Well, after a few problems with the courier I finally have my new system assembled. The end result is even faster and quieter than I hoped for. Many thanks to everyone who helped me with this, and especially to SPCR for so many helpful reviews. :) After reading complaints about nvidia's latest coole...

Hello and welcome. For a motherboard, this is what I'd recommend. Gigabyte GA P35 DS3L. Great motheboard, economy price. Hmm doesn't look like they have it, but they do have THIS this I'm not sure how the money translates, as this is more expensive. It's only ~$40 more than the Intel equivalent but...

Unfortunately, Ascent and other NZ suppliers don't seem to carry the Scythe backplate. The heatsink is the new version (claiming an improved clip and no need of a backplate), but at 640g I'm unconvinced. I guess I'll have to order one from overseas and put up with the stock heatsink in the meantime....

I'm planning to do a major PC upgrade this month, replacing the cheap case and everything in it but keeping the peripherals. My current system is terribly loud, so this time around I'm focussing on ultra-quiet operation with midrange gaming prowess. I only have a 15" LCD so I don't need to be able t...

Link-posting exploits are made of win, so I'll get in on this too.