Check this site out for helping you determine what PSU your system needs.

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

 

ok...if I entered my stats correctly on that tool, It says I'd only need 438W PSU.

Do I have that correct? can someone else confirm that for me?

 

I would also change out the HD to this HD with 5 year warranty.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236345

Also, in order for us to configure your PSU needs, we would need to know everything that you plan on hooking up to your case, ea. how many fans, DVD/RW drives, etc.

Also, that PSU you have is an excellent choice If you want a little more cushion for future expansion, then go with this one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139030

 

ok, so I'm going to have cooled via its own fans for the time being. I have 2 DVD RW drives right now, I didn't check to see if I can hook up an IDE drive to the above mobo, so if not then I'll have 1 DVD RW drive in the new computer. If I can, then both. I assumed 2 for the tool.

Thanks for the Hard drive idea, but this is a budget build. I still have 150 for a video card, and 130 for the ram. I'm just trying to see what my current (and possibly future) options are for what I have atm.

The hard drive is coming from my current desktop, and I've bought all the other parts listed above over 2 months ago. been saving for these last few pieces.

 

Just out of curiosity, what is it your going to be using your computer for that you need 16 gigs of ram for, let alone 32 gigs?

 

gaming, possibly video recording. My friend and I are thinking of trying our hand at starting an lp. I'll be the primary camera.

 

I am wondering why you would purchase a video card that is at least 3 generations old? The gtx280 dates from 2009 and is now 4 plus years old [which is a lifetime in video cards]
Next I can tell you those cards are VERY large and you need to make sure you have enough room in the case for one. I have an old 260 I use on a linux machine and it takes up a LOT of space in the case. Next your pw supply will handle that card ok however it is going to be working pretty hard to do so when you are gaming, etc. Nvidia's specs for the 280 call for a min of 40amp on the 12V rail and your pw supply is at 53amp on the 12V rail so you are good however there is not a lot of excess pw available. It somewhat depends on how much other stuff you have ie case fans, any lights, etc. All of these things take pw and when you do not have a lot to spare, you make the pw supply work harder.

 

Interesting, so i won't really have alot of room to upgrade my machine....ah well, it is what it is. thank you my good man.

now, I went ahead and looked at my games list on steam. Went to the recommended hardware, and matched up what I could on newegg. In this case, I used farcry 3's recommended hardware. If you have a recommendation for a better card for under 150 that my psu could handle feel free to post a link to it, I would be very great full.

Now, there will be no extra fans or lights (those would be cool to have, but I don't have them). The cpu fan, and the psu fan will be the only things cooling this system. that and leaving the side of the case open.

Edit: and the case I'll be using has plenty of room. But, thanks for your concern.

 

Save money on the RAM and get 8GB, 16 or 32GB is pointless and wasted for gaming. The place where you need to invest more money for gaming is the graphics card. The GTX 280 is the wrong choice not only because it's old but big and uses a lot of power(236 watts with Passmark score of 1240); look at a modern card such as the GTX 560(150 Watts and score of 3060) at minimum for gaming.

 

GTX 560 for $169.99, or $149.99 after Mail in rebate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814134137
Or an even better GTX 560 Ti with a score of 3508 for $169.99: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125401

The savings on the RAM should cover the difference, here's no point in having more RAM than any game can use.

Newer cards offer more performance while using less power.

 

only 8 gigs, you sure? Cause I may wind up having video and audio recording software running with the game.

and thanks for the recommendation on the video cards, I really do appreciate it.

 

8gig is more than enough. I have 8gig of ram and even with multiple programs open, I never see more than approx 2~3gig used.

 

Recording the gameplay or you do video encoding/editing in the background? What program do you use? Still doubt RAM is as important as a fast processor, fast graphics card, and a fast hard drive to write the recording too, for example for Fraps it's recommended to use a secondary drive, or any SSD, for the recording.

Here's a challenge, find a few games that require/recommend 8GB of RAM, or even 4GB of RAM. Most games are still 32-bit so they can't use more than 2GB(or 4GB of enabled too) of RAM anyway, only 64-bit games can use more than 2 or 4GB.

Metro is one of the most demanding games, but it should be fine with 8GB of RAM, but if you have a weak graphics card or weak CPU than no amount of RAM will ever help. Neither the A10-5800K or the GTX 560 are massively powerful so I suspect you'll max those out before you max out 8GB of RAM.

Higher amounts of RAM are useful for audio/video/media encoding and creation or CAD/Design applications that can actually use that much RAM.

 

as for what programs I currently use, I don't use any yet. I did give it a shot with my current rig, minecraft was laggy as all get out on the lowest graphical settings.

Ok, I'll give it a shot with 8 gigs. Thanks for your help all. One last question before I mark this thread solved. lets say that, in the future, I do wind up maxing out the ram. Would my psu be able to handle it?

 

RAM uses very little power so yes, no issue there. RAM is also easy and cheap to upgrade, you simply add more so that makes it an easy anytime in the future upgrade. With a video card or CPU you cannot just add more, you have to take the current one and remove it and buy a completely new one.