Choosing the right PSU

[TeenNerd]

Hello, I am looking into building my first computer, with a gts 250, core i7, and a dp55kg motherboard. One thing I am worried about is choosing too small of a power supply. Any suggestions would be great.

Note: preferably off of tigerdirect, no taxes where I live .

 

[jcpwn3r]

650 watt will give you plenty of room

 

[Timop]

A quality 500W would do fine.
How much are you willing to spend?

 

[treefrog07]

Here are some quality PSUs at tigerdirect.

 

[Timop]

Here are some quality PSUs at tigerdirect.

I dont think the link is working, the Diablotek is far from the word decent.

The cheapest you want to go is probably this:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6491961&CatId=1079

 

[treefrog07]

The four were:
-- 79.99: Silverstone OP650 Olympia 650-Watt Power Supply - ATX , ATA-Ready, PCI-E, Active PFC
-- 79.99: Corsair TX650W 650-Watt Power Supply - ATX, 120mm Fan, SLI-Ready, SATA-Ready, 80Plus
-- 79.99: Thermaltake Toughpower XT 650-Watt ATX 2.3 Power Supply
-- 99.99: Corsair HX650W Power Supply - 650-Watts, Modular, ATX, Single 12V Rail, 80 Plus Bronze

I do not consider Diablotek of any quality.

 

[Twoboxer]

You really do not need a lot of power for that system, check here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gts-250,2172-10.html

450W will do it easily, so the question becomes more how much future expansion do you want/need to protect against, and buying a high-quality unit.

For $50, this will make you happy:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3287208&CatId=1078

The 250 I checked needed 1x6-pin PCI power lead, which that psu has.

 

[Timop]

The four were:
-- 79.99: Silverstone OP650 Olympia 650-Watt Power Supply - ATX , ATA-Ready, PCI-E, Active PFC
-- 79.99: Corsair TX650W 650-Watt Power Supply - ATX, 120mm Fan, SLI-Ready, SATA-Ready, 80Plus
-- 79.99: Thermaltake Toughpower XT 650-Watt ATX 2.3 Power Supply
-- 99.99: Corsair HX650W Power Supply - 650-Watts, Modular, ATX, Single 12V Rail, 80 Plus Bronze

I do not consider Diablotek of any quality.

The link brought me to the list of 600W+PSUs on Tigerdirect.
Anyways, these are pretty decent PSUs, but for a single 250 its a bit overkill.

 

[treefrog07]

The link brought me to the list of 600W+PSUs on Tigerdirect.
Anyways, these are pretty decent PSUs, but for a single 250 its a bit overkill.

I used the link to "compare those four" page and checked the link - it worked for me several times. I guess something gets lost in the posts. 500W would be sufficient, but TeenNerd was concerned about having too small a unit. He can add another GTS250 and more HDDs with these.

 

[TeenNerd]

If I were to upgrade to SLI, would a 600W power supply be enough?

 

[treefrog07]

Maybe on the 600W, but I'm sure of the 650W because I run 2 HD3670s (xfire), 5 HDDs, 1 DVDRW, a video capture card, 4 120mm fans, and a security system video card on my Corsair TX650W (for almost 2 years).

 

[Timop]

The GTS250 uses 175W max, so two would barely touch 350W, factor another 150W for the CPU, a quality 600W would be plenty.