Tom's Hardware > Forum > CPU & Components > Power Supplies, PC Cases & Case Mods > PSU requirement

PSU requirement

Forum CPU & Components : Power Supplies, PC Cases & Case Mods - PSU requirement

Tom's Hardware: Over 1.4 million members in 6 different countries available to answer all your high-tech questions. Sign up now! Its free!

Ask the community Add a reply

Bottom Search this thread

Hi guys. I want to build a new gaming rig. I want to buy the following hardware for my PC.
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550,
Biostar G41D-M7 Motherboard,
4 GB RAM,
500 GB Hard disk,
Nvidia Zotac 9800 GT 512 MB GDDR3 Graphics card,
22X Dvd writer &
A PC case with 400 W PSU.

My questions are,
1. Will a 400W PSU be enough for my hardware? (Or should I go for 500W or higher?)
2. Can my old 17" CRT monitor work with the Graphics card?
3. Can I play all the new games for next 4 years at 1280x1024 resolution with this hardware?
4. If I buy a 1 GB GDDR3 card instead of 512 MB, will there be a good performance boost?

If you have to offer me any other suggestions about my hardware, I'd be very happy, Thank you...

Add a reply

500W should be enough. The monitor should be fine, u dont need 1 GB card for that resolution. About the games, who knows

Reply to jimishtar

1. Yes, it will be enough but I wouldn't risk with the psu that came with the case. I would buy a proper psu (Corsair, Antec, OCZ,etc).
2. Yes.
3. Not so sure. Now depends if you like everything on high quality, no you will not be able to.
4. It will help at higher resolutions but sometimes the videocard that come with bigger memory, run at lower speed so you should check the memory speed.

------------------------------ Intel i7 920, Gigabyte X58-DS4, 3x1 Corsair DDR3 1333, XFX 260 GTX
Samsung 750Gb F1,Samsung DVD-rw, Hiper Type-M 880W, Coolermaster HAF 932, Logitech Z-5500
Reply to hefox

1. Yes and no. If it were truly a 400W PSU, then yes. If it came with a case and isn't an Antec Earthwatts, it is probably a $10 special that is best described as an overrated piece of junk. The Antec Earthwatts 380W PSU that comes in some of their cases would be able to handle your rig easily. I'm not sure of any other good PSUs that come with cases, but besides Antec, other good brands include Corsair, Seasonic, PC Power & Cooling, and Enermax. Look for full range active PFC (no little voltage switch) and 80+ certification.
2. Yes.
3. Some on lower settings, but probably. Read the Tom's article on mainstream graphics cards to get an idea of the performance you may expect, possibly with lower settings.
4. At your resolution, probably not. At 1680x1050 or higher, probably so; but you'd likely want an all around more powerful card.

What is your budget? There's a sticky at the top of the new builds forum with a good template you can use if you want to get a lot more suggestions about a new build.

Message edited by jtt283 on 08-26-2009 at 02:14:02 PM

Reply to jtt283

Thank you for your reply guys.
If i buy a zotac gts 250 instead of 9800 gt, would the extra money spent be of any use? I.e, will the gts 250 offer an extra performance at that resolution?
Should i buy 9800 gt or gts 250?

Reply to vinay_venturas

the 250gts = overclocked 9800gtx+ how much are you spending on the card

Message edited by obsidian86 on 08-29-2009 at 06:56:21 PM

Reply to obsidian86

For my budget, the maximum money i can spend is the cost of gts 250 amp edition.

Message edited by vinay_venturas on 08-29-2009 at 07:15:33 PM

Reply to vinay_venturas

Ask the community Add a reply

Tom's Hardware > Forum > CPU & Components > Power Supplies, PC Cases & Case Mods > PSU requirement

Go to:

Help |
Forum rules

There are 539 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.

Page generated in 0.149 seconds

Focus On

PSU requirement

Forum CPU & Components : Power Supplies, PC Cases & Case Mods - PSU requirement