PSU Recommedations for new mid-level gaming PC

[mousseng]

Keep in mind they (manufacturers and retailers) are not telling you how much power you actually need for those cards - they're covering their asses because there's such a wide range of hardware users can have. You could have a ridiculously power-hungry processor, a mislabeled or otherwise bad power supply, etc, etc. They don't want to have people calling them up saying "u sed i needed 600w so i bought a $20 600w psu and now my compooter broked," so it's easier for them to use very high estimates.

In short, that's primarily a liability thing on their part. They're not expecting most consumers to take their time and actually research, plan, and carefully select computer parts.

Also note that not all power supply calculators use actual measured power consumption numbers - some erroneously use a card's TDP (thermal design power - that is, how much cooling is necessary) as a power figure.

If you'd like some reassuring numbers, take a look here.

 

[euphoria4949]

Keep in mind they (manufacturers and retailers) are not telling you how much power you actually need for those cards - they're covering their asses because there's such a wide range of hardware users can have. You could have a ridiculously power-hungry processor, a mislabeled or otherwise bad power supply, etc, etc. They don't want to have people calling them up saying "u sed i needed 600w so i bought a $20 600w psu and now my compooter broked," so it's easier for them to use very high estimates.

In short, that's primarily a liability thing on their part. They're not expecting most consumers to take their time and actually research, plan, and carefully select computer parts.

Also note that not all power supply calculators use actual measured power consumption numbers - some erroneously use a card's TDP (thermal design power - that is, how much cooling is necessary) as a power figure.

If you'd like some reassuring numbers, take a look here.

Oh right I get ya now. So based on that info 2x 7950's CrossFired shouldn't draw more than around 400w combined, which would mean that a good 650w PSU would power them both absolutely fine. That's very relieving as I'm already £350 over budget, I originally didn't intend to buy a new monitor or mouse and keyboard, and those PSU calculators made me think I would need to buy some £150 1kw PSU!

I did see in that testing that the 7950 isn't very good at running a few particular games, of which is a game I was planning on spending countless hours playing! In fact playing that game was one of the main reasons for building a new PC. Hmmm very frustrating

 

[mousseng]

Keep in mind that that particular review is 10 months old now - driver updates, the latest ones in particular, will have improved performance across the board.

 

[euphoria4949]

Keep in mind that that particular review is 10 months old now - driver updates, the latest ones in particular, will have improved performance across the board.

LOL every question/concern I've had, you've been able to solve
Thanks pal, I really do appreciate it.