After consultation with Chuck from the Nucore team, I was able to gather a list of suitable parts to build the Nucore system. There would be many other suitable PC components and prices, the main thing is getting a compatible CPU & motherboard without spending more than is really required. The DVD drive list below, is only required to load the initial Nucore software. So you could save the $29 and borrow the one from your own PC to install the initial software. Anyway, below is a list of what we settled on. I purchased these items from PC Case Gear http://www.pccasegear.com here in Melbourne, I've listed each item with links to their website so others can see the parts and compare specs if considering doing this themselves.
1 Vantec ION2 460W Ultra Quiet PSU $44.00 http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_1110&products_id=11137
1 Samsung SH-S223C SATA DVDRW Drive $29.00 http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=658_667&products_id=13068
1 Seagate Barracuda 500GB ST3500418AS $45.00 http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_344&products_id=13263
1 AMD Athlon CPU II X2 255 $75.00 http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=187_345&products_id=1337
1 Kingston RAM KVR1333D3N9/2G 2GB DDR3 $39.00 http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186_774&products_id=13719
1 ASUS M4N68T-M Motherboard $56.00 http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_803&products_id=15230
Total $288.00
Thanks heaps for posting that, very useful stuff for the P2K fans. I've added a link to this thread to the Technical thread.
Critical thing to note when selecting a motherboard for Nucore is that it needs a parallel port - and if it inbuilt then this helps a lot. However, over time the parallel port is becoming more and more obsolete and even now is a legacy function, so if you are interested in Nucore then it may be worth investing in the computer parts sooner rather than later, while you can still easily get boards with the parallel port built in.
