PSU for 1st time build

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iMoose

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Ok, folks! Moose here AGAIN.

I now have a good AGP card, so getting ever so closer to finally putting all my crazy old stuff together and actually building my first PC.

It's an Asus P4S800D-X socket 478 mobo (don't laugh!)

with an Asus N6600TD 128Mb AGP card that I just got today.

And I'm bidding on an Audigy 2 ZS sound card, but it's not really necessary. Just thought it looked cool with the gold connections and all. lol

But what wattage PSU should I be looking at? Can ya have one that's TOO powerful?

They aren't cheap. And unlike most of the other components I have aquired, I just don't trust used ones. I'm going to bite the bullet and buy NEW hard drive, PSU, and DVD burner. Maybe even a floppy drive! (I've noticed how sometimes it's the only way to get SATA drivers on this particular mobo, at least for a few people in newegg reviews for this mobo)

So what wattage should be ok. I'm not a gamer, but might do a lil' someday.

Are the cool one's that light-up any good? Or are they just a gimmick to attract *****s like me?

I know the mobo is a 20-pin, and the AGP card has a 4-pin connector.

And since I'm buying a new HDD, should I get IDE or SATA? And what's the real difference? Besides price. Is one more reliable than the other, or something?

Ok, any advice will be appreciated! Thanks for looking!

And I'm attaching pics of what I have so far. Even included the Pc2700 Crucial RAM I got for this build. (2x1GB right now, but I'm getting 2 more as soon as newegg has them on sale again)
 
Don't be waylaid by a push for a high power power supply... Wattage makes no difference, really. It is the quality of the components and the electronic engineer;s design that makes the thing work right... assuming you have high quality components... There are 86 different power supply manufactures or products.. that I know of... so there are probably three or four times that many available. Any decent one in the 450 to 500 Watt area would be good.: Seasonic, FSP Group, OCZ, Corsair, PC Power and Cooling, Some Antecs are Good. Some are Awful. Take a look at the long list available at Directron.com... some are excellent.
For hard drives: Your motherboard will take EIDE or SATA or SATA II. You don't have the choice. Your motherboard does, and that board wants EIDE or PATA... We recommend Seagate, Western Digital, Fujitsu, and Samsung. We do not recommend Hitachi, Maxtor, TriGem, SATA is three times as fast, or more. But if your board doesn't want a SATA, you are stuck with SCSII or EIDE both good and reliable.
You should be able to use DDR PC3200 on any machine that wants PC2100 or PC2700... but the fastest memory will only work at the rate of the slowest module installed. The trick is to get all four the same. I buy my memory at Directron or ZipZoomFly or NewEgg... based on price at the time.
Good luck. Sounds fun. And reliable.
There is no reason anything lights up except to tell you it is <ON>. Anything else is fun but a gimmick.
Above $70, it is as easy to build one as another, based on the parts required.
 
Ok, been looking.

How about Rosewill?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182006

Or this WICKED COOL looking Apevia?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817148005

That one's pretty! lol

But it's pretty cheap too.

I'm looking at things that "match". I know that might sound kind of stoooopid. But it's my OCD. I can't help it.

I'va already planned on an Asus DVD burner.

And I will probably buy a PSU and case made by the same company.

How about Thermaltake?

And WHICH Antec PSU's are good? The CPU cooler on my mobo is an Antec. So if I found a matching PSU, it would make me feel all warm and fuzzy! lol

Yeah, I realize I'm like the Monk of computer noobs!

I'm putting emphasis on looks because I'm going to have a window to see the "guts", and not to impress anybody ( because I'm not sur WHO would be impressed by that! ) but I'd really like to SEE the stuff I'm buying. Why else bother to get the best quality stuff on my limited budget, right?
Right.
 
SATA drives have a faster transfer rate then IDE drives. But you cant use a SATA drive if your motherboard doesnt support it, which i think it does anyway.

As for the power supplies, I haven't heard much about those brands. They dont sound very common. When buying a power supply, its always best to get something reliable.

I recommend this:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3287208&CatId=1078

Corsair is one of the best power supply manufacturers around and are very well known. Its only 70 dollars aswell.

Thermaltake PSU's (especially the older ones) are very bad power supplies, I wouldnt recommend them.

Also, for a 6600GT, i would not recommend a psu with any less then 400watts with 18amps on the +12v rail. That corsair one is 450watt with 33amps, which is very good.
 
And there's this guy http://www.directron.com/win500xspx.html:
http://www.directron.com/ps550ac12.html

And him :
http://www.directron.com/rp500pcar.html
He doesn't light-up, but kind of reminds me of Darth Vader! And I really like their Centurion 590 case.

And her :
http://www.directron.com/win500xspx.html
She is Vader-ish AND light-up!

And this lil' guy's fun to say :
http://www.directron.com/550200.html
But then I'd have to buy their RAM. Crap.

Is this a "good" Antec? :
http://www.directron.com/tp3430.html

Here's an OCZ :
http://www.directron.com/ocz500sxs.html

And OOOOOooooOOOOOoooo!! :
http://www.directron.com/ps550ac.html
lol

So far, THIS one's the most expensive. Even with a rebate! :
http://www.directron.com/cmpsu550vx.html
But my little brother says that Corsair is a VERY reliable company, so.....

Here's another Antec, is this a good one instead? :
http://www.directron.com/neohe500.html



Ok, well this turned out to be a long-*** post! I'm gonna start to try and do a comparison among these. If any jump out at ya as being any good, HOLLA!
 
SATA drives have a faster transfer rate then IDE drives. But you cant use a SATA drive if your motherboard doesnt support it, which i think it does anyway.

As for the power supplies, I haven't heard much about those brands. They dont sound very common. When buying a power supply, its always best to get something reliable.

I recommend this:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3287208&CatId=1078

Corsair is one of the best power supply manufacturers around and are very well known. Its only 70 dollars aswell.

Thermaltake PSU's (especially the older ones) are very bad power supplies, I wouldnt recommend them.

Also, for a 6600GT, i would not recommend a psu with any less then 400watts with 18amps on the +12v rail. That corsair one is 450watt with 33amps, which is very good.

Ya know, I'm leaning towards a Corsair now. Even though they don't light up!

I was hoping to get one for about $40. But I guess I shouldn't skimp on a PSU.

Too much can go wrong if the PSU craps the proverbial bed. lol

But I'm gonna wait a couple more days, just to be sure. I know this might sound pathetic, but $70-80 is a lot of money to me right now. For something that is honestly just a hobby for me. So I have to REALLY think it through.

Thanks for all the the input!
 
Rosewill is at least backed up by Newegg so you can return it when it doesn't work.
Neither Rosewill or Apevia are very good.
Cheap power supplies are not cheap in the long run. Get something decent... Search the posts on Techspot. Somebody has posted a long and useful post on all the good and bad power supplies.
Otherwise, get a Seasonic, FSP Group, Sparkle, Antec, OCZ, or Corsair... among a selection of at least 85 good ones.
 
OCZ's StealthXStream SXS500 is a very nice choice for your system. Any PSU from the Antec Earthwatts and Truepower Trio series will also do (the same is not true for the Truepower 2.0 PSUs), as will the FSP BlueStorm II series PSUs. The Corsair 400CX is also an excellent low-priced PSU.
 
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