Hi P

Well to me it seem to indicate that you where right about the new SATA 2drives. Though I find it strange that SATA 2 would make much difference the throughput of these aren

Hi P

I highly recommend an epox motherboard. Mine is stable and extremely fast. And if you are looking to save money, there is no reason to get a raptor. Spending almost 300 bucks for 70 gigs? waste of money. Sorry the performance difference between that and a sata is so unnoticable compared to the price difference

I am probably going to go with the ECS its about 10 bucks cheaper and seems to be just as good, plus it has one less PCIE1x and 1 more PCI. If this sata2 thing is really as good as it sounds I will do that, although do I need a special drive that is built for sata2 or will any new Hard drive work?I am about to buy my motherboard and PSU tonight!Thanks!

Hi Andras, cheaper often is cheaper for a reason. For example a poorer after sales support, rare bios updates, etc. If you stick with a 'class-act' support will be better. Epox, Asus and Abit are good in this field. Good luck and kind regards Jaap

You have convinced me :-) I will get the Epox, #### its only 10 bucks and it could be better!Thanks for all your help!

GIGABYTE K8ns Pro is a nVidia Chipset mobo.. agp to! :)

I have decided for a PCIE, its basically same performance, and will be able to be upgraded, also a Roswell 500W PSU at 12V it produces 26A so that should meet AMD's recomendation, Newegg seemed to like it, and its not bad at $50!

Ohhh, my bad, I forgot to mention Gigabyte and DFI as good OEMs! Thanks for that, kind regards Jaap

Jaap, your the one that helped me decide on this mobo back in december.. haha, how could you forget.. :9We still gotta get online and fly together... ;)

Now regarding the SATAII drives, will I see a performance gain in any hard drive? Or do I need to buy special hard drives that are made for SATAII? I am confused about the necessary hardware to get the performance increase I wish from SATAII, since I do depend on it to give me the approx performance of a Raptor.Summary-Do I need a special drive for SATAII?

First as for mainboard I am a real Shuttle a really excited user nowadays. Got an old Shuttle AN50R rev 1.3 with very clever design using the old nforce 3 150 chipset that absolutely smokes my very expensive DFI Lanparty UT 250 GB mainboard in term of overclockability and stable voltages :).So get Shuttle on your list as well :).As for SATA II it

Hi Andras, you need 2 things to run S-ATA2 HDs. First, a mainboard which supports it like the nForce4 (pls check whether this is explicitly specified in the specs of the board you get). Then you'll need a S-ATA-2 HD which are just starting to hit the stores. I know exactly ONE store in the whole of Europe which has exactly 2 models in stock... As for the performance gain, pls see the posts above and make your own judgement. As I mentioned, please don't rush and perhaps also check the threads about win-xp64 which is just starting to be shipped too? You have some very interesting options opening up to you right now. Good luck and kind regards Jaap @ Chase, indeed we have to get flying some day, but when?!? I only have a window again as of mid/end May. And I still don't have the slightest idea HOW to do it! You're talking to a total NOOB in this field! Hehe

Geez P