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How much cooling do I need for my new system?

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I need help choosing a psu/case for my new/first build.

Here is what I have bought so far:

AMD 64x2 7750 2.7
Asus M3A78-EM Micro ATX Mobo
G.Skill 5-5-5-15 DDR2 800 4gb
WD 250GB Sata HD
Lite-On 22x DVD-R/RW with Lightscribe


What I plan on buying:
GPU: ATI HD 3850 or 4830/50
TV Tuner (Hauppauge)
2-3 more harddrives
2 more sticks of ddr2800 (8gb total)


I need to find a case with sufficient cooling for that (no idea what I'm looking for in that aspect, inexpensive cooling case always a plus)

And a power supply that will supply sufficiently for all of that.

This is going to be mostly a media center pc for me. Nothing fancy, no hardcore gaming. Not running at full load unless encoding/decoding (which hopefully I can get most of that offloaded to the gpu.

Any help would be appreciated.


More about : cooling system

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If you want a cheap case with decent cooling, look at some of the raidmax cases. They are pretty quiet. They aren't great, but they are good budget cases. The smilodon is a popular one.

The psu isn't about what wattage it says it is. There are different ways to rate psu's. 450w isn't always 450w. This psu is a good one and should be enough to handle the 4830 or 4850. If you have any thoughts of a second card, you will need a bigger psu though.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
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The antec 300 is quiet popular for a cheap budget case gaming case. It has great airflow.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Here is another great one for the price:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

PSU wise, the antec 380/430 earthwatts will be fine for those cards. If you wanted to be able to upgrade the card in the future though like the GTX 260 or HD 4870, I suggest the earthwatts 500w or PC P&C 500w PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

My funds are not limitless, but not limited to a specific set of parts. I got a dual core because I don't need a quad core, and my mobo is am3 compatible although not ddr3. I am a console gamer for the most part although I might play some mmorpg's. It was more based on necessity. The AMD phenoms are nothing compared to Intel I7's or C2Q's right now.

So am I right in assuming that you won't be using this for GPU intensive games? MMO's aren't that hard on the GPU compared to FPS, in which case you can get the cheaper 380w Antec. However if you want this PC to be able to upgrade to something good later on, then you should invest more in the Case and PSU. If you thought that maybe someday you would make this more of a gaming rig someday then I suggest you check out the CM-690 case and get a Corsair 650tx PSU.

this is going to be more of a media center pc - most of my gaming will be on my consoles - i will be recording tv, burning dvds/cds, some multitasking, mp3s, videos, at best mmorpg's because they are completely incompatible with console controllers and things of that nature imo

So its an HTPC basically. I think you would be fine going with the HD 4830 or getting a 4670. To answer the thread prompt: you need very minimal cooling for something like this, the CM Elite 332 that I linked will be fine. The Antec Earthwatts 380w will be fine too.
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