RAID is definitely not a necessity, especially for gaming. In your situation you will see only a small improvement in overall performance. However, the price premium for RAID 0 over a similar non-RAID setup is quite small, especially when you use a board with an on-board controller. I say, go for the RAID, but you don't really have to.

The retail AMD HSF will be sufficient for stock speed and perhaps even a little overclocking, without making too much noise. If you plan on more than that, you should invest in a high-end cooler.

DDR266 is the same as PC-2100. 256MB is plenty for most intents and purposes, but with prices where they are there is certainly no harm in getting 512. You will see an improvement in multiasking and memory-intensive applications. In your situation, I would probably get 384MB.



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Overclockum, ergo sum.