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Calculate the Power Supply you need

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 11:11 pm
by Chrisax
Ever wondered how big your power supply will have to be to work well with all your system components?

Then you can try this page where you can select the components of your PC and that will give you a decent (but also generous) estimate of what power supply you need.

(Formerly) Antec Power Supply Calculator
http://www.antec.outervision.com
New link: Power Supply Calculator


Also, pay attention to this note on the page:
The total PSU Wattage this tool recommends will give a general idea of the range of continuously available power (not peak power) at which you should be looking. But if you are planning to build a high end gaming system, total Amperage available on the +12V rails—and how that capacity is distributed—could be as or more important than total Watts of power.

So once you have established the likely power needs of your system, please make sure that any PSU you buy will provide sufficient Amps of current on the various rails for all of your devices, and that it will have the proven reliability, service and support you deserve.


For example, at the time of writing, some high-end graphic cards require 22A to 25A ONLY for them on a 12V rail.

(Amperage was the cause for the troubles Caveman experienced with his new system not long ago, as he posted on our forums.)

Re: Calculate the Power Supply you need

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 11:55 pm
by Hyde
On a tangent ... I found a Nvidia 9800GTOC from PNY this week that not only was smaller and quieter than my 9600GT but also did not require a secondary power connector. Worthy upgrade.

Re: Calculate the Power Supply you need

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 1:52 am
by Grind42
Omg this is like a day too late lol I got a new PSU on the 2nd. A 470 Watt I just changed cases & the new one has 3 more fans & my pc kept randomly rebooting so I thought it was a power issue, turns out it might have been Win 7 or a heat issue cause it has stopped doing it & I havent installed the PSU.

Re: Calculate the Power Supply you need

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 8:57 am
by caveman
it will be most likely to be your pcu, if your PSU is not a branded one take 100 watts of it's total to get an accurate watts, also make sure each 12v+ rails are at least 25 amps each

Re: Calculate the Power Supply you need

Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 8:46 am
by Alphacenta
Agreed with Grind.. I bought all the parts for a new computer the day before Chris posted that. :roll:

I've bought myself a Cooler Master Silent Pro M700 btw and so it should be fine, since I don't use SLI or CrossFireX. Antec dudes say I should use a 362 watt PSU.. which is obviously far too little though. o.O IIRC even just my CPU+GPU together are 200ish more than that!

Re: Calculate the Power Supply you need

Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 8:51 am
by caveman
on another note, some DDR 3 motherboards have a problem with DDR3 10600 1333mhz ram,i had to lower the fsb via bios to 1060mhz to run stable.

Re: Calculate the Power Supply you need

Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 8:53 am
by Alphacenta
caveman wrote:on another note, some DDR 3 motherboards have a problem with DDR3 10600 1333mhz ram,i had to lower the fsb via bios to 1060mhz to run stable.
Funny enough I had to go into BIOS and force my RAM to run at 1333 MHz manually, it auto'd to 1066 while the memory was clearly 1333. :)

That's on Asus P6T SE with an Intel Core i7 920 btw, using a triple channel kit from OCZ (Platinum Edition, 3* 2GB, 1333 MHz, low voltage).

Re: Calculate the Power Supply you need

Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 12:59 pm
by caveman
lol Lup..my motherboard is an Asus too PQ5C it seems Asus has RAM issues

Re: Calculate the Power Supply you need

Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 2:27 pm
by Chrisax
Alphacenta wrote: Antec dudes say I should use a 362 watt PSU.. which is obviously far too little though.
Maybe retry, you might have forgotten something or something on the form reset before you hit the button to calculate. So far, all the tests I made gave quite generous results so I'm surprised they give you less than needed. Or maybe the values regarding a specific component are bugged.