allow. A 400-450watt Enermax or Antec powersupply would be fine.

Out of the above two i would probably go with the HIS, because it is currently cheaper. Although the Sapphire is a excellent card, for only a few dollars more (after rebate) you can buy a true X850XT.... (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814161164) Another option, which slots in between the two is the eVGA Geforce 6800GS CO SE. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130271 At $169.00 (after rebate) it is easily faster and has better features then the His x800gto. Overclocking is increaseing the 'speed' which a component operates at to highter then stock settings. There are several methods on how this is done. Here is a guide on overclocking. http://forums.overclockers.co.nz/showth ... eadid=7041 (Getting quite old but still has useful content)

The main advantage of the sapphire is that you are almost 'guranteed' the ability to unlock the extra PixelPipelines (from reading newegg comments it seems Sapphire has been unlocking the extra pipelines themselves). The extra 4 pipes can significantly improve the preformance. It is pretty much a x850xt but being sold as a x800gto. The HIS cards seems to be factory overclocked. If you do not want to play around with unlocking or overclocking (and hence risk voiding warranty) then this would be the better purchase. The HIS is also a Retail version which could result in a better bundle, and with rebate it is by far the cheapest. The powercolour (Do you mean this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814131317 ), it does look great on paper. But the 1600xt fails to preform in real life. There seems to be a bottleneck somewhere which prevents it from preforming. I have heard a few people saying that it is designed to run in furture games.... although I am suspect of such claims and would beleive it when I see it.

I often find that SLI boards are cheaper then ultra boards in this part of the world. Their only downside is one less PCI slot. I have aslo heard people claim that SLI boards are often better quality (although never seen any proof, although that applies to any opinion on quality)...

Yeah it should be fine (make sure that the CPU is socket 939), Gigabyte boards are decent and quite well made.

Below is a list* of countries (collected from news sources on the Internet and from the wikipedia) which the Cartoons have been published in, I also coloured 'red' any Muslim countries which have published them.... I also included a rough guide on when they were first published a news agency in that country. September 30 2005 Denmark October 17, 2005 Eygpt November 3, 2005 Germany November 9, 2005 Romania January, 7 2006 Sweden January 10 Norway January 22 Belgium January 31 Iceland February 1 France Italy Spain Netherlands (?) February 2 Jordan, America Portugal Hungary Bulgaria Greenland February 3 New Zealand Ireland Canada Slovakia February 4 Poland Czech Republic Malaysia February 5 Australia Fiji February 6 Israel South Africa Croatia Indonesia Ukraine Yemen February 7 Brazil Mentioned in media but unknown date Japan Philippines The thing I find the most interesting about the above list is that the cartoons were published in a Egyptian newspaper (Al Faqr) during October 2005.... If the cartoons really are so offensive why did a newspaper targeting a audience of Muslim faith publish these cartoons, why is Egypt not being abused like the western countries. Is it alright for Islamic newspapers to insult Muhammad but not infidel newspapers? 64 mps in the Jordan parliament want to place a trade boycott on several countries (Denmark, Norway and New Zealand) which have published the cartoons. This has raised several questions. Why is it alright for themselves to publish them, but they want to boycott other countries, Why only these three countries, Is it because they are small and do relatively little trade so have a small impact on their economy? , Does this mean that trade is more important then punishing 'countries' which have offend their god?. *if anyone has a more accurate list feel free to MP me so I can enhance/improve it. Update There is a comprehensive list on wikipedia link below, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartoon_riots (Currently correcting mine) edit expanded list. Would improve more later.

Question in Short for people who do not want to read my entire post What would be the best MP3 player if its main use would be storing photos from a digital camera. Intro I am currently in the search for a decent portable photo storage devices (PSD), or it could take the form of a MP3 player with hard-drive. The main purpose of the device would be to store large numbers of photos when I am away from my computer. The dedicated PSD can be expensive devices (eg. Epson P-4000) (A laptop is probably cheaper), and often 'I assume because of economy of scale' the MP3players offer more for less. Although there are a few PSD for simalar amounts. ( A few examples can be seen here https://www.jaldigital.com.au/catalog/d ... 5a7636de22 ) So any suggestions on what MP3 player would be the best photo storage device? Options that have interested me I like the look of the Transcend Digital Album 20GB MP3 Player although it is expensive for its storage size. The iPod Video 30GB, and the iRIVER PMP120 20GB also look tempting. They both sell for approx the same price here (New Zealand). The link below can be used for a guide for MP3 player prices in New Zealand. (Although not a complete list) http://www.pricespy.co.nz/cat_15.html#g165 Features I desire I would like it to have good battery life and use AA or AAA batteries. (They are so much more convient and less expensive then proprietary batteries which every manufactuer seem be in love with). Have not been able to find one myself. - I require a decent size of storage, atleast 10GB but would prefer around 20-30GB.... - Support for SD cards and CompactFlash (includes adapators) - A large LCD screen would be nice, for photo viewing, maybe 2.5". Although not 100% necessary. - I also do not want to spend more money then I have to. - Having good sound quality is a bonus :) I do not think I left out any info...

I could not get a PSU to fit once, but then forcing it into the gap worked. Then only 3 of the 4 screws matched the appropriate holes... I also have cut myself several times, and a couple of driver related problems, once a hard-drive failed to work (the shop quickly replaced it and gave me a free mouse). thats about it. When I can I always get the shops to put it together, that way the parts get tested, and most seem quite happy to do it (espically if it would save them the cost of extra postage). If you check that the parts are compatible, it should be quite a cruisey process putting them all together.

