How much power supply do I need?

[Lcarvone]

Is there a way to get a ballpark figure of how large a power supply a system needs? The reason I am asking is I have a 300 watt currently in the system. It is acting kinda funny/sounds different so I think it is about to go on to the next life. But I don't want to spend the extra $$ for a 400 watt etc unless I have to (Christmas is only two weeks away!). I thought I remembered seeing a post somewhere where you could reference a table of typical values for CPUs, hard drives, etc and add all up the values to see your low, high, and average expected needs.

Any guidance and/or input is appreciated

 

[desi01]

power supply calculator here: http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

 

[Lcarvone]

How cool is that....thanks

 

[bigboxes]

Well, it said I needed 385 watts of power. Good thing I have an Antec TruePower 430W. Actually, this test did not allow for my 5th hdd. So, if I add an additional 25 watts we have a grand total of 410 watts recommended. Thanks for the link.

 

[JBDan]

Go to www.pcpowerandcooling.com They have a pretty good test to see how much power you will need. Hit enter upon arriving to the website then choose on the left hand menu "power supply selector"

 

[JBDan]

Not a test really , but will give you an idea. Look around this site and there is more literature on how much power your components actually use as well