Hi I am part of the way through purchasing components for my new computer, but I have come across a problem that I did not expect, and I cannot seem to find a solution. I have been trying to work out what PSU to get, I have tried a number of wattage calculators, but the values that I get back seem to be very large. ASUS = 1150W eXtream Power Supply Calculator Lite V2.5 = 1295W Corsair Estimate = 1000W min PSU Watts and 12V Calculator = 1220W As you can see the amount of watts are quite high and quite random, and they are all before taking into account any overclocking. So here is my proposed spec: 1x ASUS Striker 2 NSE motherboard 1x Intel Q9550 Quad Core processor 1x XFX GeForce 9800GX2 graphics card possibly getting 2nd later for SLI 1x LG BluRay drive 1x Creative PCI-Express sound card 1-5x SATA hard drives 4x Corsair 2GB DDR3 RAM 1x Zalman Reservator (powered from PSU) 1x Cooler Master 840 case including all fans 1x multi card reader 1x Front mounted VDF 1x TV tuner (any suggestions as to which one would be useful, wants to be either Free Sat or Digital, both would be best) Any suggestion as to what wattage or which PSU to look for would be great. Thanks
Would you not be better with a GTX 280? No idea about psu though. I would say 700W would do the job for that IMO though.
Try this calculator. It seems to give sensible results, though you'll have to pick similar components and edit speeds, etc.
^^ Yeah, pretty much. There are pretty decked-out systems with a (single) 4870 X2, an overclocked Q6600, several hard drives, the works, and they rarely draw more than 500W from the wall. If you're leaving open the option for SLI later, however, I'd err towards the higher end of things. A ~750-800W option should be great, especially if it's 80+ certified. That should leave room for a second card and a few more extra internal components to boot. A quick look around Newegg for modular 80+ power supplies between 701-900W yields about 25 results. Of course these don't include options from bequiet!, which I understand is generally a great PSU company if you live in the EU. But generally you can expect to spend ~$125-175 USD for these. (And I have to agree with teamtd11 again, get a GTX280 instead of a GX2 if you can. The driver support for the GX2 just isn't there anymore).
One reason is that they include a massive safety margin to cover any PSU on the market including total POS ones running in a very hot climate. With a quality brand in a temperate country you just don't need this margin. The link I posted gives a wattage figure for generics and another much lower figure for quality.
Unfortunatly I have already got the 9800 GX2, and I have had it for some time, becouse I have been buying the various bits over the last several months.
