What PSU wattage do I need ?

[jamieuk23]

Need to buy a new PSU, any ideas what sought of power I will need ?

2500lk @ 4.5-5.0 Ghz
ATI Radeon 6950 2048MB overclocked
1 x hard drive

?

[Behemoth]

I suspect I may be wrong but 600 - 700 watt would be ideal for that, although I suspect Cat will be along to correct me shortly. As I'm sure your aware make sure it's a quality but of kit and not one of those awful cheap and nasty Colours IT things from Ebuyer.

[jamieuk23]

Whats the cheapest best option to buy then guys ?

[toberemembered]

Try using this tool: http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

I came up with about 500W for your setup, but I dont know how much overclocking the GPU affects that. I'd Say 600WPSU to be safe and if its a Xfire mobo and you may get a second card in future then i'd go for 700W.

[Behemoth]

It depends on your budget, but given how much your going to spank on your other components is it really worth skimping on a PSU ?

I seem to recall people going in for Coolermaster alot on other other forums so perhaps

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/147047

or

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/200490

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would look at getting a decent 600W PSU too. A decent 500W PSU would probably do the job as well though.

One of these modular PSUs are worth considering IMHO:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/600w-...s12v-135mm-fan

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/650w-...135mm-gray-fan

[Pob255]

Yes a decent 500-550w psu would be fine and still have headroom
the 6950 has a low power demand (182w under stress testing), as does the 2500k (not overclocked) not sure what overclocking will do to it's power demand.

non-modular options
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/530w-...ail-atx12v-v23 (FSP)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500w-...0mm-fan-atx12v (seasonic)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/550w-...l-power-supply (seasonic)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/550w-...nt-cooling-fan (enermax make their own psu's)

[Attila the Bun]

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/530w-...ail-atx12v-v23 (FSP)

Are FSP in the same league as Enermax and Seasonic on build quality?

I ask because I saw some decent offers on a couple of their PSUs yesterday.

[Bagnaj97]

Are FSP in the same league as Enermax and Seasonic on build quality?

I ask because I saw some decent offers on a couple of their PSUs yesterday.

I believe FSP are usually OEMs for other manufacturers and are generally very good. They may not be the best but they're certainly a decent manufacturer. Which PSU(s) were you looking at specifically?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

FSP make decent PSUs especially their higher end stuff.

However,the XFX 550W PSU Pob255 linked to is what I would get for under £50. It is the most efficient of the 4 PSUs listed and has a 5 year warranty. It is also made by Seasonic and seems to use decent quality components too.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Ebuyer has the XFX Pro 650W Core Edition PSU for under £60:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/241554

It seems to get very good reviews:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...tory9&reid=216

http://www.kitguru.net/components/po...supply-review/

[Pob255]

Yes I'd not rate FSP as high as enermax or seasonic, their high end psu's are very good, other models are decent solid performers.
They went through a bad patch due to their use of Taiwanese capacitors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague) the situation is resolved now (although it still is going on with some cheap Chinese capacitors, FSP only use Taiwanese and Japanese)

I'd rate them along side CWT and Delta in terms of quality, not the top but a close 2nd.