Hi there, I'm about to start building a new computer and have got a few questions, which I hope someone here could answer.

I'll start by giving you a rundown of what I intend to build first:

Motherboard: MSI K9N SLi Platinum
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ EE
Memory: Crucial 2GB DDR2 PC2-4200
Graphics card: MSI NX7100GS 512MB

+ as yet unspecified HDD (~300GB) and CD/DVD writer.

The first question I have is roughly what output PSU should I invest in? I used the 'eXtreme PSU calculator' at http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine, which told me that this entire system, including an extra two IDE HDDs, fans and miscellaneous USB peripherals would only require a PSU of about 260W - surely this is too low a figure?

Also, I'm running Fedora 7 on my current computer, albeit somewhat unsuccessfully, since my onboard graphics card is an S3 ProSavage which doesn't seem to be very well supported. I'd like to continue with Fedora 7 on the new system, so are the components I've listed - in particular the graphics card using the Nvidia GeForce 7100GS chipset, likely to be compatible? I chose the Nvidia card since I've heard that Nvidia have good Linux support. Also, I'll be mainly using the PC for work, browsing and watching videos, with the odd use of 3D games and such and (hopefully) the Beryl window manager. Is the card up to scratch, or should I spend a bit more?

I think that's pretty much all of the questions I have at the moment.

Thanks for any help,

Simon.

Everything looks fine to me, but then again - I didn't look up the items for linux compatibility etc. The vid. card is an 'older' model nvidia meaning it should have good support, and it should install almost painlessly.

One problem however,
You mention wanting to play 3d games and use beryl - If i'm not mistaken - beryl still 'takes over' your vid card, and might be a PITA to get the games to launch with 3d acceleration

The chipset on that motherboard will overheat. nVidia's motherboard chipsets gets very hot. I suggest look for motherboards with heatpipe cooling.

For OpenGL to work well, I suggest finding nVidia models with large memory bandwidth. A fast core helps too.

Beryl may look pretty, but it is experimental. I do not suggest using it on a day to day basis.

I prefer people to use ECC memory. ECC memory does make the computer more reliable. Yes, AMD K8 processors can handle ECC memory. ECC memory does help when using 512 MB of RAM or more. Though not all motherboard manufactures include an option in the BIOS to activate ECC memory.

I recommend ignore the information from computer wattage calculators. They are useless. Today's computers needs at least a 400 watt power supply. I recommend get brand named power supplies like Eneramax, Zalman, Seasonic. I have a Seasonic power supply that works well and it is very quiet. In the future, a 1000 watt power supply may be needed even though processor manufactures are lower the power consumption of their models.

Be careful with the processor speed and the multiplier for AM2. Go to http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...px?i=2762&p=10 to read more about it.