PSU Strength

[Razaroth]

Just watt wise, what number should i be looking to get for a I7 920/930 semi overclocked, and a GTX 260? From what i read, an 800 watt power supply should be sufficient. I'm somewhat on a budget, and don't want to put too much money into a PSU that i don't have to.

Peripherals include 2x DVD drives, 2 hard drives (RAID), a VIA card, and of course, some USB plugins.

Thanks in advance!

 

[obsidian86]

first rule of buying a power supply"not all power supplies are made equal"
800 watts will suffice but depends on what upgrade path you will follow,might you in future want to use dual graphics cards ?if not a good 500-550watts will do if its sli gtx 200 series up to gtx 285, 750 watts

sli gtx 400 series 1000 watts

crossfire from ati up to 5870, 600-650 watts

you can have this do the math

http://www.antec.outervision.com/PSUEngine

 

[delluser1]

Just watt wise, what number should i be looking to get

Not the way to go about looking for a power supply.
The 12v output is a more important factor.
Don't know what your budget is, but a high wattage low quality psu on the cheap is never the way to go.
A good quality ( Antec TPN or Corsair TX/HX ) 650w would be more than enough for what you've specified.
If you want a decent "budget" psu look at OCZ's in the 700 watt class.

 

[Razaroth]

Obviously i know the brand and other factors come in, but i was just wondering what a base wattage output from those things were. I would have to add on also for the idea of upgrades later, either adding anoher 260 or upgrading to the new one at the time (400 series etc). So i was thinking 800W would be able to handle everything happily with an upgrade.

But the overall wattage the computer would eat with what it has at that point, even if overclocked, would be around 600?

Edit: Thanks for the quick responses.

Also, "looking to get" was bad phrasing. I meant more what would i be looking to be running at with all of those componenets. Sorry for the noobish noise

 

[JohnnyLucky]

The general rule of thumb is a high quality 500 to 550 watt power supply with sufficient current (amps) on the +12 volt rail(s) can easily power a system with any single video card made. A high quality 700 to 750 watt power supply with sufficient current (amps) on the +12 volt rail(s) can power a system with two video cards operating in dual mode. There are a few exceptions like the new ATI Radeon HD 5XXX series cards which use less power due to their energy efficiency and the brand new Nvidia GTX480 which uses a lot more power.

A high quality 500 to 550 watt psu will have a +12 volt rail rated at 40 amps. A high quality 700 to 750 watt psu will have a +12 volt rail rated at 60 amps.

In addition the power supply should be at least 80+ Bronze certified for energy efficiency. There are some models available which have achieved 80+ Silver and 80+ Gold Certifications.

Before purchasing a new psu you will need to decide whether you will eventually have a pc with one or two video cards.

Corsair and Seasonic are two brands that have a reputation for high quality power supplies that consistently earn high marks in technical reviews. They are reliable, stable, and come with a 5 year warranty. Some of the newer models come with a 7 year warranty. Lately we've been seeing a few other brands offering some high quality units. One example would be the Antec Earthwatts and the Antec TruePower New models which are a major improvement over Antec’s older psu’s like the Basiq models.