Corsair HX450W enough for this i5 build?

[StinkyPinky]

People always overestimate what psu you need.

I have a 485W psu with 32amps on the 12v and it powers three hard drives, two fans, an overclocked q6600, a wireless card, a dvd drive, and a freaking 5850. Runs fine, rock solid stable. I play games for hours on it

 

[MrK6]

People always overestimate what psu you need.

I have a 485W psu with 32amps on the 12v and it powers three hard drives, two fans, an overclocked q6600, a wireless card, a dvd drive, and a freaking 5850. Runs fine, rock solid stable. I play games for hours on it

Be careful when using this method as a diagnostic - PSU's aren't like many other computer components in that instability is harmless. Many times, when you encounter instability with a PSU, it's too late and you've already passed the point of risking damage to your hardware. That's why PSU's must be bought using some forethought and power budgeting to prevent such problems. As a general rule of thumb, buy a PSU so that you will be operating in 40-70% of it's rating. Higher than that, you'll stress the unit and probably shorten its life, in addition to making it run hotter and louder. Lower than this range, and you'll lose efficiency (although not so much anymore).

 

[davidrees]

Agreed - also, as the Power supply caps age, it will be able to deliver less peak power. Depending on the quality of the PS and the caps, this could happen as soon as 2 years or it might go 5-7+ years but if you have no headroom, your system may become unstable down the road and most people will never suspect capacitor aging.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

you will be fine.
psu requirements are so vastly overrated.
i'd focus more on a quality unit than raw wattage numbers.