ASUS P5K questions?

Codegen's die very easily, so they're to be avoided. Cheap PSUs will often blow when they're overloaded, causing a current surge that may kill the entire system. Good-quality ones just shut down, preventing any further damage to components.
A good cheap PSU would be an Antec Earthwatts EA430 which will provide ample power for your system.

Wow, it seems that it's quite a risky thing to buy a cheap PSU...
Well, the best I could afford would be a Fortron 400W, would that one do for this kind of system, even overclocked? Or I should get some cheaper and not overclock, and I will be able to order a more quality one in summer...

Sorry for bothering again, but I haven't bought my new PC yet until I finish the mid term exams, so I saw a new board, ASUS P5K-E, which is cheaper than the P5K ordinary, so I want to ask, is it as good in terms of overclocking because as much as I have seen, it only lacks e-SATA which I anyway don't need...
as for the VGA, I've seen this 9800GTX review at Techspot and there are both 9600GT and 8800GT from Asus, and 8800GT wipes the floor with 9600...
as for processor, the prices droped by, and I'll probably go for E8400, though I crave for Q6600, but it is still out of my price range...

sorry for making it vague, I wanted to ask is this mobo, P5K-E as good as the ordinary P5K and will it overclock, because it is some 20$ cheaper...
and I have a question related to HDD, is this buffer very important, because the only 500GB disk with 32MB is this Seagate-Maxtor and someone already told me it is not a good one, so will it make a big difference if I take some WD with 16MB of buffer?

ok, thanks, and for brand, WD or Seagate?

Well, I did a little research for this P5K-E, and it seems good, and it is cheaper...
I'm going for a 7.200RPM drive, I don't mind the speed much, more I'm concerned is the noise... That's what I wanted to know, which is the most silent, Maxtor, Seagate or WD or this Seagate-Maxtor? Maxtor is the cheapest, but I don't want a tractor in my room...
Would you recommend 2 or 4GB of ram, or to go for 2 now and invest money in something else and upgrade later, since it's the cheapest of the components?
BTW, thank you a lot guys, you've helped me a lot.
only 2 more weeks and I am building my "beast"

So I finally went to start buying components for my new rig, and I went to buy the MB... Then the guy selling the stuff says that they don't hold any ASUS P5K in stock since they had several problems with it and quad core processors recently, so I can order it, but he wouldn't recommend it...

Has anyone here had similar problems or it is just them? I will probably go with E8400, so I shouldn't have any problems? I don't know for any similar board on our market that has a similar price-performance...

I will look for P5K-E, and if I don't find it, I'll order this P5K and hope that I won't run into troubles if I sometimes in future buy a quad...

and I asked this guy for the PSU, and he offered me some Powerline 430W, which looks nice, has all black cables and connectors and is quite heavy (he told me that the heavier PSU is, the better it is, any reason in this?!)...
There are also some Linkworld, MSI, Codegen and Fortron in the offering... Which of these is the best, since there are no others available here...

The E8400 won't give you any problems with the mobo.
Oh, and Fortron is the best brand out of all those PSUs.

But will the quad be a problem, since I intend to buy it sometimes, and I don't want to change everything again...
I suppose that 400W Fortron will be ok? Anyways, that's the only one available so I'll go for it...
Thanks...

I bought an XFX Alpha Dog 8800GT with 512MB and on the box it says that they recommend a 500W or greater PSU, but they used a QX9600 processor in the system, and since E8400 is much more energy efficient, 400W should be fine, right?

It depends on how much of the 400W really goes towards the +12V rail(s). You'd need the PSU to deliver about 28-30A on the +12V rails combined, which comes down to about 340-360W of power on that rail and the rest distributed on the other rails, which is difficult if the Fortron PSU in concern is not a ATX-400PNF, FSP400-60GNF, ATX-400PN or a ATX400-PAF. Those models deliver about 29-30A on the +12V rails combined, which will be sufficient for your card and CPU. Cross-check and see if it's one of those models, otherwise you're gonna have to order online.

Well, it says on their page that it is Fortron ATX-400PNF so that means it should be enough?

I was thinking of buying tomorrow an optical drive, I am going for a SATA drive, so which brand to choose, Philips, Samsung, NEC, LG or Asus?
As for HDD, I bought a 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11...and tomorrow I should get Asus P5K.

Will Kingston do well for RAM, I can also get takeMS, Apacer and A-Data, so for which to go?

Yes, then it should be enough.
As for the DVD drive, anything from Samsung, Lite-On or LG will be good.
Lastly, Kingston, A-Data and Apacer are okay, in that order. I've never heard of takeMS, but I'm guessing it's value RAM, so I won't recommend it, especially if the others are available at the same price or the price difference is very minimal.

Thanks a lot man.
I don't quite understand why it takes so much power when on all the reviews I've read, a system with 8800GT in it takes 210-220W peak...
I am afraid will my peripherials work on this PSU then:
USB: keyboard, mouse, memory stick, bluetooth dongle, gamepad and webcam
PCI: dial-up modem and Skystar2 DVB-S card
Optional: another optical drive and USB scanner.
So, will at least these USB and PCI devices that I already have be able to work?

P.S. I see you are from UAE so shukran jazeelan ya Sadiqii

No problem mate, are you Arab by any chance?
As for the PSU, that much power draw might be a bit too much. I'd look for a bigger PSU if I was you in that case, because you'd need more power with all those peripherals IMO.

No man, I am Bosnian, but I study Arabic and English, though I wouldn't be able to discuss with someone in Arabic...
Well, I received P5K, bought Toshiba Samsung DVD-RW, and some other peripherials (floppy, modem, mouse) so I still have to buy E8400, 2GB of Kingston and a case with PSU...
but it seems like a problem now, I don't know what to go for...
I can go either with that Fortron or this
Linkworld ATX 650W (500W cont.) Thermal Control, 12 cm Fan, 24 Pin, Low Noise
or
Mercury 500W Silent Sata, PCIexp. AP5500
or this one
CHIEFTEC PSU ATX 450W Chieftec Delta 12cm Fan
but it is the most expensive one, so would any of the previous be able to run my system...and which would be the best, in order (since lots of times they don't have them in stock, and I would like to build it this weekend)
Thank you one more time.