And isnt even compatible with the modern tech not only due to motherboard power plug (which an adapter could fix) but also because of internal rail design making it incompatible with Haswell, future Intel processors, and future AMD processors. Also, here is my math on the power supply: processor - 55w graphics - 75w memory - 10w SSD + HDD - 20w chipsets - 25w fans - 25w total: 210 watts absolute max power draw If an R9 270 GPU is used, add 60w to the total Now since we need to look to be at between 70-80% power usage on a PSU, and we account for 20% loss in max power over the first 2-3 years, that means a 350w power supply would be absolutely perfect to use and give us right in that 70-80% range. If the R9 270 is used, that puts us up at max draw so we dont want that, a 450w supply should be used if that GPU is selected. Or, we could go with the 450w either way to allow for headroom if the CPU is upgraded to something with more cores later on, if overclocking is desired, or if the GPU is upgraded later on, or maybe more RAM and hard drives are added in. Which is why I thought a 450w was a good choice. But if the computer will never be upgraded then a 350w will do fine.
Thanks again to all for the help on this. I dragged my feet on it a bit, but finally found the time to assemble the unit. All that is left at this point is to plug in the peripherals and see what happens. I have always used Windows for my OS, but have always wanted to try a Linux system. If I don't like it I can always just toss Windows on there. Anyone try Zorin before? I think I might give it a shot.
Mint 17.1 Rebecca LTS Just do it. Cinnamon is great environment and an easy transition for those coming from windows. If you need lower resource usage then go with MATE or XFCE. I've been using Mint in some capacity for a year or two now and I am happy with it. I dual boot windows 7 and mint 17 right now on my laptop and spend most of my time in linux. I would spend more time in it if Divinity: Original Sin linux version was released already. Grub automatically boots into linux unless I decide I need windows and then I have 10 sec. to select it.