Just a update I read.... Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main ... do0402.xml

They have gotten themselves into a complete hissy fit. A couple of the local New Zealand papers have republished the cartoons, and the state broadcasting have showed them several times. They just have to toughen up and stop being overly sensitive. Pictures of the riots, members of the religion of peace protesting, ect Link

Although this is just for discussion. Intel CPU are not bad.... AMD just makes better ones for cheaper*. For todays games which are so heavily GPU restricted, the choice of which processor is of less importance. *The cheapest intel dual core is cheaper then the cheapest AMD dual core, for users who do not max out their CPU often, but do multi-tasking the Intel chip is better value then the AMD one.

Yeah for a AMD system DDR2 is not currently supported. Must have thought this was the Intel system slayerspud is building in his thread.

DDR500 is not a officaly supported standard for memory, that is way it is difficult to find a board which supports it. But many motherboards can support it. Unless you plan on overclocking getting expensive ram like that is not really worthwhile. I suggest following. Its preformance would be simalar and they are cheaper. The only need for expensive ram is for overclocking. 2Gb (2x1Gb) Corsair Value Select PC3200 DDR ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã117.37 http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductI ... tID=217959 A DDR2 Alternative would be. http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductI ... tID=121626 GPU The Geforce 6800 is a good value for money video card, (I would personally try and get the Connect 3D ATI PCI-E X800GTO). Case The choice of case is largely up to personal preference, I find the CoolerMaster Centurion or the Cavalier cases to be good value for money. Motherboard I do not know much about the different intel boards, so can not suggest one.

From my experience retail boxes contain everything which is required. It would include Thermal something. The CPU is likely to already have the Heatsink attached with a thermal compound apllied. You might also get a couple of CDs, manual ect. There is not much of a difference between the different 'types' of thermal compound. It is normally only a matter of a few degrees which is not significant for operation.

From what I read both are very simalar.... I would dig up more info on it. Edit: DDR2 is slightly cheaper, it is worth considering. from MSY Technology. DDR2 Corsair 1GB DDR2 RAM Value PC4200 A grade Memory 2x 512MB $112.00 (From what I read no good for overclocking but fine otherwise)

Unless you plan on overclocking there is no chance of getting a 2.8ghz AMD CPU on your budget. I would build partly on what Chaosbringer suggested. CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.0GHz Socket 939 This is good CPU for its price, not much point to get a faster one on your budget. The money is better spent elsewhere. Motherboard: You would require a Socket 939 motherboard, with a nForce4 ultra chip in it (nForce4 SLI are also worth looking at). Quite a range of decent ones. I would suggest a few when I get free time. RAM: There are many types of ram, not just two. I suggest you purchase 2x512mb or 2x 1GB. The type of ram should be PC3200 DDR400 SDRAM. You should also purchase value ram.... no point in buying the expensive stuff unless you plan on overclocking. DVD drive: Should be able to get a Dual Layer 16x for only a few dollars more then a standard DVD drive. BENQ and Liteon are good brands. Network/family card: You should be able to get a network card slot intergrated into the motherboard. USB ports: ditto Universal media reader: There are a huge range of such readers, I had a look at the ones on aussie pricespy but I am familiar with few of them. Quite amazing how much the hardware selection differs between Aussie and New Zealand pricespy. Hard Drive: For hard-drives space is quite cheap now, do not consider anything less then 80GB, although they remain quite cheap up to about 200GB. Graphics card: The most important parts for good game preformance. The following 3cards should be considered. Try and get the best card you can afford. If required brand advice can be given. Make sure the cards are PCI Express. Geforce 6600GT ($170.00+) Radeon X800GTO ($260.00+) GeForce 6800 GS ($315.00+) Power supply: Probably a good idea to buy a quality power supply. I suggest looking at the following brands Enermax, Antec, OCZ... Slightly worst but still good brands include AcBel and Thermaltake.

I have never used thermal compounds, custom heatsinks, or required extra case fans. All of the cables I have ever required was supplied with the products when I purchased them, so I would not be able to offer any advice in these areas. (Well I could but It would require heaps of research which I do not feel like doing) Memory: Unless you are planning on overclocking, I would suggest buying value memory. Probably should purchase 2x 512mb, or 2x 1024MB. getting corsair 2x 512 pc3200+ memory should cost around ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã60. Graphics Card: As you likely know there are heaps of different video cards currently around. Many of them have good preformance, but many are also expensive. A few get the balance right and these are the following. GeForce 6600GT Radeon X800GTO GeForce 6800 GS GeForce 7800 GT For game preformance the video card is the most important part. For a gaming PC to roughly match your CPU I would suggest a 6800GS, but you do not want/require a good card so the 6600gt should be accurate. There are cheaper cards. This seems to be the cheapest option from Scan. http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductI ... tID=144694 Optical Drive: Benq and Lite-On make good optical drives. Dual Layer 16X DVD Writers seem to be the main choice at the moment. Hard drive: At this point of time 160GB, 200GB, 250GB and 300GB are quite good value for money. All of the main hard-drive brands are reasonable quality, and every brand seems to have their supporters. I generally suggest Seagate or Western Digital. Although I would not pay significantly more for them.