Gentlefolk:  In response to Kelly, and others experiencing their first
or second attempt at assembling their own system, I can highly recommend
these websites for additional step-by-step guidance.  Both have
excellent advice and deserve *thorough* exploration:

http://pcmech.pair.com/index.htm

http://www.motherboards.org

If there are questions to which you can't find answers at those sites,
don't fail to post them here on PCBUILD for us, since many will probably
be experience the identical problems. Also be sure to give feedback to
those fine people to provide those websites.  They aren't "psychics"
[well, at least I haven't heard so!  ;^) ] and they can't add missing
information to their archives unless you, the user, give them feedback.

On CASES:
Unless you have very tiny hands, opt for at *least* a mid-tower or tall
desktop case - the price difference is minimal and you'll thank yourself
when the interior gets crowded, plus the larger cases usually come with
higher-capacity power supplies ["You can never have TOO much RAM, Disk
Space or Power Supply!"].

On COOLING:
 This is IMPORTANT!  Many local shops play-down the value of proper
ventilation and cooling, and often it is hard to even *find* the BEST
heatsinks/fans. Here are links for the chip "Big-3", incorporating
additional links to recommended manufacturers:

http://www.amd.com/products/cpg/k5/thermals/k86thermals.html

http://www.chips.ibm.com/products/x86/x86app/appnotes/app_html/40253.html
[this is part of the previous line]

This one is a bit overly-technical, typical of Intel:
port.intel.com/support/processors/pentium/8021.htm

Have fun, and good luck.
David Ross, San Francisco


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