Building a new computer

[Lunyone]

Originally posted by: elconejito
I have the CM 331, which is probably near identical. Nice case, I like it. Good airflow, reasonably toolless, solid construction, no jagged edges, cheap.

Sounds like almost a perfect case!!

 

[RAF Bomber]

for this build i am building it for my brother and we are going halves on the cost.
and he kinda wants a bit more flashy case.
Raidmax Elite Series Gaming Case Sirius Mid tower - ATX - no power supply - brushed aluminum silver - USB/Audio << he likes this on it has 3 fan instead of 2 would this be better?
Also some else suggested to me i go with the phenom II because its where the future is at instead of sticking with the athlon 64
He suggested using this Cpu: AMD Phenom II X2 550 3.1Ghz 7MB Cache AM3 Black Ed and then saving money on the psu and going with the 450w corsair
He suggests that i change to a AMD 780G chipset but all the boards with this chipset are microATX what is the difference between microATX and ATX and would a motherboard such as:Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-US2H - Motherboard - micro ATX - AMD 780G - Socket AM2+ - UDMA133, Serial ATA-300 (RAID), eSATA - Gigabit Ethernet - FireWire - video - High Definition Audio (8-channel)
If i went with the phenon II processor would i need to get DDR3 ram? or change it to DDR2 1200MHz?

 

[RAF Bomber]

or ddr2-1066?

 

[Lunyone]

Yeah DDR2 1066 mHz will do. You really don't even need that speed, even 800 mHz stuff will do. Just make sure you get CAS4 stuff (4-4-4-12 timings) or 5-5-5-15 for 1066mHz. Most 1066mHz DDR2 is just OC'd 800 mHz RAM.