Anyone out there who knows more about hardware than me (everybody? ). How does this look to you? Quality and value for money wise? I'd be getting it without OS, possibly more RAM and HDD space.

http://www.pcassist.co.uk/html/AMD%2...ase%20Unit.htm

It's from the same place I got my present stuff, so I know they're reliable.

Well, it looks good for a basic, cheap system, I would personally get a 400 W PSU (option near the bottom of that page), just cuz 350 W may be too little, and remember that it also depends on the quality of the PSU, if it's a good quality PSU 350 W should be enough, but with a lower quality one, you'd want the 400 W, and then these things also degrade over time, cheaper ones degrading faster.

What are you gonna be using this for ?

Here's a pretty good power consumption calculator/estimator, remember to overestimate rather than underestimate:
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/p...ulatorlite.jsp

I'll be using it for much the same things as my present rig: programming (learning anyway), no gaming, all the average stuff, distro-hopping and multiple booting. I want the extra RAM to try out virtualisation, only got 512 Mb at present. Thanks for advice about the PSU.

Not bad at all - close to the specs of my 2-year-old Opteron 252, but at 1/5 the price.

Thanks. I'll go for it. With 2 Gb RAM, 400 W PSU, not sure how big a HDD yet. I'll be keeping my present one, possibly use a KVM switch - if they're any good?

Some KVM switches are good; others are rubbish. I guess you have to find honest reviews on them.

Yeah, I'll have to do a bit of googling.

If you won't be doing any gaming, and thus not using the PCIe x16 slot, then you can safely get the 350 W PSU, but if you put in a new video card into the x16 slot, you will likely not have enough power.

I'll get the 400 W, just in case (no pun intended), because I never know what I might get interested in next.

The computer is OK, but not good. For programming I would use ECC type memory if possible.

I prefer building my computer instead someone else doing it for me. I am picky with hardware especially with the power supply. My power supply brand of choice is Seasonic because they are noiseless, universal voltage (100 volt to 240 volt), very efficient, and very high quality build for the price. Maxtor hard drives are not good. Western Digital and Hitachi are the best.

Could use a virtual machine with 512 MB of RAM just fine. I have used it with 256 MB but 512 MB or more is better. The operating system used in the virtual machine depends how much memory usage.

I am sorry to say that motherboard will have problems using future processors.

A working KVM switch depends on the mouse and keyboard used. You may have to go through a few KVM switches and input devices for a reliable setup.

Thanks, Electro. I don't think I'll go to the trouble of building my own. Any programming I do will be purely as a hobby, if I can persuade myself to knuckle down and learn any language(s). I think that outfit will be adequate for my needs.