Power Supply

[Night]

Hey guys,

 

I'm thinking about buying all of the components necessary to build a dedicated gaming computer. However, I am not sure on what power supply I should get. I'm not sure how I can find out how much power a custom PC will use. I have listed all the components I'm considering purchasing here, the only thing stopping me from ordering them is that I'm not sure about the power supply:

 

http://amzn.com/w/2JJ53559UQAAN

 

Also, I'm not sure if there is some important part I will need that I am missing. If anyone would be kind enough to give my list a look and tell me what power supply wattage I should get, and if I'm missing any crucial (internal) components, I would be deeply grateful! And if you have any suggestions I would be glad to hear them :D

 

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB GDDR5

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3 1600Mhz

Motherboard: Asus P6T6 WS Revolution

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 Quad Core 3.4Ghz 8MB L3 Cache

SSD: 256GB Samsung 840 Pro

HDD: Western Digital 1TB 7,200RPM 64MB Cache

[outlawal2]

Not sure what you are going to have for optical drives and such, but I would not go with anything less than a 750 watt PS for that rig.. There are a LOT of power supplies out there, but I have had good luck with the Fatality 750 and it is a modular design so it keeps thing nice and tidy...

[Rangi]

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

 

has always worked for me.

The 750 watt recommendation from outlawal2 will definitely do the job (maybe bit of overkill/expansion headroom). I would also recommend going for the 3770K as it allows overclocking which you may not want to do now but might in the future and for only $30-40 extra its worth it IMO.

Edited July 11, 2013 by Rangi
more info

[MTFDarkEagle]

Yes the 750 Watt range should do the trick.

But whatever you do, DO NOT save on the PSU!!! I did that once and paid the price. Get A-brand PSU!

 

Re the CPU: See if you can get the K model or upgrade to a 4xxx (Haswell series) CPU.

[Vivoune]

GTX 660 TDP is 140W

I7-3770k TDP is 77 W

 

Graphic cards and Processor are by far your two main wattage draw source. So technically you'd be even fine with a 500W power supply. The thing with Power supply though is that it's a very important part of a computer and if you buy a very good one (in term of quality, high wattage doesn't mean it's quality) then it will last you for a long time and doesn't have to be replaced when you're upgrading or replacing other parts.

 

750W is a good number for a gaming rig yes, if you plan on spending a bit more today to save money tomorrow then maybe go for a bit more wattage to be sure you'll never want to upgrade/change it in a very long time. 900-1000W should put you on the safe side. 100% modular power supplies are great too, you just use the PS slots you need so no unnecessary cables around.

 

For example some time ago I personalty went for a Seasonic 1000w Platinium:

-1000w is all most could ever need. It comes in lower wattage variants ofc as 1000w is in most cases overkill.

-high quality PS are rock solid and stable (that's why they're not afraid to throw in a 7 year warranty)

-100% modular

-80+ Platinum rating, the higher the more efficient power is (80+ < 80+ Bronze < 80+ Silver < 80+ Gold < 80+ Platinum) 80+ is around 80% power efficiency, 80+ Platinum is around 90%

-Nice heat dissipation and dead silent (the internal fan doesn't even start spinning until temp > 25°C which is most idle temp or desk apps. Even on full load fan noise is covered by a working HDD anyways.

 

A PSU is a very important part of a rig and often overlooked, I'd suggest you invest good money in it first to save a lot more later! :)

My advice would be to go for an older processor, the only real advantage an i7-3770k has over an i5-3750k for example is hyper threading which isn't used by most apps and games anyway. Save a hundred dollars there and spend a hundred more on the PSU. You can check i5-3750k vs i7-3770k threads and pro reviews all over the web. Other than that looks good, maybe get a tinier SSD and use it only for OS and your few favored games, 64Gb for example, then use a fat 2-3Tb good old HDD, anything installed on the HDD will still use the OS memory files which are on the SDD so you get the best of both worlds, room and speed. SSD nice and fast but it's just the worst Mb/$ ratio.

Edited July 13, 2013 by Vivoune

[Thick8]

This is a great resource for determining PSU needs.

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

 

John