Building a comp, got questions.

[White Midnight]

This will be my first actual build beyond modifying a computer with better gear, so I got a few questions.

1. I'm looking at two processors made by AMD, black editions no less on AM2 and AM2+ sockets. Any good suggestions on affordable, game friendly mobos? I got some lined up but I'd like some input as well. Considering Gigabyte MA780G-UD3H or an ASUS M4A78 Plus, perhaps an M3A7X but I heard Asus boards have stability issues. I'm looking for afforadability, scalability (if possible,) and more importantly...since they're black editions, overclockability. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

2. Im planning on recycling this IDE HD onto the new motherboard for some extra space, but I'm planning on getting a Raptor to install Vista on. Needless to say, I'm going to uninstall XP on this HD before this. Prob is...this HD also has a Recovery partition on it, because this comp was originally manufactured by HP. Any problems getting rid of this? I know it's pretty heavily protected, and I'm worried about any potential conflicts with the new mobo. This Hd, honestly, would be a minor loss but it would be a good learning experience nonetheless.

So yeah...if I encounter anything else, I'll be sure to post it here. Thanks in advance.

[amtalx]

Are you dead set on AMDs? They use to have a great cost/performance ratio, but they have lost their edge over the years. I would really consider intel.

As far as the HD, something like PartitionMagic should clear that partition for you.

[White Midnight]

Yeah, kind of on a budget. Actually been hearing some good things about the newer Phenom IIs. Can't really afford an i7 at the current moment. An acquiantance builds AMD PCs regularly and he's had no complaints.

Heh, I see this got moved to tech support. Put this in the other forum because it wasn't neccesary game related.

[amtalx]

Well i7s are in a totally different class IMO. They would crush any of the Phenom chips. Core 2 Quads would be a better comparison. They seem to be about the same price though.

People seem to have mixed feelings about ASUS. My main rig has an ASUS board in it (ASUS Formula Rampage.) I debated getting an ASUS because of some things I've heard. Turns out its the best board I've ever owned. I push it pretty hard (play Crysis while simultaneously running multiple VMs) and haven't had any problems. Its and intel chipset though.

[re]

1. your money, your decision

other things: make sure the mobo has everything you need on it, enough pci and pci-e slots, supports a decent amount of ram so you can upgrade in the future, also find out if you cpu is supported under the oldest bios for that mobo

2. you can just delete the partition, I normally just go to the disk management thing in windows and delete the recovery partitions and format them there too
(right click on my computer -> manage -> Disk Management )

[Genoa]

I highly HIGHLY recommend going Intel
newegg has some nice deals :P

[AnnabellaRenee87]

Just dont go crazy like I did, (look at my signature).