New Computer Help

[Decker]

Beskar- Thanks a lot... That definitely clears up a lot for me

Hooahguy- I'm guessing customization is the best way to go nowadays by the looks of the posts I'll check out Intel nonetheless...

Husar- Thanks for the clarifications and the example you used... I'm better understanding this stuff now

[pevergreen]

Is the power supply enough?

[Husar]

Is the power supply enough?

I guess it has enough power but like I said above, a power supply from a good brand might help anyway.
I do however not know which brands are really good and it can depend on luck. The store where I bought my PC replaced the first power supply with a different one because with the first my motherboard used to make beeping sounds when idle. the new one has less Watts but the system used to run fine. (until)

Power supplies are a bit of a science for themselves sometimes but I would hope that ibuypower makes sure the system runs fine with the components you chose.

[pevergreen]

I dont know that it does...

I would throw in another 100W at least.

But I'm still new to this whole thing, and power supplies are the thing I know least about.

[Husar]

Well, I'm not an expert about power supplies but afaik most of them are best between around 50 to 80% of their output or something, then you have different efficiency curves, meaning they may be more efficient at 60% or whatever. I'm sure Xiahou, Whacker, Caravel could say more about it than I can.
Going for one that has 1000Watts when you just want an office PC is certainly a good way to waste money though.

My old 420W PSU was apparently enough for a Core3Duo E6600 and a 7950GT, but like I said, going for one from a good brand might be a good idea, too bad that I don'rt really know which brands are actually good.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Power supplies must be bought slightly more powerful than strictly required because of the fact that various components wear out a bit (rather: some of their components build up a charge and others deform due to heat expansion both of which dilute the performance which means that the actual power they can deliver will degrade over time).

How much "over budget" you should go depends on how much you will use the system for (i.e. 24x7 systems require more margins than the occasional check-my-e-mail variety; and gaming machines need more than the occasional check-my-e-mail variety because the average load will be higher, which means that there will be more `wear'). A good -non generic- power supply typically has a nice "80" badge stuck on top of it, which says it has better than 80% efficiency; excellent ones will push well beyond that (e.g. 97%) but they are fairly expensive (you pay a premium for the power efficiency).

There are numerous PSU (Power Supply Unit) calculators out there; one I like in particular is this one: http://web.aanet.com.au/~SnooP/psucalc.php

Compare that to various others (usually a manufacturer will have a -biased?- one on its site) and you should get a good idea of what you need.

EDIT: Note that a power supply that is but slightly too weak will usually result in a (very) unstable system. You may experience random crashes; components may not work at all; loss of data because the system powers off the harddisk due to power failures. On top of that you are trashing the PSU which means its life time will be much more limited as a result.

EDIT2: Note if you are putting together the equipment yourself you may want to consider a modular power supply. Reason being a non-modular supply looks like a box with a boat load of wires sticking out of it at the back, whereas a modular supply is a box with a boat load of sockets at the back and a bunch of cables. This means you will have the option to only connect those cables you actually need which is less confusing and makes for an easier time when you will eventually have to force/route the cables in a more tidy fashion. (Otherwise they will very likely obstruct air flow towards fans and heat sinks as well as cover other sockets on your mother board; none of which is desirable.)

[Decker]

First off, I'd like to thank everyone's input. It's definitely helping with understanding what I'm looking at.

Here is a computer I found (I'm still snooping around for one).
HP Pavilion p6120t Desktop & DJ6988 Printer Bundle Dual-Core E5200 2.5GHz
LightScribe 16x DVD±R/RW Drive
Windows® Vista Home Premium

In the specs a few things caught my eye that left me baffled:

In:
Processor & Memory:
2MB L2 cache What does the L2 Cache mean?

And here:
Expandability (Total Slots):

* Total memory slots: 2 DIMMS
* 1 x PCIe x16
* 2 x PCIe x1
* 1 x PCI
I have no idea what DIMMS are or PCIe or PCI for that matter mean...

[Hooahguy]

Hooahguy- I'm guessing customization is the best way to go nowadays by the looks of the posts I'll check out Intel nonetheless...

absolutely. by customizing it, you can tweak it to your liking, like i did, and you can take away a few things, which will save money. for me, i took away bluetooth and the webcam, which saved me about $100.