BleepingComputer.com: Building custom computer. Need parts help!

I'm looking to build my own computer, and I've got some of it sorted.

I just can't decided on some stuff due to me having little to no clue about Motherboardss and stuff.

Basically I've gone for an AMD/nVidia pairing.

'AMD Phenom X2 550 Black Edition 3.1GHz 6MB L3 Chache Socket AM3' is the chip I'm probably going to get at £80.23

But I can't decide on whether to get 'XFX 9600GSO 1536MB DDR2 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card including Far Cry 2 game' for £67.99 or 'XFX 9500GT 1GB DDR2 VGA DVI HDCP HDTV out PCI-E Graphics Card' for £46.99.

The RAM I'm getting is 'Crucial 4GB (2X2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Ballistix Memory Kit CL4 2.0V' for £39.99.

The CD drive is 'Sony AD-5200A-0B 20X DVD±RW/DL Int IDE Bare Black Drive - OEM' for £16.15 and the Hard Disk is 'Samsung HD502HI 500GB Hard Drive SATAII - OEM Green Drive' for £39.99.

What I need to know is about the motherboard (obviously has to an AMD supporting Mobo, but I have no idea what to get); and the case/PSU/fan(cheaper than water cooling ); and USB/sound card/wireless card stuff.

Also all this is from http://www.ebuyer.com/
and I'm looking to spend as little as possible.

(P.S. my friend says he will BIOS write or something the GFX card to make it better).

The motherboard is the most vital piece to the jigsaw puzzle, spending too little could be disastrous on performance and also expandability. Spending too much could be a waste of money.

If you are thinking of ever using possibly a second gfx card later on in sli mode, then you must make sure it is an SLI motherboard not an AMD crossfire board or it will not work.
A mid range board from a recognised manufacturer is your best bet. Asus/Gigabyte/MSI generally speaking do the better quality of the boards. something between around £50-£100 will normally be a decent mid range board from the manufacturers i have mentioned. Make sure the board you choose has the right connections for what you require (sufficient sata/ide/pci slots etc).

Look into your choices then check out the manufacturers full specs on their websites. Everyone here will have their preferences on components and each will be different. So make you own best informed descision based on the price/quality/connectivity/compatibility of the board you choose.

Hope this helps, i know i wasnt very specific to a particular board but its always best to make you own informed descision by checking out the hardware specs for yourself.

Good luck!

High500

Oh and a slight note on your BIOS update for your card. Be careful, make sure he knows what he is doing and he is responsible for any damage. BIOS changes can cause mayhem and overheating if pushed too far. I doubt that card will get much more power out of it than the defaults that would be visibly noticeable. Just a word of warning, but dont be afraid to experimenting if they know what they are doing!

if you're set on that processor (i would look at some others if i were you) then you'll need a mobo that supports socket am3, and after a cursory glance, that will most likely make you upgrade your ram from dd2 to ddr3. most mobo's (not all by any means, but the majority of them) that run am3 nowadays only support ddr3 ram... something to consider. ddr3 will be a significant amount more than older ddr2... you'll want to make sure your ram speed is also supported by the mobo.

I often find it is much easier to build a compute form the mobo out, instead of the other way around, since them mobo kinda governs what all you can attach to it. although, there always need to be a fair amount of "big picture" looking as well. your cd/dvd drive and graphics card will most likely fit any modern mobo without issue, so you'll probably want to pay the most attention to your processor/mobo/ram combo to make sure they all work together first, then you can decide on the other parts.

DDR3 isn't that much more expensive, I can get 4GB of the stuff for about $60 at Newegg, but since you're using pounds, the price is more. Many AM2+ motherboards support AM3 processors, check to see if you need to update the BIOS before purchasing. If you get an AM3 motherboard, they only support AM3 CPU's and need DDR3 to run. Building out after choosing the motherboard is always a good idea. eBuyer has that processor mislabeled, there is no Phenom X2 550, there is a Phenom II X2 550. The original Phenoms were not that good, but the Phenom II's are very nice. For a dual core processor, it is an excellent choice. As for the motherboard, I suggest the Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P. You do need DDR3 memory, I would go for the OCZ 4GB KIT (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600Mhz PC3 12800.

Yeah good info DJBPace07, infact you took the words right out of my mouth as far as the motherboard goes, I would choose the same GA-MA790XT-UD4P board too with a nice shiny matching AM3 cpu and DDR3. Thats a sort of mid-top end board. Good choice.

High500