Recommended Case + PSU Combo?

[Nikolai]

Hi Guys,

I have been asking about cases before and ive had some good recommendations, from the antec 900 to gigabyte 3d aurora .... but im having trouble understanding what PSU should go with the case ....

if my configuration is ...
core 2 quad Q6600
gigabyte p35-ds3
4 gigs ram
4 harddrives (2 in raid)
middle of the range video and sound card

how big does my PSU have to be, .... im not an overclocker .. im wanting to do some high end photoshop work with large files .. and web design on flash

i see some people have some pretty hardcore PSU's but in reality how big does mine need to be ... ? also if you can recommned some brands and models to go along with that to fit a case that is quite large ... im thinking of waiting for the antec 1200 or the gigabyte 3d mars so i can expand my rig in the future

[Capper]

eXtreme Power Supply Calculator Lite v2.5

You can use this handy little program to spec out your system and get a good idea of how much power you need.

[Nikolai]

Thanks for that great link Capper .... it came up with 650w recommendation ... does that mean i should go for something a touch higher just to be safe ? like 700w psu?

[Dread]

IIRC that app will automatically assume you're going to be maxing out the listed
hardware, so a 650w PSU should do you just fine. And looking at your specs I would agree that a 650w 'quality' PSU will last you a very long time.

[Capper]

A nice 620-650W PSU should be perfectly fine for your needs. Make sure you have enough of the connectors you need on the PSUs you are considering.

[Nikolai]

because I'm building my own system, does that mean I have to buy the PSU connectors separately .. or do they usually come bundled with the PSU?

[Quakindude]

They come with the PSU and your motherboard box will have some adapters in it as well.

[One4yu2c]

When you run that PSU calculator, make sure you have it configured for 'single processor,' as that pertains to the actual number of processors, and not cores. You have a quad-core, but it's a single physical processor. I mention this because they're no way your system pulls 650W. Plugging in the specs you listed (and I had to guess on a few, such as selecting an 8800GTS videocard), I come up with 463W at 100% load.

[Nikolai]

thanks for that heads up on the processors option .... does it matter if the PSU is more powerful then you need, does this cause problems in the computer?

[Telexen]

Originally Posted by Nikolai

thanks for that heads up on the processors option .... does it matter if the PSU is more powerful then you need, does this cause problems in the computer?

You want it to be a little more powerful than is absolutely needed for a few reasons. First off they're not always 100% efficient. Secondly you want some room for expansion.

It's not going to hurt anything but your wallet to go too far above what you need though.