Totally new to PC building here, looking for some assistance with what parts to purchase.

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mikeman12312

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After some time spent searching, it appears I've found a great place to seek help. For my senior project, I decided to build a computer. Now, I'm fairly new to all of this, as the most in-depth I've ever gone hardware wise is simply installing RAM. The computer I'm currently using was built for me several years ago, and understandably is on its last legs, but I plan to salvage the video card from it to save some money, of which I'm looking to spend as little as possible. (I'm willing to spend a few hundred, at most, as right now I'm focusing on just getting this thing built in time.)

The following is what I plan to use from my old computer:

nvidia EVGA e-Geforce 8800GT
Input Devices
Speakers
DDR2 RAM (3 GBs)
USB ports, if possible

What I've looked into buying so far:

Foxconn A74ML-K AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 740G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
AMD Phenom II X2 550 3.1GHz Socket AM3 (Purchasing this from a friend for $30. Has never been used)

I realize that several of these components are pretty outdated, but I'm not really concerned about that right now, as my main priority is simply getting this thing done within the month, while avoiding spending loads of money on it, and also because, quite frankly, anything is better than what I'm using now.

So I guess my main question is does this look alright so far? I'm still in need of a power supply, which I'm hoping someone could assist me in figuring out how much power I need.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, guys.
 
I was thinking a 500 W would be what I was looking for, and this confirms it. Thanks. And thanks for the guide, as well. That's sure to come in handy when I start building this thing. Alright, so I think all that's left now is a case.

I'm looking at this one and this one.

The former, while a tad more expensive, does have two additional fans. Is it worth the extra $10 for better cooling?
 
The Antec EarthWatts EA-500D doesn't come with a power cord so you have to reuse your old one or get a new one.

Having 2 extra fans for better cooling is worth the extra $10. The 2 front fans will help with sucking in cool air for intake, plus aids in cooling the hard drive.

However, if you have extra fans that you can reuse from your old setup you can just get the cheaper case and reuse your old fans.
 
The case I'm using now only has one small fan on the side panel, so I think I'll just go with the case that has the two fans built in. But anyways, thanks a lot for the help guys. I really appreciate it.
 
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