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Question: Determining Power Supply needs.

C

coremortality

Member
I have a list of all the components I plan on using in my next system build, with the exception of the PSU. From that list, how to I determine the power supply I should use (the wattage/maximum power)? Obviously things such as silent or modular are kind of subjective.

-Eric
 
Well, unless you're using quad-core or CrossFire/SLI, anything over 500W is overkill. That's about all I really know 😛
 
I'd say the opposite for that calculator actually. It reports an 8800GTS as being just 100W of draw, it's actually over that.
 
Yeah, I'm not sure I want to trust that calculator. I put in my configuration:

Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB WD2500KS
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 BX80557E6300
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 (rev. 1.3)
XFX GeForce 7950GT Fanless PVT71JYHE9
Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 667 KVR667D2N5K2/2G
Lite-on Combo Drive SHC-52S7K-05
Antec Performance One P180B
Scythe Ninja Plus SCNJ-1100P

And it says that I have a power requirement of 261 W. That seems really low to me. I don't plan on overclocking but I would think at least a 350 W PSU would be the minimum for my configuration.

-Eric
 
Originally posted by: Rottie
350W PSU is fine if you don't plan to upgrade anything in the future.
Click to expand...

With a DS3 board and an E6300 I would think that the OP might want to overclock his CPU...with that setup a 350W PSU will definitely not be good enough for to support any kind of overclocking. One of my friends is running a similar setup (X1900AIW instead of 7950, P5B) on a 400W Fortron that has 16/18A on two +12v rails (max draw 25A) and half the time it won't even boot up because of the power supply...which also crashes sometimes under heavy load even though his system is stable at stock speeds...

For your setup I would just be safe and get something like a Corsair HX520W...if you want to save some cash, I'd suggest at least a Fortron AX-500.
 
Find out the current draw each device has and add up the respective voltages. Modern PCs are predominantly +12V-hungry, and I wouldn't bother calculating any other currents (except +5V if you have lots of hard drives).
 
On a different note, I had a 400W antec PSU (came with the case) that couldn't power a P4 prescott 3.0 GHz, 6800gs, 3 hdds, 2 opticals, and 1 gig of ram under full load. I'm not exactly sure of the model/specs, but the system kept stalling in demanding games and the problem went away immediately when I upgraded.
 
First of all its not the overall wattage you need to be worried about but the amperage needs on the +12v rails. If there is any link you really need to read it would be this one.

http://www.xcpus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=109

There i outline everything you need to know about finding the right PSU for you system. If you have any questions feel free to contact me.

Now its hard to recomend a good PSU when you don't even list your system specs and the possible future upgrades you are thinking about.
 
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