wattage

[Flynnstone]

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.

[BBloke]

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!

[Supernova]

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.)

[Fester]

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

[Flynnstone]

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

[Tommi]

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

[Johnimus Prime]

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