Determining the mount of power needed

simonjphillips · 14 Feb 2011 at 13:20

Hi all,

How do you determine the amount of power you will need from your PSU when choosing new components to build a computer?

OcUK Motherboard Bundle - Intel Core i7 2600K & Asus P8P67 Pro Intel P67 Mainboard

G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL )

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM2+/AM3/775/1155/1156/1366)

Thanks in Advance.

stulid · 14 Feb 2011 at 13:23

years of experience.

reviews from Anandtech and Bit-tech where the wattage draw from the wall socket is measured.

What graphics card is going in the above build?

Admiral Huddy · 14 Feb 2011 at 13:44

An accurate means is to visit the manufacturers website and find the power draw for each individual component you have, including fans, and add these up.

Typically, any low end system without a graphics card will get away with a 400w with room to spare. Likewise a single card with a 600-650. If you are looking a multi card then 750w upwards.

It's always good to have enough headroom but don't over kill either.

Skellig · 14 Feb 2011 at 13:54

Also consider the make of the PSU. Definitely head towards the brand names that are solid:

Antec, Corsair, Coolermaster etc.

True_Scotsman · 14 Feb 2011 at 13:57

When looking for a new PSU I asked on here, all the info was great.

I also checked this site out as a guide.

http://www.corsair.com/learn_n_explore/?psu=yes

simonjphillips · 14 Feb 2011 at 14:41

Thanks for replies.

I am using a 9880GT at the moment and have a 520W PSU.

Would be looking to upgrade the GPU within a few months as well.

simonjphillips · 14 Feb 2011 at 15:33

True_Scotsman said:
When looking for a new PSU I asked on here, all the info was great.

I also checked this site out as a guide.

http://www.corsair.com/learn_n_explore/?psu=yes

Thanks this answered the question - looks like I will be fine with my current one