Hi friends,
I've been really confused about what type of PSU I need--when I built my first gaming rig in 2003, I slapped some $18 dollar PSU in it and never thought about it again. Now, having just built my second rig, I have a spare 430W Thermaltake PSU in it, and am wondering if I need a more powerful PSU...
I've looked around on review sites, for a good recent round-up of PSU reviews, but a lot of the round-ups seem really dated, so any help would be appreciated! One request: please explain your reasoning behind your suggestions--I'd like to try to understand all this important PSU stuff, too!
Here are the specs of my new gaming rig (note: gaming, but I don't plan on overclocking):
■Asus M4A79XTD EVO motherboard
■AMD Athlon II X4 630 processor
■Super Talent 2x2GB Kit of 1600Mhz RAM
■Sapphire HD 5770 1GB graphics card
■Hitachi Deskstar 1 TB SATA 7200rpm hard drive
■IDE 250GB 7200rpm hard drive and CD/DVD-RW
With this set-up, what power supply should I get? I'm not interested in spending tons, so, though I want to buy a PSU that will protect this investment, and not fry it, I'm not looking for anything fancy, either.
P.S. Additionally, the above just said, if, at some point down the road, when this rig begins to age, I wanted to run a second graphics card in it, then what type of PSU would you recommend, too?
I've been really confused about what type of PSU I need--when I built my first gaming rig in 2003, I slapped some $18 dollar PSU in it and never thought about it again. Now, having just built my second rig, I have a spare 430W Thermaltake PSU in it, and am wondering if I need a more powerful PSU...
I've looked around on review sites, for a good recent round-up of PSU reviews, but a lot of the round-ups seem really dated, so any help would be appreciated! One request: please explain your reasoning behind your suggestions--I'd like to try to understand all this important PSU stuff, too!
Here are the specs of my new gaming rig (note: gaming, but I don't plan on overclocking):
■Asus M4A79XTD EVO motherboard
■AMD Athlon II X4 630 processor
■Super Talent 2x2GB Kit of 1600Mhz RAM
■Sapphire HD 5770 1GB graphics card
■Hitachi Deskstar 1 TB SATA 7200rpm hard drive
■IDE 250GB 7200rpm hard drive and CD/DVD-RW
With this set-up, what power supply should I get? I'm not interested in spending tons, so, though I want to buy a PSU that will protect this investment, and not fry it, I'm not looking for anything fancy, either.
P.S. Additionally, the above just said, if, at some point down the road, when this rig begins to age, I wanted to run a second graphics card in it, then what type of PSU would you recommend, too?