power supply question

[wolupu]

Hello,

This question is mainly directed to Rob and Jamie, but I'd love to hear from anyone who can contribute.

I've noticed that Jamie is consistently recommending most everyone to opt for a PSU of at least 650 watts....On Rob's SuperPC site, it seems that 450-500 watts is okay (with a comparable video card), but I've noticed that Rob hasn't chimed in on this issue in the forums. I was wondering if either of them could expound on this for us...are there perhaps different power considerations between the US and UK?

Thanks so much to Rob and everyone else for his terrific forum...it's given me the courage to take the plunge and build my own rig.

[Jamie Nixx]

Hi mate, would have replied earlier, bin on holiday :D

The reason i recommend at least 650w, is that a lot of people are building quite meaty machines i.e core 2 duo based computers and 8800GTS's thrown into the mix.

450w is ok, if your building a simple desktop computer to browse the net, word process ect, but if you want to put some powerful graphics cards in, and a powerful cpu, you need a lot of power, you don't want to be stretched when it comes to powering your components, faults can develop, parts can go boom ect ect ect.

Hope this helps, if it sounds jumbled, just bin in the car for 15 hours :eek:

[Rob]

First, I recommend using either an Antec or Enermax brand power supply. I'm sure there are other good brands, too, but I'm familiar with these and I'm comfortable recommending them. The brand is very important since some brands are built better than others, even at equal wattages.

Second, I recommend using a power supply with a wattage that meets or exceeds the minimum recommendations of the video card. This will be sufficient for most typically configured computers. But if you have quite a beast in terms of add-on cards and peripherals then feel free to go higher.

If anything, error on the high side for the wattage. The extra wattage does not waste energy since it is only used if needed. Having the extra wattage gives you more margin and allows room for upgrades - especially a more powerful video card.

One more thing worth mentioning is not to used an "old" power supply. If you're building a new computer then buy a new power supply. There are ATX versions for power supplies just as most components have versions, and older power supplies may be an older version that are not sufficient for modern components.