Athlon XP 1800 OEM or Retail Version?

[wsw]

hello people... i'm new.. this is my first post...and unfortuneatly i need help.

Trying to build a PC for the first time. Please remember I'm on a Tight Budget

Already Bought:

CASE: Comet Mid ATX 300Watt
RAM: 256MB PC2100
HARDDRIVE: Western Digital 40GB 7200RPM

Looking to Buy:
CPU: Athlon XP 1800 CPU (i don't know what to buy.. Retail or OEM version)
MOBO: ECS K7S5A


What else do I need? Thanks for the input people =)

 

[mechBgon]

You'll want an optical drive (CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or CD-RW) and probably a floppy drive. It would be good to have an 80mm auxiliary rear exhaust fan for your case, assuming it has a position for one. And you'll need a video card, of course. Maybe you'll be re-using some of your old parts?

The retail CPU comes with a heatsink/fan unit and has a 3-year warranty. If you get an OEM CPU, you'll need to buy a heatsink/fan unit and some good-quality thermal grease such as Arctic Silver 3.

The onboard sound on the K7S5A isn't that good for games, so keep in mind that you may want to upgrade to a separate sound card later. You might want to consider an Asus A7N266-VM motherboard as an alternative, since it has onboard GeForce2MX-level video and superb onboard sound. It costs less when you factor in the sound and video, although you will want an add-in video card if you intend to play today's games at high resolutions.

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