About how much wattage should I buy?

[abrownbear]

Hi!

I am building a new desktop computer, I am trying to save $ by not buying an unneccesarily large power supply. I can get the same case with a 420 W supply but i'm not sure that will be enough
Here are my specs:

Case: Apevia X-Jupiter Jr. S Type with Side-Panel 250mm UV LED Fan

Motherboard: ASUS P5N-D LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i SLI ATX Intel

CPU: Intel Core 2 E8400

R.A.M: CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

Video Card: MSI NX8800GT 512M OC GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported

Hard Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD753LJ 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s

 

[dirtmountain]

Friends don't let friends use an Apevia power supply. How about a nice http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129024 Case/combo deal with a quality 500w Earthpower PSU ? It may be ugly, but you're not dating it, you're building a computer in it.
Or for a decent budget PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341012
$35 after rebate.

 

[leo2kp]

Saving money by buying a cheap PSU is the worst idea you can have when building a PC. The PSU is the most important part you can buy because it effects everything. If it's cheap and it dies, it can take the entire PC with it costing you way more money than if you bought a good PSU. So if you can't afford a decent PSU, then drop 2GB RAM or get a smaller HDD.

But to answer your question, I would get a 500watt PSU at least but you want to look at the amperage as well. Try to get a combined total of at least 30amps. There is a PSU sticky somewhere here that will show you a list of PSUs and their respective grades. I personally recommend PC Power & Cooling because they're rock solid and have a lot of good features without being overpriced. If you get one, go for the 610Watt Silencer or better

Also, save yourself some money by dropping (or upgrading) to a case that does not come with a PSU. Thermaltake has good cases with filters on the front that will further extend the life of the PC by keeping dust out of it. It doesn't keep it all out, but at least it keeps most of it out

 

[abrownbear]

Thanks for the comments, I like the Apevia case because it comes with the 250mm fan on the side, just worried about cooling and i've read that the larger the fan the better and quieter. I will look into other power supplies and cases however. The case doesn't come with a power supply, so I would just have to pray that the PS would fit...

 

[chookman]

Im right being dirtmountain on the SonataIII nice case with a solid psu

 

[abrownbear]

what kind of cooling do you use with the SonataIII?

 

[abrownbear]

This looks nice....
Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103011
PS:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817189011

XCLIO got a good tier rating on a linked page from this forum.

 

[dirtmountain]

http://www.anandtech.com/casecoolingpsus/
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/page/power
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Review_Cat&recatnum=13
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108088
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/power_supplies/