here is what i have purchased thus far:

SilverStone TJ05S-X Case - (SST-TJ05S-X) SILVER with blue cold cathode and thermo gauge mod


GIGABYTE GA-7N400 Pro2 Motherboard


AMD AthlonXP 3000+ processor


ENERMAX Noisetaker EG495P-VE SFMA 485W Power Supply


CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Dual Channel Kit System Memory


AOpen Geforce 6600GT GF6600GT-DV128 Video Card


Sony DRU810A / 16x8x16x DVD+RW / 16x6x16x DVD-RW / 8x DVD±R DL / White / Internal DVD Writer


Aopen DVD1648L / 16x DVD-ROM / DVD Drive with Interchangable Faceplates and Software


Seagate / 250GB / 7200 / 8MB / ATA-100 / EIDE / OEM / Hard Drive


Ultra / Socket A/370 / AMD Athlon XP up to 3000+ / Ball Bearing/Aluminum Fins / Copper Core / CPU Cooling Fan


Ultra Silver Aluminum Memory Cooler 2-Pack (DDR or SDRAM) (not sure if i need these with the ram i bought, but what the hell


Ultra Beige 3.5" Floppy Drive with Built-in 6-in-1 Flash Card Reader


Microsoft Optical Desktop Keyboard and Mouse Combo with Fingerprint Reader


Ultra 18" Rounded Blue UV Floppy Cable For 1 Device


QTY: 2 - Ultra 18" Rounded Blue IDE Cable For 2 Devices


pretty close to having everything i need...

spent about $1000 so far...
all that money could have gone to car mods...

Why did you get an ATA-100 HDD???

what should have i gotten?

I would say a serial ATA drive would be a better bet.

am i gonna notice a huge lage on this drive?

i am working with a POS right now, anything is gonna be better...

the motherboard supports serial ata...

can you find a 250gb for $69???? tigerdirect sale...

if you really think i should cancel this order, tell me asap, i just put the order in 15 min ago

It all depends on what you want to do.

Andahl'* law: your system can only run as fast as your slowest component.

That drive will certainly have a slower transfer rate than a Serial ATA drive.

$155 for a 320 GB SATA at newegg.com.

I know that is more than you want to spend, however.

pretty sure i will be ok with what i have planned so far...

i basically use this machine as my jukebook, internet browser, and sometimes to play my divx...

not a gamer, but might turn into one...

thank you for your advice... really appreaciate it

By the way, while we are looking at components, and since you said that you just recently placed an order, I am not a fan of motherboards with the SIS chipset (I'm not real big on Gigabyte either).

I believe that the board you have there has the SIS chipset.

Then again, I am a fan of VIA chipsets (and many people are not). I don't have enough experience to recommend a motherboard with an Intel or Nvidia chipset.

Edit: Actually your board should have the Nvidia chipset. I think that the non "pro 2" version of that board has SIS.

the order for the HDD was placed recently...

the motherboard and processer where purchased a couple months ago...

gots to spread my budget....

sata slaughters pata.


I noticed more performance with programs/os going from pata to sata than I did from going from 512mb ram to 1gb

but damn thats cheap..I guess you can get a 320 or 400gb sata drives when the prices drop..I am continously upgrading my box as stuff gets cheaper.