Help with PSU and my PC in general

xaldeius

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Mar 23, 2012
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This is a bit of an embarassing story but I need help.
I just received a new graphics card that I ordered online (Nvidia gtx 560), and I made a huge mistake by not checking the wattage, the gtx 560 needing 500 watts and the PSU I have is 400 watts. So im going to have to buy a new PSU and so this is my question:

How many watts do I need to run my whole computer just fine? I was thinking 600 watts would be enough, but I need opinions here, and do I just simply change my PSU, or do I have to take anything else into account? Sorry for these newb questions, I just got into building PCs and this is my first time to replace my graphics card/replace my PSU.
 

mahroofali

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Mar 21, 2012
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The gtx 560 alone won't take 500w. It only need a total system power supply of atleast 500w. I think a 600w would do,get a good quality PSU instead of one that boasts a lot of power.
 
You may not need a new PSU. What PSU do you currently have? A quality 400w PSU would do fine.
* ~160 watts under normal load or ~210 watts under extreme conditions.
* ~100 watts for CPU (depending on your CPU that you have (Intel usually under 95w & AMD is usually around 125 watts).

Your total power consumption should be around 300w or so for all of your parts (assuming you don't run 6-10 HDD's or something like that).

Now if your PSU is 3-5 yrs. old, than I would recommend getting a quality 500-550w PSU to power your system. Antec/Corsair/Seasonic/PCP&C are all good quality brands to consider. Most are about $60-80 price range for a 500-600w PSU.
 

xaldeius

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Mar 23, 2012
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I forgot to mention that I actually connected the graphics card, but what happened is that my monitor wont power on and the fans only turn for 2-3 seconds then it stops. I found out that it was the wattage, as for my current PSU, it isn't a quality one. I was thinking about buying this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028&Tpk=Corsair%20CMPSU-600CXV2

would this be sufficient?
 

xaldeius

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Mar 23, 2012
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No, I don't think i'll be overclocking, my CPU is a i3 540 @ 3.07Ghz