Need help building new system

[Krescent42]

I am pretty experienced with computers, but I am tired of my computer screwing up, so I have decided to build my own. I am going to go with a high end Athlon/Duron processor, but I need help figuring out what kind of mobo, case, and cooling hardware I should get. I think I have narrowed the mobo down to an Asus A7V or a Abit KT7-RAID, but any other suggestions and experiences are welcome. I have a few things that I am bringing using from my current comp: Prophet II GTS 64MB AGP video card, SBLive!Value, LinkSys 10/100 Ethernet card, Viking 56K modem, 16GB ? HD, 30GB Maxtor HD, 45GB Western Digital HD, and 128 and 32 MB PC100 RAM DIMMs (PNY Technologies). I REALLY need some help on this project fast, because I am driving my roomate (and myself) crazy by not having a functional computer. Thanks!

 

[crazyjoekuta]

anandtech guides have some good pointers on systems. if anything, they recommend good parts. they say use the the abit. if you wanna hook up 2 drives w/ raid (i just ordered 2 ibm deskstar 75gxp's), get the abit. some people say the asus is more reliable. they're both about the same. usually you are supposed to match the drive sizes for raid, though. you might have to get new ram. w/ the athlon chips, generic sometimes doesn't work (i don't know how good pny is). try it and see. otherwise, get some mushkin, corsair, viking, infineon, micron, etc. the best cooling is the pal6035 w/ delta 38cfm fan. this is really loud, and usually only used for overclocking. you could get a globalwin fop32, or a chrome orb... the amd site has a list of approved heat sinks. for cases, just get one w/ lots of room. you never know what you might need later. also, the power supply should be athlon approved.
are you going to overclock?

 

[AMB]

I would defintly get the Abit, for the case, the Fong Kai FK-320

Cooling - Tai Sok
RAM - Crucial