hi, can you guys estimate how much power my computer is using?
Here's my estimate of your power consumption. All Rails means total power comsumption:
Component.....................All Rails............12v Rail
E6400 (@2.7GHz)................60......................60
CPU Power Consumption (Burn Section)
7600 gt ko..........................42......................42
Assume slightly faster than XFX GeForce 7600 GT XXX Edition.
Motherboard.......................45......................20 *
RAM (2 Sticks).....................24........................0 (Draws power from 3.3v rail)
500GB Hard Drive...............40......................35 (5w drawn from 5v rail for the reading/writing heads)
DVD Burner.........................18......................18
Floppy..................................5........................0 (I'm sure it's lower, but whatever.)
3 120mm Fans (full speed)..16.......................16
Total Power.......................250...................191
Total Amps Used................30 **..................16
* 20w on the 12v rail is a bit high but whatever. Most power drawn from 3.3v and 5v rails.
** Very rough estimate based on amps on the 3.3v, 5v and 12v rails.
When looking at a PSU, the two most important things to look at are:
1. Good Brandname. There are lots of PSU companies out there. But I think the good ones are Antec, Enermax, Fortron Source, PC Power & Cooling, Silverstone, and my personal favorite, Seasonic.
2. Amperage on the 12v rail(s). I estimate you will only need 16 amps on the 12v rails to run your system. If you intend on adding any more components then you need to make sure you have more amps. As long as the amps on the 12v rail is enough, you do not need to worry about the amps on the 3.3v and 5v rails because most of the power is drawn from the 12v rails.