Only thing is, i currently have a case, and i would like to continue to use it, only thing is, its actually a mini-atx case, but there is still a fairly large amount of room in there, measurements are: 350mm in height, 490mm width, and 200mm breadth.. Would this be large enough to accomodate a full sized mobo? Also, I only have a 300W PSU, I am running 2 hard drives, Seagate Barracuda’s 40GB and 80GB, a Radeon 9600 and will also have whats listed above, oh, there are also 2 PCI slts used up. Would 300W be enough I should i get another PSU?
A 300W PSU, even if it is an Antec/Sparkle/other high quality brand, wouldn’t be enough for that kind of system.
Consider a 450W - 500W of the above brands would be a very good choice.
I also noticed you’ve chosen a SKT754 board.
They recently released A64 3000+ in SKT939 form, meaning you can get the same processor on a SKT939 board, which is much better as supports future upgrades. It’s worth spending the extra £25 or so. Honestly.
I agree completely. Whatever you do, don’t grab some cheap $30 unit claiming 600W. Regardless of if you stay with Socket 754 or not, do yourself a huge favor and buy a quality power supply:
-Enermax
-OCZ
-Fortron/Sparkle
-Thermaltake
-PC Power & Cooling (if you have serious cash to blow)
For the love of all things holy, don’t get:
-PowMax
-Ultra
-RAIDmax
-Pretty much any generic power supply that comes with the case. Some Antec cases come with a power supply, and while those are good, they’re not targeted for people running A64 setups.
That’s got a good list of what TO get and what NOT to get in terms of power supplies.
As far as Socket 939, yes, as already mentioned, it’s a much better upgrade path than Socket 754. S 754 is designated as the value socket, which is kind of a problem.
If you want a decent S939 board, I’ve heard good things about the Chaintech NF4 motherboard.
Good choice, you’ll be thankful for spending the extra in the future. That board can support up to an athlon 5000+, and they’ve only just released the 4000+. (or so i’ve been told)