I want to keep all my files and not have to start over.

I guess my mb supports sata II how do i find out?

Yes it does. SATA II = Serial ATA 3 Gb/s

http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/...088_m2a-vm.pdf

A Repair or Upgrade Install should retain your old programs and data but it will also retain any old problems.

Slaving the drive and backing up your data is another choice then Clean Installing. Programs will need to be reinstalled. Either way all Windows Updates and Service packs will need to be reinstalled as well.

Can I have a SATA and then an IDE as a slave?

Which is better Western Digital, Maxtor or Seagate?

Yes.

Maxtor is now owned by Seagate.

They are preferable to Western Digital in my opinion.

I was reading some articles on Samsung SpinPoint and I think I'm gonna go with that or a Seagate Barracudda 7200.9 or .10.

Alright, I finally got it all put together minus the fan and CPU temperature things for the case and the front parts the usb and audio in the front. But When I start the computer with the nvidia card the expansion card it shows up then it doesn't load anything else and I've changed it in the bios and on the computer itself it sees the card but the onboard graphics keep showing up I've had it working once and then I had to restart for new programs I haven't put vista on it yet just xp to get it working right.

but it's not working

How do I know if I have a bad video card it works sometimes but it freezes a lot and sometimes it doesn't work at all should I just send it back?

Originally Posted by PlatinumMoto

How do I know if I have a bad video card it works sometimes but it freezes a lot and sometimes it doesn't work at all should I just send it back?

The only way I know is to try this card in another computer or try another card in this computer.

If you use the on-board graphics device do you have any problems?

Also did you install the latest drivers and uninstall any previous versions?