You should never use that calculator. It’s there to make you buy more expensive PSUs. Yeah, it’ll give you a safe estimate, because it’ll always give you a gross overestimate. Steambox, for instance, uses parts that draw more power than what you put in your calculator and only uses a 450 watt PSU.
550 watt is more than he would need for that computer, 600 at most. It’s cheaper, it’s practical, that’s it.
I just tried that calculator and it’s giving absolutely ridiculous stats, such as a blu ray drives using 40 watts. Blu ray drives use 10 watts, maybe 12 at the most. If you have an external blu ray drive you can even check for yourself by reading the power brick where it says volts and amps.
The calc gives a ballpark idea… I would side to err caution with the higher side with any build especially if it has the capacity for gaming (GTX770 is a nice choice btw) and it gives the flexibility to upgrade later on without worrying about it. He may not want SLI now but who knows… prices are dropping and when you do finalize the build, prices may even be lower for the GPU with the recent back and forth thats been going on with amd/nvidia lately.
Seen lots of computers gone with what the folks “thought” would be enough and it was always around the 500/600 range… yay immeadiate reboots and shutdowns aplenty. These were always gaming rigs mind you and always under a heavy load.
My own computer has gone through multiple builds and always with the original thermaltake TP 1000w… In its initial build it really did need that much… not so much anymore (down to 1 video card and took out one of the water cooling loops) but the capability is there when I go nuts again.
After some tweaking yesterday and today BF4 and COD:G are running great (on Ultra/High respectively)… so no upgrade for me just yet lol.
700 watts is overkill. If money is absolutely no issue, then don’t worry about. I just don’t like watching people spend and extra $50 something that will only be useful if you upgrade consistently.
Look just stop now. Stop misleading people. I disagree with your nonsense.
I said its a estimate, a rough guide. And when dealing with PSUs you should always, always side with caution and go higher than what you need.
No PSU gives the exact rating that is says on paper, especially under heavy loads and high temps. As hotter your PSU gets the less wattage it delivers. All PC parts under perform when it gets too hot.
Its why unscrupulous PSU manufacturers will actually refrigerate their PSU units to get there benchmarks. Its not as a big issue as it was 10 years ago but it still happens.
700 watts is far from overkill, as there no such thing as having too high of a watt rating.
A PSU is one part you do not want to cheap out on. Mother board, video card, CPU fine, cheaping out on a Power Supply is pretty much throwing it all away. A good PSU should aways be more than what you need and physically one of the heaviest parts in your whole build maybe with the exception of the case it self.
And whats wrong with leaving space for upgrades? What if Rcaido wants a different video card, or a 2nd video card in cross fire/SLI config. Or if he wants LEDs, extra fans who knows.
I seen too many people trash entire builds because they think they can skip $50 on a PSU.
Yes I am over estimating, I stated so earlier. Think of it this way, you got a Christmas budget, and you got extra money saved in a account just for the Holidays, having a extra few hundred isn’t going to hurt his budget. Whats how watts are handle, like a budget.
Look if he blows his PC because he followed your advice, you can refund his money Okay.
@rcaido
Listen to ed1371, he will not lead you astray.
Tossing my 2 cents in, after having a ssd in my rig I would be hard pressed to go to a solely HDD setup. The boot time, read write speeds can’t be beat. I would go in the 250 GB range on the SSD and 1 to 2TB HDD, which can be used for storage and backup.
On the PSU topic, all I would say is overkill is much better than underkill. True, a 1000w or 750w may be more than you need, and nobody is saying you have to go that high. That said, meeting the bare minimum, or slightly above it is courting disaster. The extra money spent on a stronger PSU will be worth it for the peace of mind. Now, how much extra money is too much? That’s between you and your accountant.
I have no idea what your problem is.
-It’s not a guide, it’s a marketing tool that is obviously lying. A educated consumer reads product reviews (ie Tom’s Hardware) that report power usage of components, you just read a few articles and it shows the range a particular graphics card operates at, for instance.
-700 watts is overkill and in fact 600 watts is an overestimate by itself for that build.
-Problems with manufacturers lying about performance has nothing to do with estimating wattage and has everything to do with buying from a good brand in the first place. Estimating that a PSU from, say, Seasonic is able to deliver 80% of the power it says it will deliver is not unreasonable (again, 600 watts is still way above what that build will require while accounting for that)
-I explicitly said the PSU is fine if he’s planning upgrades.
I can’t believe I am actually going to say the following.
Big companies and retailers are not out to get you, and they aren’t the “boogie man”.
