What Wattage Do I Need?

a good psu witha good 550w rating is best.

That 600 watts would be for a low end PSU. Stick with a Corsair, Seasonic, PC Power and Cooling , XFX, Antec, Enermax or Silverstone unit between 500-600 watts.

+1

thanks. i was thinking of getting the 550 corsair psu. is that good enough?

Corsairs psu are very good.

Use a PSU calculator to figure a wattage ....

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

.... buying anything lower than a 650 watter however won't save you any significant amount of money if you buying anything decent. Plus remember that PSU's hit their peak efficiency about at 50% loading.

Buying by brand it is sold under is meaningless ..... buying by who actually built it a little less so. Most vendors sell good, decent and crappy PSU's .... most manufacturers build good, decent and crappy PSU's. here's an oldpost Imade on the subject quite a while back:

Also, advice about brands should be taken with a few pounds of salt  . Which of the following do you think is true ?

Antec makes crappy PSU's
Antec makes good PSU's
Antec makes very good PSU's
Antec makes great PSU's

The answer .... all of the above. Manufacturer's are in business to make money ... the more they sell the more they make. Targeting a single market segment limits the number of customers you can sell to, limiting the amount of sales. So most vendors sell to multiple market segments:

Great PSU's
CP-850 http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=...
SG-650 http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=...
SG-850 http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=...

Very Good PSU's
HCG-900 http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=...
HCP-1200 http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=...
CP-1000 http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=...
TP-750 http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=...
TPQ-850 http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=...
EA-500 http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=...

Good PSU's
HCP-850 http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=...
TPQ-1200 http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=...
EA-750 http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=...
EA-650 http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=...

Crappy PSU's
NP-650 http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=...
TPT-650 http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=...
TP2-550 http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=...

Here's a great 650 watt PSU (XFX Cored Edition) for $70 (after $20 MIR) with a 9.5 jonnyguru performance rating

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=...

Here's another $12 cheaper at $58 after MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

A Corsair 550 is 100 watts lower and more money at $75 and doesn't get any higher a score than the XFX.

Another good choice would be the Antec EA-650 at $60
$15 off w/ promo code EMCKEJG37, ends 5/19

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Toms did a recent article about which PSU's are quality and which ones aren't:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supply-oem-ma...

Its just the 2011: Brands Vs. Manufacturers list and it's incomplete at that. There are no links to test reviews of anything they've listed. There's no indication of which OEM made which model in a series.

If you're referring to the VX550W from Corsair it's excellent and becoming difficult to find in alot of markets.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=...
A no-brainer!

If you do not have any multiple video card plans in the future, then surely a good 500W PSU will suffice.. And by good I mean anything from Corsair (not one from the CX series though), Seasonic or Antec..

Here learn how to calculate your PSU requirement. You can add 50W to 100W to get close to the actual Wattage available on the market for specific model.

Buy known good brands(i.e. Corsair, Seasonic, Antec, XFX..). Good known brands... Its always worth the money in the long run

Good Luck

Many thanks to everyone for their opinions. I decided to go with the High Current Gamer 520W power supply from Antec. It has everything i need, while not breaking the bank. Also, its based on the Seasonic S12IIB design, so thats gotta be good right? Once again, thanks to everyone

Honestly I would much rather spend an extra $20 - $30 on a 700W PSU to future proof the rig. I would not try to add another HD6900 card to a 520W PSU.