-= Gametoast.com =-

I'm gonna go ahead and get the Digital Home version as it boasts a plenty of added features compared to the other such as Intel Viiv(R), and as well i came across something quite interesting in that series. Well check it out for yourself: Mystery Link!!!
Unfortuately i can't find it anywhere othe than here which leads me to think it hasn't been released yet...

Off-topic : In fact, the ASUSTeK® Product you have directed us towards is actually based on the Architecture introduced by INTEL®, and being commonly called "Viiv", which incidentally implies the concerned Personal Computer isn't that different from others taking advantage out of the exact same Internal Organization. Moreover, after having sought a few additional Informations regarding it, I have been equally unable to locate Online Stores inside which it could be got from, but it seems that some of these Locations are nevertheless proposing Components and Retail Parts shipped with this sort of Entertainment Platforms, as proven through the content dispensed inside this Shopping.com© web-page, for example...

My recomendation for a professional drive cloning comes out of my paranoyal memories as a pc tech. The most common thing I got in the shop was someone did a clone and screwed things up somehow, making it not only a job to re-clone it, but to recover what was wiped before I did. Even today's software does not prevent the common id 10t error (not saying ogeb is incompetent), so I always recommend it. If done by self. Pay very close attention and pray you don't have a powerloss.

I have a question: What are the significant differences between OEM and Retail items and what should i go for in each component i have specified including this motherboard that i have chosen instead of the one previously? I'm worried that i'm not gonna get good stuff from what i chosen for good prices. Should i be?

OEM items are usually just parts that are usually only supported by the seller (depending on the term conditions of the manufacturer).Harddrives usually lack formatting software, mounting screws, and cables, Video cards just the software drivers and somtimes cables, CPU are just the processor, no fan. Sound card is the same for video card. Optical drives usually the same as harddrives. OS, no tech support from Microsoft. (like they help anyway. Common advice they give: format your harddrive and reintall.) Other than that, quality are exactly the same. Stay away from referbs though unless you like taking risks.

retail you get the kitten caboodle and then some. OEM is cheaper, but retail comes with more. I'm an OEM guy cause I can support my stuff or know others that can.

Do Retail CPUs always come with a fan, i only found out that mine did today but then i saw from reviews etc. that it wasn't very good so im still getting the £8 Akasa one. Also, do you think that the motherboard at that link is Retail cos i need the cables etc. for my old drives...

The computer you are planning to get will run Vista just fine. If you want to make sure, download one of the beta builds and test it out.

If you already have the hard drive, I think its worth it to get the DH motherboard.

I would recommend putting the OS on the newer hard drive, not the old one. The new driver is faster and your system will seem to run smoother. You can repartition it if you want. I would use one of the older drivers to backup things on.

I would not recommend cloning your hard drive. Attach the old drive to the computer after you've installed the OS then copy over your documents, game saves, etc... that you want to keep. Reinstall the programs you plan to use again.

I already did and my current one says it can support it (tho im guessing not very good performance/quality) and yeah i was planning on using the newer one for the OS and old for backup.

Good (and safe) idea. All retail CPUs come with a fan that's designed for it and works fine for everyday use. (though overclockers tend to stray away from stock fans, so generally go OEM.) I use a stock fan on mine that even lets me overclock some (now if only my mb would let me...) and had no probs.

Usually (as you can see I use that a lot cause there are exceptions to the norm) motherboards don't come as OEM, but the one mb I found that was had the cables. Thats one out of countless MBs Ive seen, so in general they are retail. (stick with that route anyways. Warranteed MB is the only way to go cause a lot of probs can stem from the MB with everything having to plug into it. Any of those ports can go out or a pica fuse for the keyboard can blow. had to bypass a few picas in my time and trust me, it ain't fun.)

Off-topic : In my case, I have ever heard about Motherboards being mostly proposed and sold as any other Product bearing the "OEM" Label, and actually, choosing to order and install this sort of Designs may be rather profitable and interesting in case you would have gathered enough Materials and Knowledges on how to make these same Devisings fully-functional without any additional Resources and Documentations. Above all, as far as I can tell, these Processes were mainly applicated to Mainboards engineered and released by ASUSTeK®, which incidentally implies you could save some Financial Resources by purchasing such Components, compared to their Retail or Box Variants, and that's why considering this Option might sooner or later become at the very least worth a try...

I have now found a load of other components to build my new PC with but im pretty sure i got most of it right only this new problem i've just spotted:
The motherboard i am currently going to purchase has 3 IDE connections on it. 1 Primary IDE for Ultra DMA 100/66 signal cables. and 2 ITE IDE connections for Ultra ATA 133/100/66 cables BUT they do not support ATAPI devices. And here is the problem: i have a new Ultra ATA 133 Hard drive which i planned on using for installing operating system on. i have an older Ultra ATA 100 Hard Drive that i planned on using for extra storage. i have a DVD drive that is EIDE/ATAPI....meaning that i CAN'T CONNECT the new drive to the main IDE and i CAN'T CONNECT my DVD drive AT ALL....surely this isn't ment to be.....

Off topic: More description needed in the title. This one clearly breaks the rules of this forum.

On topic: what MB is it?

Off topic: Well i use this topic for all my problems related to the new stuff im buying but i was kinda pissed off at the point of changing the title.
On topic: The motherboard is the ASUSTeK P5LD2 but there is no worry now as i have decided to buy a new SATA hard drive so the problem goes away...

I might as well give what i plan on buying now:
ASUS P5LD2 Motherboard
Intel Pentium D 805 Dual-Core CPU
Corsair Value Select DDR2 PC5300 (667) 1GB Memory
ASUS 256MB GF7300GS
Casecom LG-7780 Black/Silver Gaming Case w/ 350W PSU
Extra Value 80mm Case Fan
80GB Maxtor SATA300 Hard Drive
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP2 Single

A total of £351.26 (including p&p)

If you can afford it, you may want to buy one of the new intel core 2 duo's, as they decrease power usage while increasing performance, they are dual core, and tend to run cooler (to my knowledge) although you may pay more for the processor, it may prove worthwhile (depending on the games you are playing) But the Pentium D is also a good choice as it is basically a Pentium EE minus the hyperthreading. Speaking of the Pentium EE, If you can afford it, you may want to see if you can get one, it tricks the computer into thinking you have 4 cores, when in reality, you only have 2. If you do not mind buying through smaller websites, you may also consider tiger direct (http://www.tigerdirect.com), as they offer great deals on items you have listed as buying, but i'm not sure what shipping may cost.

Basically, all the cores I have list, and the one you mentioned, are great....but it all depends on how much cash you have on hand

Do check out Tiger Direct, it may save you some money

I've already checked out many sites and the UK tiger direct is misco and is well known. I really don't want to spend any more on new stuff and im sure that when they become cheaper i may buy a core 2 duo cpu eventually.

I love my new intel duo core on my media PC. So far absolutely no complains so far. Now I just gotta test it on games. (sad I haven't done it yet and I've had it a week. )