How much power do I need?

[nickc07]

I have a few builds under my belt now, but I never though about the Power Supply being that important. After reading things here it sounds very important. Can you please tell me how much power I am going to need and point me in the right direction for good PSU. Thanks in advance!

New build:
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R
Intel E2140 (in 6 months I plan to upgrade to Q6XXX or the new Pheryn(sp) chip)
2-4GB Crucial Ballistix PC6400
7600GT (in 6 months I will upgrade to 9000 series)
3-250GB WD Hard Drives (RAID 5)
DVD/RW Drive

I dont want to have to replace the PSU when I upgrade my CPU and Video Card in 6 months.

 

[FatFunkey]

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

i swear that site should be stickeyed

just put in what you have, ect ect. hit calculate and i normally add about 30-50watts min just for headroom.

Also get a good named brand not a cheapo PSU...if u get a crap PSU and it goes it may take your whole system with it

I would get Seasonic, Enermax Galaxy series or a Silverstone ...i personally wouldnt recommend Antec anymore since they have been slowly going down hill especially in the +500watt PSUs

and good site to check PSU (reviews and what not) is good ol JohnnyGuru http://www.jonnyguru.net/