Power supply requirement new build

[rockleejav]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone can help me determine what power supply wattage i need for my new comp build:

LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM

Antec Performance One Series P183 V3 Black Aluminum / Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-400 400W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.91 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model PGD38G1600ELK

BIOSTAR TZ68A+ LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600K

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM

I have a power supply listed but I'm not sure if it's enough. Also I would like to have the option of adding a video card or another hd to this later so I would like enough power just in case. I appreciate any input thanks!

 

[beenthere]

The PSU power output requirement depends on what graphics card you plan to use. What graphic card did you have in mind?

 

[rockleejav]

The PSU power output requirement depends on what graphics card you plan to use. What graphic card did you have in mind?

At the moment I still not sure. I'm thinking possibly either the ZOTAC ZT-40408-10P GeForce GTX 460 1GB GDDR5 or XFX HD-685X-ZNDC Radeon HD 6850 1GB GDDR5

 

[beenthere]

I would suggest that you look at a 600W-650W PSU with either of those graphic cards to be on the safe side. A 400W PSU simply isn't enough.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-460-review/13

 

[photonboy]

Tech answer:

It's not just the WATTAGE you need to look out. You need to ensure that the AMPS for the +12V rail or rails are at least 1.25x that of the graphics card requirement.

For example, I believe a GTX570 requires 38A. you want at least 48Amps. Often this number is right on the PSU or listed easy to find.

WATTAGE for single graphics card:
usually between 600Watts and 850Watts

The following (NCIX, Canadian prices) for $77 is one of the best values around:
http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=56788&vpn=HCG-620&manufacture=Antec&promoid=1365

If in doubt get one with more Wattage and more Amps but this is sufficient for your system up to a GTX570.

Graphics cards:

be aware that new graphics cards are coming that will be 2.5x to 3x as good for the same power (thus quieter and probably a much better value):

AMD:
7000 series, Q4 2011

NVidia:
600 series, Q2 2012

I'm planning to get an NVidia card next year with these rough specs:
- about 3x the processing of my HD5870
- 1.5GB of VRAM
- $300 to $400 ?

The main highlights of both cards are much lower power, probably more Tesselation potential and some other minor things. NVidia should provide better support for multiple monitors to compete with AMD, and PhysX version 3 (whatever that means). I'm unsure if 3D will be receiving an update but it's possible.

I've also heard talk that both cards will improve Anti-Aliasing. I have several games that look crappy without AA, pretty good with 4xAA but would look even better with maximum AA settings.