earthbound14

Distinguished
Sep 19, 2011
8
0
18,510
I'm in the process of building a budget system and don't seem to be finding accurate information about the power consumption of my components.

According to the Antec website my system will only use about 250W.

According to my own research on the web (reviews and general rules of thumb) my system will use 400W at idle - 420W overclocked at idle and while under load I estimated it will use 536W to 576W overclocked.

The biggest power user is the GPU and various tests done by different sites show anywhere from a minimal 50W up to 250W under load.

The system is
Asus M4A88T-M LE
AMD Athlon II X3 455
Gigabyte HD 5570 HDMI D3 1G
4 GB Samsung RAM 1,333Ghz
WD Caviar Green 1TB

The PSU - Antec VP550P

Based on the Antec web site, I'm well in the clear and can overclock and add RAM whenever I want.
Based on my own research, I'm running things a bit tight and will not be able to overclock my system or buy anymore RAM.

This is my first build, so any advice would be welcome.
 
Solution
If you could provide some web links to the items you plan on purchasing that would be great. Filling in this build advice template might also get you some better feedback: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/261222-13-build-advice

As for PSU, usually whatever wattage the GPU recommends you use, that's enough to cover the whole build. From what I can see a 350w would be recommended for the current build you've listed. Make sure you get a good quality PSU though, look for an 80PLUS rating of BRONZE or better. Corsair, XFX, SeaSonic and Antec are all manufacturers worth considering.

AdrianPerry

Distinguished
If you could provide some web links to the items you plan on purchasing that would be great. Filling in this build advice template might also get you some better feedback: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/261222-13-build-advice

As for PSU, usually whatever wattage the GPU recommends you use, that's enough to cover the whole build. From what I can see a 350w would be recommended for the current build you've listed. Make sure you get a good quality PSU though, look for an 80PLUS rating of BRONZE or better. Corsair, XFX, SeaSonic and Antec are all manufacturers worth considering.
 
Solution

earthbound14

Distinguished
Sep 19, 2011
8
0
18,510


Motherboard
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3/M4A88TM_LE/

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103911

GPU
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/gigabytegt240_hd5670/

4 GB Samsung RAM 1,333Ghz
WD Caviar Green 1TB

PSU
Antec VP550P
http://xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/power-supply-units/antec-vp550p-550w-psu/


I used this site
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

After further research it seems that perhaps the rules of thumb I found were not very accurate. There seems to be more sites like the one you suggested that suggest only a 350W power supply.

Thanks for the help. The only name brand PSU in my location is the Antec 550 W, so it looks like I will be using one that's a bit overkill for my system. Thanks for the help.