How many Watts? Gaming PC.

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Zombieknight Productions

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I've been using calculators a lot but their all different and I don't trust them. I know with everything maxed out i would need a lot more but I don't know how close I'll ever come to it. It is for a high end gaming PC. I also want quiet operation (below 30 decibels), so it will need to be a bit above peak wattage, but it should achieve high (close to max) efficiency.

My Gaming PC Build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DP6nFT

Is 1000W enough? If so, is the PSU I chose good? (It's johnny guru approved).
Any recommendations for other parts of the build?
 
Solution
Dark Lord of Tech




I would go with a EVGA 850W G2.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX...
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theiDunnotouch

theiDunnotouch

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1000w is waaaay overkill, you will actually be losing efficiency due to the missing load on the PSU.
Get a good quality 750w and you'll be just fine.

Something like an AX750, HX750 or similar...

 
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Dark Lord of Tech

Dark Lord of Tech

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Aug 18, 2009
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I would go with a EVGA 850W G2.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($114.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $114.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-24 16:56 EDT-0400

or

850w B2

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $64.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-24 17:01 EDT-0400

 
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junkeymonkey

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today stuff I cant see going below 750w .. blackbird pointed out that evga G2 unit its a heck of a deal at newegg as well that would be a good grab and your well covered with a top build unit [never delt with microcenter due to there in store only on most things I want ]
 
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Mr5oh

Mr5oh

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Jul 28, 2004
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All the calculators I've seen way overestimate how much power you will need. You should pick up a kill-a-watt , or if you have an amp meter, measure the draw of your PC, whilc doing stress testing / benchmarks. I think you'll be quite surprised by how little power a "hefty" PC actually draws compared to the calculator.

Just to throw out some numbers, my old 3570k / GTX 570 overclocked, had a max draw of 317w from the wall. This means the PC was actually using less than 317 watts, as the PSU isn't 100% efficent. My 4690k / GTX 760 machine draws a max of 249 watts during gaming benchmarks. Granted your PC will draw more, but no where near 5x more. As already meantioned 850 is plenty. Going way over what you need generally places the PSU in a less efficent state.
 
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junkeymonkey

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don't fall into that old trap and down the road find yourself asking if that lower powered budget psu is good enough for a new high end upgrade you may want and find yourself re-buying -- buy the best you can once and be covered to do as you want with out the worry's -- [opinion]
 
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martinch

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Mar 21, 2014
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Most calculators and manufacturer requirements over-estimate/over-state what you'll need, as they assume you'll be using a poor-quality PSU that'll struggle to deliver it's rated wattage without self-destructing. I saw a review of a heavily overclocked X99 system (4.5GHz) with a factory-overclocked GTX 970 in it, and it drew < 400W at the wall.


Seasonic (incl Corsair AX series, XFX Pro series, and some others), SuperFlower's Leadex platform (EVGA G2 and P series), and Flextronics (Corsair AXi series) units are all normally excellent.


Look at finding something that hits about 70-75% load under peak load, so you're not running the fan at maximum speed.

For the fans, consider looking at Noctua ones - I have the A14 FLX's in my PC, and running at full speed (12V - 19dB[A]), they're clearly audible, but knocked down to 7V (~15dB[A]), I can't hear them any more, and they shift a tonne of air at reasonable pressure. They do a redux range which is black and charcoal, if you don't like their standard range. I've also heard good things about the more expensive BeQuiet! fans.
 
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Z

Zombieknight Productions

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Mar 6, 2015
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4,530

I would go with a EVGA 850W G2.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($114.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $114.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-24 16:56 EDT-0400

or

850w B2

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $64.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-24 17:01 EDT-0400

Will that cover all components plus 8 USB devices and only hit around 75% load so I get quiet operation? I am going to be running 2 way SLI and moderately overclocking my system.

 
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