PSU and processor compatibility questions. Piece o' cake.

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Suidakra

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I'm sure you guys get bombarded with some technical stuff. I have quite a few questions, but they're pretty general. I've already been through the tough stuff a month ago when my main machine took a dive, but now I'm on the hunt for a new processor and power supply.

My current specs are:
Asus A7N8X-X motherboard
256 mb Corsair ram
2 x Maxtor 80GB hard-drives
Sony CD-RW
Micro Advantage DVD-RW
(AMD Athlon XP 2500+ processor that died, power supply that died)

Basically, I have my items picked out, but have a few questions:

1) I'm using up about 350 watts for my system, but found this sweet 500 watt PSU. Will it be eating up more electricity if I use it for my stuff, or is it just that I have up to 500 watts if I wish?
2) I don't know if the PSU supports an Athlon XP, Socket A. It says "Pentium/AMD ready", but does that mean it supports my processor? Speaking of which, on to the processor...
3) AMD Athlon XP 2800+, Socket A and Asus A7N8X-X motherboard? Any problem with this combo?
4) The processor is retail, what type of "thermal" paste/pad/etc comes with it? Any tips on applying it would help. This processor will be kept in my PC long-term, until it dies.

PS, I will not be overclocking or anything of that sort. I use my PC pretty simplistically for web browsing, movie playing and music listening. Thanks to you all in advance!
 
1: A 500 watt PSU will put out more power yes. But the PSU does not run at max all the time. If you are only using 250 watts of power, what it takes in from the wall (and wallet) will be half. Infact, if you get a good PSU with a better efficency, even at full load a good brand name 500 watt would use less than a 350 watt PSU if both were maxed out.

2: What PSU are you talking about, DO NOT GET A CHEAP NO NAME BRAND 500 WATT PSU.

3: No problem.

4: You will get the aquadrate cooling witha retail processor, and it comes with instructions.
 
4) most retail processor, well my 3200+ came with thermal tape on the bottom, i believe the 3000+ comes with a thermal pad. im not sure about socket a but it will come with some time of thermal thingy on the bottom, so you would be fine. if you wish, you can buy an aftermarket heatsink and some artic silver 5 to lower your temps but retail is fine^^
 
You should only get PSUs from the following brands:

Thermaltake, Antec, OCZ, Ennermax, and PCP&C.

Everything else blows
 
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