Hardware purchased, time to build. Any advice for

I’ve finally finished selecting hardware (see below, signature may be a little outdated), so on to the next step: actually building my own PC, solo. If anyone with any experience building this type of system, or any for that matter, would care to advise me, it would be greatly appreciated. I’m pretty nervous since this is my first solo build, and I want it to run as smoothly as possible. I’m planning to basically follow a tutorial, here are the ones I’ve found online:

http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/ (seems pretty comprehensive)
http://www.dansdata.com/buildpc.htm (outdated)
http://www.pcguide.com/ (mostly tips)
http://multimedian.com/diypc.html (not very comprehensive)
http://www.barnettcomputerservices [...] torial.htm (haven’t reviewed this one yet)

Also, do I need to buy any extra supplies like thermal paste or tape? Still trying to find that sort of info online, but thus far to no avail. Thanks, and sorry about my ignorance, heh.

<i>Processor</i>: AMD 2500+ Barton Core @ 1.83 Ghz, 333mhz FSB
<i>Motherboard</i>: Abit NF7-S Rev 2.0 (onboard LAN/sound)
<i>Hard Drive</i>: Western Digital Special Edition 80GB
<i>RAM</i>: 1024MB Corsair XMS PC3200
<i>Video Card</i>: ATI OEM Sapphire Radeon 9800 Non-Pro 128mb
<i>Optical Drive</i>: Lite On 48x24x48 CD-RW / 16x DVD Combo Drive
<i>Case</i>: Black Chieftec Aluminum Dragon
<i>Power Supply</i>: Fortron FSP400-60PFN 400w
<i>Speakers</i>: Logitech Z-340 3-Piece Speakers
<i>Floppy Drive</i>: Samsung 1.44” Floppy Drive
<i>Keyboard</i>: Logitech Access Keyboard
<i>Mouse</i>: Logitech MX 300
<i>Operating System</i>: XP Home
<i>Monitor</i>: To be decided later.

Barton 2500+
Abit NF7-S
WD SE 800JB
1GB Corsair XMS
Radeon 9800np
Lite On Combo Drive
Case? PSU? Fans? Monitor?

My only thought was for the CPU cooler. You getting the Barton retail or OEM?
-Brett

You should be ok, then. The retail setup will include the thermal paste/pad.
-Brett

personally, I like to start with the brain of the computer. Hook up the CPU/HSF to the mobo, and the memory. You can either screw the mobo or not depending on your confidence that you don't have to take it off again. But before you screw your "complete" mobo, make sure you set up all the case fans and case stuff. After taking mobo and screwing it on the case, take out a cage and put all your drives/optical stuff in. put the cage back into the case, and hook up all IDE. Personally, it's easier to just start with a IDE drive and no optical or other drives. So now you have a complete case w/ mobo and 1 IDE drive. THEN you hook up ALL the power and then start it up.

don't hook the power to anything until the last step. it's pretty straight forward, plug that into there and here from there and you're all done.

Just to let you know you have a system to do 3200+ speeds easily, especialy when you get a better cooler. Nice choices!

<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=6884109" target="_new"> MY RIG </A>
<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=1150155" target="_new"> 3D-03 </A>
<font color=red> 120% overclocker </font color=red> (cheapskate)