The problem with the motherboards is, that the P5K is one of the few motherboards having more than 2 SATA ports for drives. Most other motherboards have also more but thoses are connected to some sort of RAID chipset. So I'm not sure if they can also be used for single devices, as I'm not looking for a RAID solution.
You of course can use a single device with chipsets that have a raid support too - that's just an option to use if you want to...
My plan, or rather dream, is to grab a SSD (16 or 32 Gig, way enough) and use that one for the operating system (Windows XP Pro + maybe another OS in dual boot) and the system service programs, such as Firewall, Anti-Virus, drivers and all the stuff that is started on boot-up, to increase the boot speed.
Well not only the boot speed but also the startup of all programms on the SSD too...
Unfortunately those SSD are expensive like hell but I'm also looking forward to get one of those with my next upgrade... :P
What do you guys think about SATA drives for DVD and DVD-burning?
Today they're a good option - you'll also save you one big IDE-cable this way...
I think an AMD Athlon64 X2 6000+ with 2x 3000 Mhz sounds good, as CPU cooler I consider a Zalman CNPS9500ALED
I wouldn't take a Zalman until you're kind of a modder who likes to show his PC's inside to everyone. The reason is that Zalman nowadays just has good looking coolers but things like noise, cooling efficency and price got worse and worse since heatpipes got standard for CPU coolers. I'd recommend a Xigmatek HDT-RS1283 if you want a good cooler. There of course are some which are a bit better but you really have a nice price performance ratio here...
At a different place I could get the same CPU as box version for the same price as the tray version in another store.
Guess I'll rather go with the box version, as the fan included in that package should be sufficient, as I'm not going to overclock the CPU.
Well this can happen sometimes. The boxed cooler of course is sufficent but not very quiet so if noise is important to you it's better to get a better cooler...
Motherboards: I have three options:
In fact none of them is a good option...
The reason is you should go for an AM2+ mainboard and not just an old AM2. Those AM2+ boards also can take AM2 processors and feature some technical updates for current AM2+ cpus and those to come so it would be stupid to buy an old AM2 board. My recommendation would be an Asus M3A78 Pro or M3N78 Pro where I would prefer the "A" version with an AMD/ATI chipset. The M3N78 Pro is nice too though as it doesn't lack things like a firewire port and has some more USB ports on the back. The M3A78 Pro has a better layout (that ATX power supply is placed quite stupid on the "N" version), things like PS2 connectors for mouse and keyboard and you can use tools like AMD Overdrive with it - I actually bought one M3A78 Pro for my Phenom and I'm totally satisfied. Well - Firewire just as some more USB ports on the backplate would have been nice but that's not too bad. If you want some pictures (and info which water cooling fits :P ) have a look here where I also uploaded some pics:
http://www.forumdeluxx.de/forum/showthread.php?t=517121Enjoy your meal
Toast
