Requesting advice and suggestions

GA-EP43-DS3L (P43 chipset) doesn't offer RAID or support for CrossFire. P5QPro also has explicit native support for 1600FSB/DDR2-1200 although the GA-EP43-DS3L hits them as well with minor tweaking. P5Q Pro has two more SATA, GA-EP43-DS3L has two more USB... from there the differences are mostly quibbles.

Did I mention the P5Q Pro isn't DayGlo? ;)
 
That Day Glo IS pretty important. :p

But really, the PQ5's features seem to line up with what I want. Not a bad price, either. Argument settled, it seems.

I'm ordering most everything except the video card on Monday, and then we'll see what the GTX295's launch does to video prices this month.
 
Ka-bump. I have one final question before I order. (I've been waiting for the GTX 295's launch to see the effect on video prices.)

Instead of the Antec 900, I'm looking at the Coolermaster CM-690. It's cheaper, appears to have a little more internal room for that huge 4850 X2 card, and I like that it has a machined PSU vent and cable clips on the side of the case. Will I have any cable length issues with the CM-690 and the BFG LS-680 PSU?
 
Its the same size as the 900, IIRC, so you shouldn't have any issues. I actually prefer the RC-690. I just don't like how flimsy the 900 feels, in comparison.
 
Alright folks, last night I placed my order at Newegg. I'm glad I waited, as prices on some of the more expensive components dropped slightly: the 4850 X2 fell to $290, the P5Q Pro dropped $15 (with another $15 MIR), the Xigmatek cooler dropped $8, and Newegg offered a MIR on the BFG LS-680 which meant its final cost would be less than at Buy.com.

Total cost with shipping: $925.

Thank you all, and I'm looking forward to building this next week.
 
My Newegg shipment came in: everything but the case is now accounted for. The case arrives tomorrow via FedEx. I'm hoping it arrives in the morning so I can piece this thing together tomorrow afternoon.

Apologies for the iPhone photo, but I loaned out my digital camera to a buddy.

img0273xl8.jpg
 
Alright folks, it's here. Spent all evening setting it up, currently installing Vista. I have a ton of questions, mainly related to some errors I'm getting at boot.

1: during boot, the system reports that no hard drive is detected, yet the Vista setup detected my hard drive at the correct size. The hard drive is also detected and configurable in the BIOS. Is there some setting I need to tweak?

2: on every boot, the first message the system reports is that Express Gate is not installed. Is this something on the P5Q driver CD? Do I even need it? How do I make that message go away?
 
1) Its probably referring to other HDD controller channels
2) Express Gate is the onboard Linux OS. You don't want it installed. The manual should show you how to disable it in the BIOS.
 
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