FESTERS PLACE

And on the plus side with a 1 kilowatt power supply you will be able boil water in a reasonable time too

Incidentally, I presently have a 450w psu (cheap ass piece of shit) that is performing better than i thought it would, running two hdds and a 4850 off it.

Wow Flynn.. that's an achievement. I had a Hiper 580w some time back that ran two x1950 Pro's. 550w with a single card is generally more than enough for one card provided it's a solid make with good reviews and static amps across the rails and steady voltage across the board. I've read 750W for SLi or Crossfire is a good way to go.

One thing I try and remember is age. As a PSU components age they degrade. This tends to increase the possibility of voltage spikes which is generally a bad thing. Good steady voltages helps with overclocking and CPU life as well as stability. Power outputs drop with age too so a 3 year old 500W PSU may drop 15% efficiency which is a fair amount to lose.

I have an 880w now (which came with longer than normal leads which helped) and don't plan on crossfire. I'd rather pay for something that will last regardless of what I throw at it.

Someone once said when you build your own PC you have to have solid foundations. A good PSU, motherbaord and CPU are all key. I would hate to loose the mobo and CPU if the PSU failed. A £30 PSU may do for a while but it'll have its limit eventually.

Try this and see what you get http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At 30% capacitor age and 100% load (gaming) I hit 662w. At 90% and 15% cap age it gave 527w

Running:

An i5 2.667 at 3500
2 sticks of DDR3
3 HDD's
5 USB devices
DVDRW
HD 4870
Soundblaster XFi
3 x LED 120mm Fans
1 x 200mm Fan
1 x Large HSF

It soon mounts up. Even though the site is just a guide.

The above with 2 x HD 4850's in crossfire hits 757 watts. Toasty!

According to that website I need 462W with 30% capacitor degradation and 90% load. I currently have a quad core cpu, six hard drives + a dvd drive, constantly at least 4 usb devices, an 8800gts 512mb and 4 sticks of ddr2 memory.

My PSU is four years old and is 400w, and this computer has never crashed or cut out from power problems.

I'd say it's a pretty rough guide :p

(and yeah, I know I am still pushing it, what bbloke said about good psu meaning good rig is true. This PSU was top of the range when I bought it and it's still running fine. The PSU is the absolute last thing to skimp money on.)

Nova proves the point you get what you pay for! while decent wattage is important a decent quality power supply is very important!

Aye mines on borrowed time, it was a stopgap till i could afford something better.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-260-review/4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
and anandtech citing atx 300 w limit
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3679" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://news.softpedia.com/news/GeForce- ... 0189.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
the 295 ( dual gpu board ) has a tdp of 280 watts.

SOOOOO
The graphics card itself uses 180 watts. Maximum. ( well offcourse a bit more for that overclocked edition )

The cited wattages are for the full system. Probably measured at the wall.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
For good PSU reviews.
1000 watt is a overkill get a corsair HX850



If you want to get a PSU this is my advice:
Get enough power ( duh ). But get a power supply that can deliver almost all of its rated maximum power on the +12 volt line. Watts dont matter, its Wattage on +12 volt that matters.

2 make sure it is a high quality one. Read reviews from reviewers that take PSUs apart and test them on a controlled testbed with an oscilloscope to measure the voltage regulation. All other PSU reviews are crap.


3: Make sure it has good power distribution and connectivity ( in how many lines is the +12 splitted )

Make sure it is an 80+ PSU, that means it has 80+ efficiency. 80+ silver or gold would be fantastic.

jased i would get myself a corsair HX850 if i were you. It can run gtx 260 tri sli and an overclocked i7 = watercooling and 10 HDD if you want it to.
The 1000 watt PSU's are a price class higher

I got an 800w thermaltake when Iupgraded a couple of years ago. I don't even use half of it according to the website!