newbie advice

GA-7N400 pro 2 Advice for a newbie

I am going to upgrade but I wanted recomendations. I am trying to make sure all my parts will work well together and this is the basic setup. Please give me your advice about the MoBo...I have read a lot of good review from those of you with this MoBo but if you had it to do over, would you recomend something else.

The parts....

Gigabyte Motherboard GA-7N400PRO2
AMD ATHLON XP 2500
2x Kingston 512MB DDR 400
POWERCOLOR Evil Commando 2 ATI RADEON 9700 PRO 128MB
or
POWERCOLOR ATI RADEON 9600 PRO 256MB
Thermalright SLK-800-U
VANTEC's Tornado TD8038H

-(anyone use this cooling setup with this board? love to hear frm you)

-Just some background about me. I have never OCd but plan to. I have built 1 PC from the ground up and bought parts for many years.

"From pictures I've seen of the board, it looks as if Gigabyte has not provided heatsink mounting holes, making the mounting of a U style Thermalright impossible. I could be wrong..." - Ffats

Upon looking farther into this, he is right...I see some people use the SLK-800(A).

Anyone have a recomendation for a dif HS fan combo? I would like to stay under 70$ for this part.

BigSmokey,
I have the Pro, would reccomend that one to you if its available even thought its discontinued, if not the pro2 will do

What power supply you gonna run, and what are the total components youre gonna have in the box?

Most users with the giga nforce boards, all flavors are getting 11x200 with their xp2500"s making them 3200's

Here is a thread going on over at amdmb
http://www.amdforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=264223

I have a 300W PS. Is this going to be enough for the pro2? I just got the case and PS recently, I would like to stick with it if possible. I want to OC (to performance but stable level) and will have a tornado on the 2500 processor and 3 80mm case fans.

BigSmokey,
Based on other users experiences, I would expect you to have a problem with a 300 watt psu............

Lets see, you have a gig of ram, an xp 2500 that will probably be running at xp3200 speed, ati 9700, plus how many drives, fans, lights ect...???

And it not just the board in question, it is all nforce2 boards

What PS do you think Ill need then? I have all that but no lights...standard equip mostly aside from the fans and overclocking

Also, is there a compatability issue with any PS's? I dont know what kind of case I have (aside from its ATX).

This PS looks nice (from newegg.com)

Aspire 520W 12V Silver Triple Fan Aluminum Power Supply, Model ATX-AS520W 12V - Retail

pic of the PS

BigSmokey,
I can barely see the lable in the pic, but looks as though it has enough output for the 5v and 12v rails, I looked on newegg's site, since there are no user reviews of that unit, I looked at the handful of user reviews of the 500 watt unit, everyone seems happy, so I would say go for it, It will be tons better than struggling with the pitfalls of a 300watt on todays systems

The one thing the power supply has to have is the 12v 4 pin connector which the picture appears to show.

Looks like a good unit for the money, If you do get it I will be intrested in hearing how it worked out for ya.

These are the specs off the mfg website...I dont see anything listed about the 12v 4pin connector but it does have more pics of it. I dont know what Im looking for..

Link to better pics (mfg's website)

Material Aluminum

Dimensions(DxWxH) 150x168.5x86mm

Color Black / Silver / Blue

Features ATX 520 P4 Aluminum Power Supply
w/2*8 cm UV Blue Fan Intake Heat
w/1*8 cm UV Blue Fan Exhaust Heat w/4 Blue Led
Multi-Color Coated Components & PC Board
Green UV Sensitive Wiresleeve & Connectors
w/Fan Speed Adjuster
w/ I/O Switch
Cable-Tube-Tied Wires for Neatness
w/Gift Box
Shipping Weight @PC 4.5 lbs / 8pcs Per Box

BigSmokey,
scroll down to where they are talking about the connector with the yellow and black wired connector, that is what you need.



http://www.thetechboard.com/tutorials/atx.php