Yeah I would splurge for a better cooler. Worth it if you are trying to keep the noise down.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-020-OP&groupid=43&catid=339&subcat=1803

Artic cooling freezer 7 pro is fairly quiet i have used it in the past and its cools reasonably well:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-035-AR

But for maximum quiet go with a cooler with two fans.

This looks pretty solid for the price.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-042-OE&groupid=43&catid=339&subcat=1803

I'm taking that is a small form motherboard.

It certainly doesn't look full sized.

Blurgh, I just vomited money.

Oh well. Let's hope all goes to plan.

Think you should have gone sandybridge!

Hope the build goes well though!

Sandybridge almost seemed a little too expensive but, we shall see anyway.

I have a current windows 7 "boot disc" - I take it I can use that to do a fresh install?

I brought one of those crazy korean heatsinks today - they are about £5 cheaper on Scan at the moment.

As long as you mean a you have a proper copy of windows 7 and not one of those lame OEM recovery discs that you get with premade computers then you're ok.

Did you go for a pre-overclocked bundle or buy all the bits separately?

Is this korean heatsink a Zalman passive cooler? If so lets see the link. If you planned to do any overclocking then you really need some fans in there to get the heat down...but you may not care about this.

May the silicon gods smile upon you.

Went for the cooler Tofu linked on page one along with a 1200rpm 120mm fan.

Got a pre overclocked gigabyte bundle (i3 550 I think, can't check at work, 4gb ddr3) running at 4 ghz.

The case itself has a max of 5 possible fans (2 front, 2 back, 1 top) - so I'll probably just make 'er up and see how hot it gets.

And yes, it's a proper boot disc copy of win 7.

I'm also considering getting an SSD drive - this looks pretty good for the price?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-047-OC&tool=3&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=910

K sounds good.

That SSD is nice yeah....

To simplify it you just wanna look at the write and read speeds. They are very fast on that drive.

There is another one from crucial which has a higher read speed but low write.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... ubcat=1668

I think the read speed is much more important. 70mb/s write is still faster than your average platter HDD.

I've got a crucial m225 SSD from over a year ago which is 250 read, 200 write and that is zippy.

I dont think you can go wrong with anything from OCZ, intel , or Crucial basically! Just pick a good model and look for the cheapest price with a bit of googling.

There is something wonderfully exciting and decadent about new hardware turning up.

The case is waaaay bigger than I thought, a little larger than my current case (which the top keeps falling off of).

It's very pretty and functional though, everything clicks and slides with wonderful precision.

Few more bits to arrive then I shall dive into getting this thing created!

Just about up and running.

Took me most of the evening (yes, a great way to spend a friday folks, assembling a computer) but so far, so good.

I have one thing to say so far, and one thing only.

Holy.

FUCK.

SSD's are seriously fast.