i have a half built computer and all it needs right now is a cpu and ram. the computer is just going to be used for watching movies, listening to music, and maybe sharing (depending if i get my ethernet jack fixed). i currently have:

antac aria case
asrock p4i65gv (prescott ready)
seagate 200GB sata

i was thinking about going with a celeron processor since it apparently produces less heat then p4's. the only fan cooling the inside is the low speed 120mm power supply fan and antecs pci slot fan. i'd like to keep everything as cool as possible, especially the hard drive. then i've noticed the celeron "d" cpu's. is it worth the $20-$30 extra for the "d" cpu?

for ram, i want to go with 256 MB. will this be sufficient? also, what is a good brand and what speed should i get?

thanks

ps. i'm going to buy the cpu retail off of newegg so it'll come with a heatsink and fan. i think they also come with the thermal paste. ive never installed a cpu before so i'll need some help with that if anyone is willing.

Yeah, the celeron Ds are much better than the other ones. I'd say go ahead and get one of those, if you don't want a p4. You don't want any other case fans in there? If you want to be kept as cool as possible, that's not enough to do the job.

256 would prolly be enough ram for your purpose; as for brand, its really up to you if you want to pay more. in this application for the comp, generic would even do ok. what OS do you plan on using?

well, there's a bracket for the computer where you can add another 80mm fan but with all of the freakin wires in that small space, they would interfere with each other. i guess i can try to maneuver the wires around to make it all fit.

ah, i just noticed this in the mobo manual. if my cpu has a 533mhz fsb, i should use ddr266 or ddr333 ram. i believe the "d" has a 533mz fsb. is that the only thing different between a celeron and celeron "d" is the fsb?

i plan to use winxp pro (since it was free off of seek ). i just use the personal reviews from newegg to help me decide which ram to use but i thought to go ahead and ask the fellow forum seekers for help. i ran across some kingmax superram. it's ddr333, $42 and has a 5/5 star rating with some good reviews.

You can use either type of RAM, but at stock it will run at 266 speeds. The 333 will underclock itself automatically.

I would say you will be in a land of pain with 256 megs of ram in xp if you are going to interact with the computer, but I guess many people deal with it.