First Build - Please Advise Me

[punkrockml13]

This is my first complete new build and I'd like to check whether or not I'm missing any kind of a detail here or whether or not these components will even work together. I've had experiance with computer components for quite some time, but since it's my first top to bottom build, I'd like to check things out before I drop all that money.

Here's what I'm looking at:

*GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813128017


* Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz 2M sharing L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115004


* WINTEC AMPO 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820161067


* Rosewill R5604-TBK 0.8mm SECC Screw-less Dual 120mm Fans ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811147033


I'm unsure about which PSU I should buy because I'm concerned with not enough power (either now or in the future after upgrades), or not any kind of protection from overload or burning out my motherboard and components. Can anyone reccomend a good, reliable PSU, or which one of these two will suffice?

* HIPRO TOP-500P5 ATX V2.01 500W Power Supply 115/230 V cUL, FCC
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817174023

or

* IN WIN IP-P460Q3-2/RETAIL ATX12V 460W Active PFC Power Supply 115/230 V
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817374001

I'd really appreciate some advice on a PSU, since it's the PC part that I'm least familiar with.

Otherwise I think that's about it. I'll be using the monitor, keyboard, mouse, IDE DVD burner, IDE hard drive (will be on the same IDE channel as dvd for a month or two until I buy a SATA), and PCI graphics card (until I buy a PCI-E graphics card, which may or may not be too much for the power supply?)

The case comes with 2 fans which should be enough. I'm debating whether or not to by some arctic silver for the cpu or just use intel's included stuff.

But anyways, I would really appreciate some input here. I'd like to go through this with smooth sailing. I hope to hear from you guys. Thanks!

[azzey]

Don't buy either of those power supplies.

You want to stick to known quality brands like Antec, Seasonic, etc. Don't buy generic brands. See Saphalline's thread (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=47399) on the issue. Anything over 400W should be plenty.

[jlreich]

In addition to Azzey's suggestions I would go with known good brands of ram. Corsair, Kingston, Crucial, and Patriot are all good brands and will only cost a few bucks more.

Also you don't need DDR2-800 unless you are going to do some major over clocking. DDR2-667 is more than enough for any of the current Intel chips.

Newegg has this Corsair on sale right now and would be a great choice. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145539

If you don't get that before the sale is over try this set of Corsair. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145568

[azzey]

Whoops I missed the RAM ;)

You'll find that generic components underperform, and that is especially bad with core components (PSU, Mobo, RAM). Those are really the only core components that don't have all reputable manufacturers. You don't want to have a PSU that puts out the power fine 90% of the time, but give you dirty power the other 10%. No point in letting a dodgy 20$ power supply slowly destroy another couple hundred dollars worth of decent components.

[saphalline]

I'm unsure about which PSU I should buy because I'm concerned with not enough power (either now or in the future after upgrades), or not any kind of protection from overload or burning out my motherboard and components.A high quality PSU won't overload or burn-out your system by default. But electrical protection? I don't expect my PSU to do that in addition to providing quality power. If you want electrical protection, you need to use a surge protector (at the very least) or a UPS (interruptable power supply - AKA "battery back up"). Either one of those will protect your system from electrical spikes, and the UPS will protect your system from dips, as well.

The case comes with 2 fans which should be enough.The case you picked out will work fine with 2 fans, but only because they're both 120mm and the case has a good airflow design. Otherwise, it is not necessarily true that a case w/2 fans is "enough" for a modern system. With high end systems today sucking up 500W or more of power, extra cooling is required for stability and long component lifespan. Back in the days of the Pentium II, cooling wasn't so much a problem because systems only required 150W of power. The latest vid cards alone need this much! As our hardware advances, so too do our cooling needs.

I'm debating whether or not to by some arctic silver for the cpu or just use intel's included stuff.If you won't be OC'ing, then the stock cooler w/thermal pad is plenty. The new Core-based CPU's from Intel are power-sippers compared to the previous Pentium 4/D guzzlers, and so they dissipate much less heat.

Also, let us know about your budget, what you will be using this new system for, and what PCI vid card you'll be adding.