How many watts do you really need?

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tkline

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Jan 29, 2016
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There are so many different sized power supplies.. but how much is enough? I know it varies depending on what you have, but I feel like some of the big ones that over over 1000 watts is just overkill. I have a pretty fast & new gaming system that only has 450, and it seems to be just fine for me.

If you're building a new system, are there any good sites out there that will calculate how much power you need for the components you want? Is it good to go really high so there's extra wattage left over just in case? Do you really only need a lot if you're running 2+ video cards?
 
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mjslakeridge
PCPartpicker.com also has a wattage calculator. If for example your build requires 370 watts, then you should probably get a PSU in the 450-500 Watt range, to allow for overclocking or maybe an added storage drive or additional case fans in the future. Of course, if you are planning to get a high wattage video card in the future, you need to take that into consideration also.
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mjslakeridge

mjslakeridge

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Mar 6, 2013
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PCPartpicker.com also has a wattage calculator. If for example your build requires 370 watts, then you should probably get a PSU in the 450-500 Watt range, to allow for overclocking or maybe an added storage drive or additional case fans in the future. Of course, if you are planning to get a high wattage video card in the future, you need to take that into consideration also.
 
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g-unit1111

g-unit1111

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Jul 27, 2011
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That's one of the most inaccurate PSU wattage calculators out there. Most are. What they don't take into account is that GPUs and CPUs are getting more energy efficient than ever, and things like drives and case fans use very little to no power. The other thing they don't take into account is how much GPU manufacturers will overestimate actual GPU wattage requirements vs perceived wattage requirements. Even though the GPU is the part on the system that uses the most power, the current gen of NVIDIA cards are the most energy efficient they've ever been. Really for a single card, I'd go no higher than 600 - 650W, and for a dual GPU configuration I'd go no higher than 850W. There's very few instances where you would actually need 1KW or more, and anyone who says you do doesn't know what they are talking about.
 
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