Not everything is a marketing too to steal your money.
Yes people should read Tom’s Hardware and other PC related sites so they do their homework and know what to decide for themselves.
Yes consumers should educate themselves. I took courses and receive certification on working with computers. I was though go with gives the most stability.
I am not blowing smoke up someone’s ass to look smart. Yes I used a Calc from NewEgg as a cheat so I don’t have to sit down and read on every single devices Watt requirements and Add it all up. Its also easier for others to follow and me to Copy and paste the image.
Yes Some of NewEgg’s data might be out of date as treating a Bluray drive as a 40 watt device instead of 10 watts or what ever (older Blurays require more power). The Calc only factor in max values for each device.
Yes I know a SSD uses less than a HDD, and I listed the calc to calculate for 2 HDD.
What I am risking is another Tech Talk user spend an extra $50 so the other $1900 he spend will not go up in smoke. I think that is a fair and reasonable trade off.
Look above all else the PSU is the most important part of your PC. Unfortunately, if a PSU fails, sometimes it overloads all the components connected to it.
It might be overkill but as I said before I rather go with a safe bet than risking everything because you want to save $50.
Part of the Cooler Master brand PSU thats on the build list price is the fact it has modular cables. You choose the cables you need and do not need. Modular cables adds a bit of cost to a PSU.
Great for organization, air circulation and appearance, as Rcadio here picked a case with a large side window.
You also didn’t take into consideration at the chance of over volting, or burning up a coil.
Example a power supply lets say 350 watts at full load can jump to 355(and or 60) and be fine and what you would call ‘‘stable under load’’
I’m pretty sure this was what DarkSakul was going for.
I seen some lower end power supplies melted internally before.
Friend of mine got a el-chepo Power supply that was just enough watts to run his PC (it came with his fancy PC case). Then his PC refuse to power on one day.
I pulled the PSU out to find a rattling noise inside, I shook the PSU and several resistors and a diode fell out.
Fortunate for my friend the damage was contained to the PSU and didn’t take the whole system with it.
When it happened to me in my early days flames shot out the back and took the system with it was really a awful experience so I always buy a little over.
So I had convinced myself I had enough umph… then someone or someTHING impersonating my wife (pod person/Robot/Stepford wife/alien) asked what I want for Xmas… Jokingly I sent her a link… and she (here is the crazy part) didn’t think it was too expensive.
The EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Superclocked 3GB will be here friday as long as there are no delays in transit.
I love it when significant others are imporsonated and take joke links seriously. The best was when I sent a BBCP import link to someone and then they said “ok now don’t buy it for yourself”
Stupid Newegg, i got all my computer parts within 3days but for some reason the SSD took forever to arrive, got it yesterday now im going to attempt to install my OS. I got everything hooked up now which was a cool experience, i just need to fix my wiring & im good to go…Yeah i cant believe i forgot one thing & that’s a damn usb keyboard. My old keyboard wont work cuz i have that circle end on it.
So what’s a good keyboard to buy. Im not really looking to spend to much on a keyboard.
What’s the difference between a Microsoft Sidewinder & Corsair Vengeance K95…Im leaning more to Microsoft but if the Corsair is worth the extra i might get that. If there are other options better value let me know. Want one that has red led.
Microsoft Keyboard is rubber dome switches, they’re alright and 90% of people are totally happy with them. The Corsair is a mechanical keyboard. It’s got microswitches for each key. It makes them a lot more expensive, but (In my opinion) they are much better to type on and there are more options because of the different types of switches(kind of like Sanwa v. Seimitsu). The Corsair is nice, but I’d also take a look at the Ducky Shine 3. You can get them in a bunch of different LED and switch options. If you want a keyboard with LED’s, they’re the best.
Not red LEDs in this one(in the video, you can purchase them with RED LEDs), but you can get a look at the effects:
well since you arent looking to spend too much, this may fall on deaf ears… I cannot tell you just how much better a mechanical keyboard is…
There are a few things that you should not skimp on when you are dealing with PC stuff and one of them are your interface devices. You will be interacting with them 100% of the time. Mouse, keyboard and display are something you need to like otherwise even the best pc will be annoying to you
try a mechanical out…they will likely have them at your local bestbuy (razer is always on display) or staples… feel the keys
it might be something you like… I know I HATE using anything else now.
edit: btw… I am totally bummed that newegg borked shipping my new video card…didnt leave the warehouse until today and will be here monday… I called them and they are at least refunding my overnight shipping.
