How much power do I really need?

[AnilJassi18]

Hi, I'm a first time poster here and I have recently thought about upgrading my power supply but ran into some confusion (I'm not the most experience system builder, I'm relatively new to this).

I was adding a component to my case and I was just tired of manoeuvring around all the unused cables from my non-modular power supply so I decided to look for a nice shiny modular PSU to help eliminate the problem.

My graphics card specs recommend 500W and above so when I built this system, I bought a 650W unit. Recently I've been adding more hard drives and fans and even a Corsair H80 water loop and it made me question whether I had enough power. I used a couple of those online PSU calculators and they were always coming back with a recommended result above 720W and this confused me because at the moment I'm running everything perfectly fine on a 650W unit.

So here's the question: with the high price range (for me at least) of modular PSU's, should I stump up the extra cash for the extra wattage or do I even need a power supply around the 750W mark?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

A decent 500W to 550W PSU would be fine IMHO,with an overclocked Phenom II X4,an HD6950 and an H80 cooler.

You CM GX 650W is probably not the best 650W PSU out there TBH - it does suffer from loose voltage regulation,but still is more than enough for your current system.

Also,by running three sticks of RAM you are probably reducing the performance of your CPU - you need to run an even number of RAM sticks.

[AnilJassi18]

Thanks for the reply and thanks for the letting me know about the RAM, I never knew that performance could be affected like that, I only have the 3 x 2GB because it was such a super deal at the time. If it's not too much to ask, could you recommend a suitable modular psu (or series) off the top of your head? I've read quite conflicting reviews of many psu's and I'm not quite sure what would be suitable for me with the budget I have in mind.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

TBH,your current PSU probably will be fine,but I would not push it as much as other similar units.

Remember,if you get 20 posts on Hexus you can get free Scan postage as long as it is not spam:

http://forums.hexus.net/scan-care-he...tup-guide.html

This unit gets good reviews:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/525w-...uard-safeguard

These PSUs are also decent:

http://www.ebuyer.com/245671-antec-5...edium=products

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...pping&pup_c=gs

[AnilJassi18]

These psu's fall right into my budget too
I am leaning towards the Antec unit (mainly because I have a next day delivery voucher with ebuyer).
Thanks for taking the time to include links, at least now I won't need to fret about having an overpowered system.

Your help was much appreciated

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

It seems the Antec is not modular! There is an HCG520 and HCG520M and the listings from retailers are not very clear. Scan free postage is next day too from DPD.

[AnilJassi18]

Hah, yes I managed to figure that out too (a lot of these descriptions are pretty vague). I've ordered the HCG520M.

But just out of curiosity, how do you know exactly how much power a system will ever need without using those online calculators?

[ehhhhhhh]

Hah, yes I managed to figure that out too (a lot of these descriptions are pretty vague). I've ordered the HCG520M.

But just out of curiosity, how do you know exactly how much power a system will ever need without using those online calculators?

You check the max power draw of each component and sum them up.

[AnilJassi18]

Ah, how simple. Thanks