How much power do we need?

[screwballl]

the only time I would see a need for anything over 700W is a 125W quad core, 4x1GB memory, 2+ hard drives, 2+ optical drives and SLI/Crossfire. Otherwise 700W or less is fine.

[TheBobGoat]

OK, my plan is to basically get 2X2 with the memory and then shortly move up to 4X2 after that. I was going to buy a BD burner too. I will stick with one video card though of either 512 or 768.

Maybe a 550 witha fatty 12V rail will work just fine.

[Parker]

One thing I'd like to note here:

I personally would suggest getting the Corsair 650w PSU, it's got a Single 12v Rail and lots of power, the reason I suggest this over the 550w is for future. If your spending around 2k on this build then you should probably invest in a bigger PSU to be "future proof" because who knows what kind of power hunger components the future brings us.

BTW, I have this PSU and can personally vouch for it's performance. It is the single best PSU I have ever owned or used, it's quiet, feeds my quad core system all the juice it could ever want (with plenty more to spare) and is made by a great company.

Just my personal view here.

[gvblake22]

Good call Parker. With the rebates on Newegg, the 650TX is the same price as the 550VX!

[screwballl]

I am the type that builds for "now". If I only need 500W now then thats what I will get. Some new hardware use less power than its previous, some use more and since this changes each time, I get whats needed at that time rather than spend too much for whats not needed.
The early Pentium4s used around 50-80W, the later higher speed P4s used 115W... the Core2Duos dual cores use around 65W.. the quad cores can use 130W or even the QX9775 is at 150W...
add in the video cards where a 9600XT in its day, you could use a 350W without a problem and even today with many standard (not high end) video cards, you can still get by very easily with a 500W... so it all depends on what you are using.

[Parker]

Originally Posted by gvblake22

Good call Parker. With the rebates on Newegg, the 650TX is the same price as the 550VX!

Thanks, Yea it's kinda like a no brainer when you search through newegg..... there prices are weird.
Funny thing is, the 750w version is like $180.... and thats only 100w over the 650..... weird just weird...

@Screwball, yea I hear what your saying, but really, you can never predict the future. And for me at least, I get new parts all the time and like to add-onto my build or upgrade it... so when I went looking for PSU's I decided on a bigger one so that if I ever need more power I won't have to get another PSU. Saves money in the long run to do it right the first time.

[MontanaFX]

Originally Posted by screwballl

I am the type that builds for "now". If I only need 500W now then thats what I will get. Some new hardware use less power than its previous, some use more and since this changes each time, I get whats needed at that time rather than spend too much for whats not needed.
The early Pentium4s used around 50-80W, the later higher speed P4s used 115W... the Core2Duos dual cores use around 65W.. the quad cores can use 130W or even the QX9775 is at 150W...
add in the video cards where a 9600XT in its day, you could use a 350W without a problem and even today with many standard (not high end) video cards, you can still get by very easily with a 500W... so it all depends on what you are using.

I built for now, 3-4 months ago, when I brought my Antec TPT 430w. I said to my self "I would never spend the amounts needed to exceed that PSU" but the upgrading bug, bit me. I am now planning on spending 100s, when just 3 months ago I wondered how people could spend £200+ on a GPU.

I think thats why I went a little over board on my PSU choice. I cant stand wasting money on nothing and hope to never do it again (especially on a PSU)

[Captain Crunch]

Don't listen to these guys they don't know what there talking about.
There just setting you up for failure.
You need at least 1500w or your whole computer will blow up! Really!

[screwballl]

Originally Posted by MontanaFX

I built for now, 3-4 months ago, when I brought my Antec TPT 430w. I said to my self "I would never spend the amounts needed to exceed that PSU" but the upgrading bug, bit me. I am now planning on spending 100s, when just 3 months ago I wondered how people could spend £200+ on a GPU.

I think thats why I went a little over board on my PSU choice. I cant stand wasting money on nothing and hope to never do it again (especially on a PSU)

I understand that perspective.
I myself KNOW that I will not be upgrading anything major enough to go over the 620W requirement so I buy whats needed. Since I build new every few years I just get a newer bigger better whatever at the time and live with it.

[Stormcrow]

1500w, thats it? I have a Mr. Fusion hooked up to my rig, and I'm still concerned about overloading the rails and blowing it...it reaches near critical mass when running Crysis as it is.