Power Supplies, how powerful?

wrayvon

wrayvon

wrayvon

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In the years I have been upgrading my PC I have never really considered the PSU, as I always had one that came with the case at the time. I currently have the Wizard Wi20A case and this came with a 600watt PSU. However I am sure this is not a good brand of PSU. (Just checked, it says Win-Power?)
Do you think it is worth forking out 80-100 pounds for a new one? And if so, how powerful?

My spec:
Asus P5Q Pro
Q6600 currently at 3.2
4x1Gb sticks of DD2 800Mhz Corsair Ram (overclocked to 959mhz 5-5-5-15)
Artic Freezer 7 Pro
2 Sata II 500gb Hard Drives (cant remember make, Samsung I think)
9800 GT Amp edition
3 Case Fans (120mm) 2 of which Noctua's, 1 Akasa and one 25cm fan built into the door of the case.
I also have one of those fan blower things, think thats Akasa too, I may get rid of that though.

Think that is about it, I use a portable USB hard drive also fairly freequently which draws its power from the PC.


Many Thanks
 
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Coolermaster, Corsair, BeQuiet! are all great makes.

As mp260767 said about 520W should be fine.

This link is for a PSU calculator - fill in the blanks and it'll tell you the min required for your setup. Can be useful to check power needs if you want to do any upgrades in the near future. You might be better off getting a 600W supply now to give a bit of headroom.
 
Ah right, thats great cheers. So you definitely think I should upgrade it then? I just googled my current PSU and its a whole £16! Haha, I think that answers my question...
 
A lot of people overlook the PSU and that can be a very costly mistake. Expensive supplies tend to not only have more capacity, more cable sets etc - but also be far more stable and have a lot more built-in protection. When you add all that up it's an essential element of a high performance rig.
 
For the system you've shown you really don't need a powerful PSU, but do make sure you get a decent one. The coolermaster PSU's offer great performance for the price, others like be quiet, corsair and zalman are a bit more expensive, but you do get what you pay for. A decent PSU around 500W should be more than enough for your needs, I ran a similar spec on a 500W PSU with no problems.
 
Your cheap PSU can clearly run your PC (Im assuming your PC's stable, and not crashing), your system would run no problem on a Corsair 450W etc, the 9800GT is not partlicularly power hungry, and your not pushing the Q6600 very hard @ 3.2Ghz.

My system ([email protected]), 8800GTX, 6GB ram, dual hard drives etc) doesnt draw more than 250W at full load. a lot of the power estimate programs are maintained by companies that sell beefy power supplies.

However, cheap PSU's dont usually offer the cleanest voltages, and while they can give system stability, over time they can slowly damage the computers componants. Even worse if a cheap PSU does blow, they have a higher risk of sending final death surges to the connected parts taking them out.

I would always recommend buying a PSU from a reputable brand, and look for one costing at least £50 online (more if you buy from a highstreet PC store). Seasonic & Corsair are my current brand of choice, but there are plenty of other good ones around.
 
your current rig will be pulling around 175-225w fully loaded (cpu&gpu) around 120w idle.

Ideally get a psu that is double your normal load that way it's at it's most efficent during normal use. So a quality 300w psu will be fine if you don't plan on any upgrades.

As you just can't buy a good 300w psu get a Corsair CX400W or enermax MODU 82+ 425w. These give you plenty for headroom for a single uber card and keep the load close to peak effecency. Both are quiet - corsair has an extended warrenty and the enermax has modular cables.

If you plan on going SLI/Xfire in next 6months get a 500w supply, if not stick with 400w.

As a bonus they will not only give your hardware better protection but also save you some electric and reduce the overall heat output of your system.
 
Corasik said:
Your cheap PSU can clearly run your PC (Im assuming your PC's stable, and not crashing), your system would run no problem on a Corsair 450W etc, the 9800GT is not partlicularly power hungry, and your not pushing the Q6600 very hard @ 3.2Ghz.

My system ([email protected]), 8800GTX, 6GB ram, dual hard drives etc) doesnt draw more than 250W at full load. a lot of the power estimate programs are maintained by companies that sell beefy power supplies.

However, cheap PSU's dont usually offer the cleanest voltages, and while they can give system stability, over time they can slowly damage the computers componants. Even worse if a cheap PSU does blow, they have a higher risk of sending final death surges to the connected parts taking them out.

I would always recommend buying a PSU from a reputable brand, and look for one costing at least £50 online (more if you buy from a highstreet PC store). Seasonic & Corsair are my current brand of choice, but there are plenty of other good ones around.
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Well I am planning on overclocking more once I've sorted out my cooling issues (need to lap my heatsink and a resit). I did have it at 3.7 but it was just too hot you see.
My graphics card being an AMP edition is an overclocked one, will this up the power usage a little bit?

I used that site, and it said I needed 502watts, so I'l probably get a 550/600. I currently have 4 hard drives in there and I am cutting down to 2 so I am saving there I guess!
 
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