Recommend me a Power Supply Watt Number

[soulslicer]

Okay, I have the following components.

Quad Core Q9550
Asus 9800GTX+Dark Knight
all the standard stuff, and at least 6 fans.

Right, now, I'm thinking if 450 Watts should be enough, or do I need more? Also, I heard that the Cooler Master Extreme Power Supplies have poor efficiency. For example, a 650 Watt will only give out 70 percent of power.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

lol more than 450 for sure.

Buy something from Corsair, their PSUs are amazing.

See if your shop has this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-004-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1084

They do other models which aren't modular, just have a look around if you need cheaper. Never skimp on PSUs, you need good quality.

 

[soulslicer]

shit...I can't afford that! ...

 

[JFry]

Just found this calculator on newegg. Hope it helps ya.
http://educations.newegg.com/tool/psucalc/index.html

 

[Kamikazie]

I say 4. One piece of power for the HDD, CD Drive, Mobo and maybe the GPU.

 

[Asus]

Safe number: 650watts
If you know your PSUs: 550watts
If you want to go SLI: 700+

Watts used by 9800GTX+ and other cards and SLI etc with more power hungery CPU than yours.

Efficiency rating doesn't tell you about how power is handled between your PSU and your parts. It tells you how much extra power you will be pulling from the wall above and beyond the power your parts are needing atm. If you pay electricity bills then you worry about efficiency.

I could give you a number but it would have to be an inflated number. You can't take the same number and expect to get the same power from one PSU to another. Some have the +12 volt line stacked with most of the Amps. Others have a more balanced output giving their 3.3 volt line and 5 volt line a bit more Amps. So their +12 volt line is not as strong. Both are fine and good but if you pick the wrong one for what your use will be then you have to get a bigger total wattage so your line that you use most is enough.

Gamers need a bigger +12V line. GPUs need the power there.
Just some random numbers for an example here.
Lets say you could get a 500Watt PSU or a 600 watt PSU. It is possible both have the same power on the +12v line. If that was the case then the 600 Watt PSU would have extra power on the 3.3 and 5 volt lines. As a gamer you don't have 2 CPUs in your PC, just a single chip (single, dual or quad. doesn't matter). You don't use registered ram or RAMBUS which use extra power. But you do have a big ass video card. So if the 500Watt with the heavy +12v rail is less money then you can pick that up and be no different powering your system than with the 600Watt.